Malapascua Trimix Trip Report

[happybuddha]

What are your recommendations for other dive sites? I have dived Coron, Apo Island and Malapascua of course. I do want to dive Tabutaha reef spring of 2006.

Malapascua does have a nice mix, most of the other locations won't be quite as idyllic but diving will be better in a lot of cases. Next time you go to Malapascua and travel through Cebu there are a couple of other diving detours you can make.

Alona Beach, Pangalao Island, Bohol: from Cebu City its 1.5 hour ferry to Tagbilaran, Bohol and then 30-45 minute taxi to Alona Beach on Pangalao. Nice white beach, built up a bit more than Malapascua, but they have fresh water showers. Nice wall around large part of the island and Balicasag Island is not too far away (30 min boat ride) and has great walls, last time I was there we saw school of barracuda on one dive and school of jacks on another. I dived with Genesis which was good, there are several dive operations around to choose from.

Padres Burgos, Southern Leyte: from Cebu City its 2.0 hours by ferry to Hilongos then 1 hour of so by car/van to be arranged by dive shop. To my knowledge there is only one year round dive shop in the area, Peters Dive Resort (www.whaleofadive.com). Depending on time of year, they get whales and such as well as the reefs are in really great shape. Never a crowd and Peter is very accommodating.


If you fly through Manila you can go to Puerto Galera:

Puerto Galera, Mindoro: 2.5 hour drive from Manila airport to Batangas City and 1 hour banka ride to Sabang/Small Lalaguna, Puerto Galera. Beach area is a lot more built up than the two above, lot different experience to Malapascua. Really good divinig and convenient (unless you go to Verde Island) each dive is a one tank dive and then back to the resort. Can do 4 dives a day plus a night dive if you are hard core. Great small stuff (nudis, seahorses), interesting stuff (frogfish, mandarin fish), lots of medium stuff (jacks, sweetlilps), occasional big stuff (not very often, though a sunfish was seen there last fall-I didn't see it but my girlfriend did and she still won't let me forget it). There is often lots of current and it gets deep quick, so a lot of the diving requires good skills, but its great fun. I dive with Asia Divers there (www.asiadivers.com), very friendly crowd that treat me like family (so I know how you feel about Malapascua).

I've got to go to a meeting now, someone else chime in with there favs!

Cheers,
Drew

 

[eelpout]

Enjoyed reading your article. Can't wait to get some Trimix diving in warmer water. We do mostof our diving in 40-48 F degree water and have to be wearing drysuits with argon systems.

I was just wondering what mix you were diving and what the cost was. Do they have deco bottles to rent, what size? Did you guys deco on 100% or 80% O2. I am planning a trip to the Philippines with some Trimix qualified divers. I have inquired about diving in Subic. I did not know that Trimix was available in the Visayas. We are spoiled in the midwest (USA), we usually dive 18/45 if we are going deeper than 130 feet.

 

[happybuddha]

Enjoyed reading your article. Can't wait to get some Trimix diving in warmer water. We do mostof our diving in 40-48 F degree water and have to be wearing drysuits with argon systems.

I was just wondering what mix you were diving and what the cost was. Do they have deco bottles to rent, what size? Did you guys deco on 100% or 80% O2. I am planning a trip to the Philippines with some Trimix qualified divers. I have inquired about diving in Subic. I did not know that Trimix was available in the Visayas. We are spoiled in the midwest (USA), we usually dive 18/45 if we are going deeper than 130 feet.

eelpout,

You can leave your dry suit at home, though it can get down to 71-72F during the winter (brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr).

We did two dives, the first one was 52m on 21/35 with 50% for deco. My buddy and my certs are IANTD Adv Rec Tx which means we are only certified to use 50%, we'll do Normoxic after we have a few more dives. 100% is available.

As for the second dive, I don't have my logbook with me, but it would have been something like 21/20 or there abouts as it was a "top up".

He cost was close to $0.049/liter, its more expensive in the Visayas due to transportation (so I'm told). Where I normally dive (Tech Asia: http://www.asiadivers.com/techasia/index.php) in Puerto Galera its about $0.039/liter.

I've heard someone around Cebu City has He but I don't know that for certain. There are several shops in Puerto Galera, Mindoro (not in Visayas) that pump mix. If you have questions try contacting Dave Ross at Tech Asia (info@techasia.ph) in Puerto Galera. There is plenty of deep water around PG and Dave can organize day trips or over night trips to a few wrecks in the area.

When do you plan to be in the Philippines?

Cheers,
Drew

 

[Hammerhead]

Drew,

Signed up for the list and it took all of five minutes to find someone I knew - four of those minutes were spent reading your post on Malapascua. Nice to hear your'e having fun!

Heading to PG for some tech in September with Magnus and John Tucker, hope to catch up at some Point, regards to Cristina.

Regards,

Larry Bird

 

[happybuddha]

Drew,

Signed up for the list and it took all of five minutes to find someone I knew - four of those minutes were spent reading your post on Malapascua. Nice to hear your'e having fun!

Heading to PG for some tech in September with Magnus and John Tucker, hope to catch up at some Point, regards to Cristina.

Regards,

Larry Bird

Yes Everyone, his name really is Larry Bird, but he's not from French Lick, Indiana.

Hi Larry, when I opened an email and saw "thepurplehammerhead" had replied to the board I thought $#!+, must be a PG oldtimer...then I saw your name.

I'm a bit jealous that you will be in PG soon, I'm going to Subic with Sam in a couple weeks but may not get to PG until October.

I'll pass along your greetings to Cristina, but you may see her before I do, she'll be in PG soon preparing for the IDC.

Oh, weclome to the board, its a good laugh sometimes and educational as well.

Cheers,

Drew

 

[Narcd_dvr]

I've heard someone around Cebu City has He but I don't know that for certain.

happybuddha,
In Cebu, COACO *might* have He, but I'm just guessing at this time. BTW, great report on your Malapascua dive trip. I'll be going to the island on the 7th.

Cheers,
Enrique

 

[happybuddha]

happybuddha,
In Cebu, COACO *might* have He, but I'm just guessing at this time. BTW, great report on your Malapascua dive trip. I'll be going to the island on the 7th.

Cheers,
Enrique

Thanks Enrique, but I was referring to a dive shop that stocks He to blend trimix, not a business that sells gas, that's what COACO is, isn't it?

Enjoy your trip, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Cheers,
Drew

 

[manhattandiver]

Thanks manhattan, I've read about jon lines, but never used one. Didn't expect to need one on this trip, as the places I usually dive don't usually have up lines. Conditions around the Philippines are normally OK for drifting deco, unlike the NE US where I assume you dive (at least from what I've read drift deco is not usually an option). NE US conditions don't appeal much to me, I'm one of those warm water wussie.

Me too. That's why I'm on this forum.

As for drifting deco, they don't do much of that around here. The boats generally tie onto the wrecks and don't want to cut lose to chase divers around. That's fine with me though. When I do drifting deco in open water I start to feel a bit like bait.