Splitting days between Dauin and Moalboal?

[diveUAE]

Hello

Very excited, as I just bought our tickets to fly to Philippines.

We'll be flying with Turkish into CEB - it's listed with a "stop over, not connection" in Manila - has anyone done this? I'm assuming it's the same plane and we just wait, while passengers get of in Manila? Still a bit confused about where we'll do immigration, but since the stop over is only 1 h 25 min my guess is immigration will be in Cebu.

The real question is:
We want to dive Dauin and (maybe) Moalboal. How to best spilt the days?
We have 12 days for diving - not counting our last day and travel in/out of Philippines.

My thought is:
Arrive 1.20 am, sleep at Waterfront airport hotel (done this before and know it's walking distance from airport)
2.20 pm CebGo flight to DGT and transfer to Dauin
8 diving days at Dauin - we do love muck/macro diving and pretty much just want to "dive, eat, sleep, repeat"
On day 9 transfer to Moalboal - any leads on the best/most time efficient transfer? Could we do some dives before the transfer - or in Moalboal after?
3 days of diving Moalboal.

Does this sound like a sensible plan or would it be better with 8/4?

Thanks!

 

[Luko]

Transfer from Dauin to Moalboal by car will take you about 5-6 hours, you leave in the morning depending on the ferry schedule from Dumaguete to Liloan/Cebu.
With a private car the fare should be above 6000PHP (as far as I remember in 2018 probably more now), you can arrange on site with your resort.

Hence you can be there in Moalboal for a late afternoon or night dive.
Personally I think Moalboal is only worth for Pescador and the Sardines school on Panagsama, the rest is very mundane. Selecting your dive center will be key, try to avoid factories with gringo dive guides like Savedra.

 

[diveUAE]

Thanks Luko.
I’m starting to think we should just stay put in Dauin for the 12 days … vividly remember the slow traffic in Cebu island, maybe it’s not worth it, but would 12 days in Dauin be too much?
My alternative was Sequijor, but that looks equally daunting. Anywhere else we could do some dives? Maybe stay closer to Mactan?

 

[Luko]

Which resort will you be based in Dauin? Why did you select Moalboal precisely? Depending on 1- period of the year, 2- your expectations on the diving 3- your trade off between dive and location, there are different options that can be considered.

Feel free to PM me, i'll try to sort out for answers.

 

[Centrals]

Transfer between Dumaguete to Moalboal is walk in the park even with public transport and never takes more than 5hrs. There are several ports serving between the two islands and bus is plentiful.
Spend couple of days staying on Apo Island if you do not mind the basic accommodation.
Sipalay is about 5hrs from Dumaguete by car. Well worth a visit and the place is dead quiet.
Three days in Moalboal should be enough. And do not forget to ask for the sanctuary.

 

[diveUAE]

Which resort will you be based in Dauin? Why did you select Moalboal precisely? Depending on 1- period of the year, 2- your expectations on the diving 3- your trade off between dive and location, there are different options that can be considered.

Feel free to PM me, i'll try to sort out for answers.

We'll be staying and diving with Bongo Bongo divers.

Selected Moalboal as I wanted to be on Cebu Island before our flight out. Was thinking the sardine school would be cool and Pescador island would be nice diving and then maybe a trip to the waterfall on the last day.
We're traveling in February

Transfer between Dumaguete to Moalboal is walk in the park even with public transport and never takes more than 5hrs. There are several ports serving between the two islands and bus is plentiful.
Spend couple of days staying on Apo Island if you do not mind the basic accommodation.
Sipalay is about 5hrs from Dumaguete by car. Well worth a visit and the place is dead quiet.
Three days in Moalboal should be enough. And do not forget to ask for the sanctuary.

Thanks. The thing with the transfer is not the time - it's more: getting in the bus, off the bus, onto the ferry etc. we travel with full dive gear and cameras. If we can get a van to take us the whole way then I think it's worth it. (Yeah, getting lazy, but my husband has a bad back and can't carry too much, so I know who's carrying the dive gear;-))
I'll think about staying at Apo island, might be too basic. Thank you for the tip about the sanctuary, hopefully we'll be able to dive there.

Any recommendations on where to stay/dive in Moalboal? I've heard about Quo Vadis Dive Resort and Magic island dive resort - I think Magic is maybe too far away from Panagsama beach? (for the Sardine School). We don't ride motor bikes (not sure about trikes either - our insurance does not cover motor bikes and I fear it might be the same for trikes. - on the other hand it covers paragliding, hang gliding, bungee jump and diving + loads more)

 

[cetacean]

@diveUAE

I spent just over two weeks diving the Dauin coastline earlier this spring (our 2nd trip to the region). When we were there the frogfish were numerous but very (very) small, hopefully they've grown a bit in the interim... On the other hand, the number (and variety) of ghost pipefish was absurd - sometimes finding as many as 10 on a single dive...

Many of the dive sites are slightly south of BongoBongo (we were at Atlantis for the 2nd week), yet our best dives were north of that immediate area. Sites like Secret Corner, San Miguel, and Talisay were very (very) good.

 

[diveUAE]

@diveUAE

I spent just over two weeks diving the Dauin coastline earlier this spring (our 2nd trip to the region). When we were there the frogfish were numerous but very (very) small, hopefully they've grown a bit in the interim... On the other hand, the number (and variety) of ghost pipefish was absurd - sometimes finding as many as 10 on a single dive...

Many of the dive sites are slightly south of BongoBongo (we were at Atlantis for the 2nd week), yet our best dives were north of that immediate area. Sites like Secret Corner, San Miguel, and Talisay were very (very) good.

Great info - love frog fish and ghost pipe fish (got lucky in Lembeh on our last dive and saw a family of 6 ghost pipe fish - 2 big and 4 small).
Where did you stay the first week?

 

[Centrals]

Thanks. The thing with the transfer is not the time - it's more: getting in the bus, off the bus, onto the ferry etc. we travel with full dive gear and cameras. If we can get a van to take us the whole way then I think it's worth it. (Yeah, getting lazy, but my husband has a bad back and can't carry too much, so I know who's carrying the dive gear;-))
I'll think about staying at Apo island, might be too basic. Thank you for the tip about the sanctuary, hopefully we'll be able to dive there.

Any recommendations on where to stay/dive in Moalboal? I've heard about Quo Vadis Dive Resort and Magic island dive resort - I think Magic is maybe too far away from Panagsama beach? (for the Sardine School). We don't ride motor bikes (not sure about trikes either - our insurance does not cover motor bikes and I fear it might be the same for trikes. - on the other hand it covers paragliding, hang gliding, bungee jump and diving + loads more)

Private transfer will be even quicker.
How about Turtle Bay Dive Resort?
You need to find out if all the places are accessible by car.
Insurance always has some strange exemption.
Have a nice trip.

 

[cetacean]

@diveUAE

I was at Atmosphere the first week diving with my daughter, and then Atlantis the second week diving with my son (their spring breaks from school were 1 week apart).

The Dauin coast is often called the frogfish capital of the world - you will see frogfish, sometimes many on a single dive. There are lots of other critters as well.