Looking for schools of fish and other big stuff?

[rjjj111]

1. The Jetty at Padres Burgos is only divable on certain days of the week(eg. Fri).
2. I would suggest a minimum of three days for Limasawa Island, Napantau Sanctury + others.
3. There is a morning ferry from Maasin(?) to Ubay in Bohol. You need to board the 05:00 bus to make it. Please confirm the schedule in advance.
4. Getting to Sogod Bay from Cebu is a long journey. Private one way transfer from Ormoc is P3,500.00 while it is about P4,500.00 from Tacloban. Again, inquire with the dive operator.

It looks like Ubay in Bohol is a long way from Alona Beach? Is it easy to get between Ubay and Alona Beach? Maybe a bus?
What are the best places to dive while in Padres Burgos, in your opinion? Is there any must see locations or must do land activity?

 

[xrcjdx]

i want to clarify something centrals posted above. if you are in cebu city there is no good reason i can think of to take the ferry to ormac or fly to tacloban. tacloban is the entry from manila/naia only. from cebu city there are daily ferries to maasin, bato, and hilongos. as long as you arrive on leyte with reasonable daylight, reaching padre burgos and the dive resorts via public transportation is easy from there, in the above order of least to greater difficulty.

reaching alona from maasin is another story. after the ferry to ubay, you have a pretty long bus ride (+/- 4 hours as i recall) to tagbilaran, then a sprint to alona. it is a full day - assuming the stars are in alignment. recommended, but not if you are in a hurry. if you are thinking of sogod, and have already been to alona/balicasag, imho you can't go wrong with a full week on leyte. (a heads up, limisawa and especially napantao are worth more than 1 trip during your visit, and as centrals mentions, the pier is not available to dive every night.)

not to make your decision more difficult, i have never done it, but i am told it is possible to get from northen cebu island (maya or bogo) to leyte. i am thinking malapascua here, where you should be able to check some of the bigger critters off your list (like thresher shark). unfortunately, the ferry will get you to north leyte only, and you will then have the same issue centrals pointed out - only worse.

whatever you decide, wherever you go, it will be great.

 

[rjjj111]

Is there anything worth doing or seeing on Leyte for land trips? Are there any good dives at Sogod, where you can see a lot of reef fish? If I understand everyone, Sogod is for corals and micro stuff? Is this correct?

 

[xrcjdx]

i'm not sure how to answer this. with the exception of large schools of pelagics and sharks, but including whale sharks, clouds of colorful reef fish, macro, and on and on, southern leyte is crowd free and feature rich and if you like that kind of thing the best on offer in the philippines bar none. if you are talking about the city/town of sogod at the head of the bay, no diving there. it is at the mouth of a substantial river coming from the interior.

as for above ground, how much spare time you got? as far as i'm concerned south leyte is seriously under-explored. it will take you an afternoon to do justice to tankaan alone. take a day trip to limasawa. head to cambaro caves. while you are there discover a few caves. with a full day and a very early start, head to the east arm of sogod bay. poke around the small fishing villages. check out the leyte gulf side. you could spend your week topside and never run out of something new to see or do. as for night life, you will have to be satisfied with star gazing (or star gazers under the pb pier) and the company of your resort mates. because except for the moose and squirrel (or maasin), there isn't any.

 

[rjjj111]

If there are clouds of colorful reef fish, I can be totally happy with that. I can stay for about a week.

 

[Centrals]

If there are clouds of colorful reef fish, I can be totally happy with that. I can stay for about a week.

If you are the only diver in the resort. Please enquire if there is any extra charge for the boat dive. The trip to Napantau and Limasawa is around 45 to 60mins.
I prefer Sogod Bay over Alona Beach anytime. The only sound you can hear from your room is the wave rather than live music at night! And there is no one trying to sell you anything. If you do decide to walk down to Padres Burgos(20-30mins) you will notice that the locals have seldom seen outsider.
There is another dive centre/resort across the other side of the bay. That place is really really isolated. Apo Island comes nowhere near!!!

 

[xrcjdx]

centrals let's go diving!!

 

[rjjj111]

If you are the only diver in the resort. Please enquire if there is any extra charge for the boat dive. The trip to Napantau and Limasawa is around 45 to 60mins.
I prefer Sogod Bay over Alona Beach anytime. The only sound you can hear from your room is the wave rather than live music at night! And there is no one trying to sell you anything. If you do decide to walk down to Padres Burgos(20-30mins) you will notice that the locals have seldom seen outsider.
There is another dive centre/resort across the other side of the bay. That place is really really isolated. Apo Island comes nowhere near!!!

Sounds like I need to go to Sogod.

I am looking at going to peters place. Has anyone actually stay there? I think the rooms are right on the water?

 

[WOODMAN]

I am not really into the small stuff, my eyes are getting a bit weak.

For pete's sake, have corrective lenses glued into your dive mask, if you haven't already done this. I have bifocals ground into mine.

 

[rjjj111]

Yes I probability need to do that. Aren't there ones you can glue into any mask?