Philippines trip advice

[Hcklo]

Hello everyone

We are looking some help to organize our trip to Philippines. It will be from 21/12 to 16/01.

We are a couple, dm + aow with 400ish dives each. We met at komodo were I made my dm, we like a bit of everything: big stuff, macro stuff, current, reef and night dives etc.
We take pictures, she will go backmount I am not too sure yet to go on sm.

So this is for our diving profile.

We already have been in Philippines and have done: malapascua, dauin, dumaguete, coron, moalboal, siquijor, Bohol, siargao, Boracay.

We have no problem to come back to those ones, but are trying to draw a plan and maybe some of you has some advices or support.

Thank you a lot !!

 

[Centrals]

Christmas time!!!!! Flight is super expensive.
Southern Leyte.
Fly directly to Cebu City if possible.

 

[Hcklo]

Hey Centrals, thanks for your advise.

What about going from MNL to clarck and then take local flights ?. Local flights from clarck to manila goes 100usd, flights to Cebu city hits 1k5.. flights to MNL 1060.. so the difference is there. Is the connection manila to Clark still easy to take ?

Would you advise to connect from Cebu city to south Leyte by ferry ?

Thanks for your time and help !

 

[Searcaigh]

Clarke to Manila, go by road, it takes hours but you'll take hours anyway by air as you'll have to be at the airport early + security etc., as well as a no dive day.

Subic Bay has some really good wreck diving then drive down to Batangas, dive Anilao then go over to Puerto Galera.

Driving through Manila is a nightmare though. Best to leave Subic around 02:00 so that you don't hit Manila during early morning rush hour.

 

[Tippytoes12]

Twenty six days, what a great length of time ! We did Southern Leyte twice and loved it. If I had 26 days, I would go there first having flown into Cebu, then catch the ferry to Bohol and got to Cabilao, then fly to Manila and do Anilao and Puerto Galera. Fly out of Manila.

 

[Hcklo]

Clarke to Manila, go by road, it takes hours but you'll take hours anyway by air as you'll have to be at the airport early + security etc., as well as a no dive day.

Subic Bay has some really good wreck diving then drive down to Batangas, dive Anilao then go over to Puerto Galera.

Driving through Manila is a nightmare though. Best to leave Subic around 02:00 so that you don't hit Manila during early morning rush hour.

Hey thanks for your advice and comment.

Indeed, in my memory taking the connection Clarke to manila was the best..

We want to do: anilao, subic bay, puerto galera, south leyte, dauin, Bohol.

We are not 100% sure to do all of that: we are aware of the transport timing of Philippines, we don't like to rush from a spot to another so probably some of those destinations will be not done.

For instance: as we do anilao does it makes sense to also do dauin (macro destinations..)
How full of people tends to be Bohol in high season - December (last time that I went, October 2017 the diving was nice but too much people/turists for me...)


How is the smartest way to draw our trip ? Would you start by anilao or finish by that and just run to Cebu quick quick at our arrival?

As usual, any advice is more than welcome.
Thanks for your time !!

 

[Johnboy70_99]

Bohol is not crowded lately. The majority of tourists have not come back yet. I was there Sept/oct for 3 weeks and there were plenty of places to stay and plenty of spots on boats.

 

[Searcaigh]

@Hcklo Given the small amount of time you have I wouldn't try and dive Subic/Anilao/PG and the Visayas in one trip, just stick to Luzon.

 

[Hcklo]

@Hcklo Given the small amount of time you have I wouldn't try and dive Subic/Anilao/PG and the Visayas in one trip, just stick to Luzon.

Unfortunately I need to find a compromise with wife (already saw this sentence in other posts..)

I would love to do some courses with Andy in subic + I love sm, wrecks, low vis, high current etc.
She would love to see big stuff (south Leyte), and also likes beaches/ be under the sun, massages etc.

We both love to take uw pictures (macro)

Following this and the amount of time we would have 3 options:

1: Anilao, PG, Leyte
2: Leyte + another place in Visayas (advice ?)
3: Anilao, subic, PG

What is the most friendly during end of December/January ? Thanks !

 

[Blackcrusader]

Bohol is not crowded lately. The majority of tourists have not come back yet. I was there Sept/oct for 3 weeks and there were plenty of places to stay and plenty of spots on boats.

Yup I was in Bohol for two weeks October November and still very quiet.