I'm considering a first pacific diving to somewhere reachable from Cebu city sometime Summer 2023. I noticed that Surigao made the Canadian government "avoid non-essential travel" list due to "the threat of terrorism, kidnapping, high levels of crime, and violent clashes between the security forces and rebel groups". To a ph-newbie that seems pretty seems pretty close to Leyte. I'm not sure exactly what I'm asking, but I guess I'm curious if anyone has recent scary stories from South Leyte or Bohol (I was thinking Cabilao island).
(non-diving) Safety in Bohol and Leyte
- Thread starter d^2b
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Johnboy70_99
Registered
As a foreigner you just need to practice basic situational awareness and you will be fine. Biggest threat is from petty theft or being scammed. I have three wallets. One is the one with my drivers license and all my cards I use at home. I leave that in the US. I bring two wallets when I travel. One wallet has my travel credit cards, etc. That goes in the hotel safe with my passport when I arrive and stays there. The other one has a bunch of junk cards like old store discount cards, my expired global entry card, etc. I put enough cash for my day in that one and that is the one I carry around. If someone pinches that one from me it is no loss, and it appears to be legitimate enough that they won’t notice it’s full of useless junk until I have been able to get away.
Don’t talk to random strangers who come up to you, there is a good chance they are trying to pull something. I give them a big smile, eye contact, and a firm “no thank you sir!”, and keep walking.
I just returned from 3 weeks of diving in Bohol last month. I had booked into an Airbnb which ended up having broken locks so I switched to a hotel and felt safer there.
The situation in southern islands of the Philippines is mostly in the eastern region near Sulu sea. Bohol and even Siargao are relatively safe. I have been to the Philippines 7 times now, the most dangerous thing that has happened to me is that I almost got knocked off the head by a falling coconut while waiting for a ferry back to Batangas from Puerto Galara. The thing hit a wooden railing 3 feet behind me and shattered it. Just don’t stand under coconut trees that have coconuts in them. No joke, that’s dangerous.
Don’t talk to random strangers who come up to you, there is a good chance they are trying to pull something. I give them a big smile, eye contact, and a firm “no thank you sir!”, and keep walking.
I just returned from 3 weeks of diving in Bohol last month. I had booked into an Airbnb which ended up having broken locks so I switched to a hotel and felt safer there.
The situation in southern islands of the Philippines is mostly in the eastern region near Sulu sea. Bohol and even Siargao are relatively safe. I have been to the Philippines 7 times now, the most dangerous thing that has happened to me is that I almost got knocked off the head by a falling coconut while waiting for a ferry back to Batangas from Puerto Galara. The thing hit a wooden railing 3 feet behind me and shattered it. Just don’t stand under coconut trees that have coconuts in them. No joke, that’s dangerous.
Death by coconut - Wikipedia
klausi
Contributor
I went to Tagbilaran in Bohol for an athletic competition in July. Super safe, more so than my home town of Vienna in terms of the vibes. A few beggars here and there, and a tricycle driver might overcharge you, but that's it. Generally, the rural parts of the Philippines outside of the Muslim areas in Mindanao are safe. I live in Dumaguete, no problem to walk around the city at night alone. No crime affecting me during living here for 6 years, last month I left my car door open by accident, and after an hour the change next to the gear shift was still there.
Similar threads
