Hi Manhattandiver -
Was in the region summer 2003 and only partly agree that diving in Moalboal is a disappointment. The spots of the beach are not spectacular, agreed, but there is always Pescador Island, a short banka ride away. Fantastic wall, great viz that easily rivals the walls of Balicasag Island near Pangloa. Lots of action in the blue and at depth there are at least two resident whitetips - the biggest ones I ever saw (and the only decent sized whitetips I saw in the whole of the Visayas in three weeks and 32 dives). The whole itself is packed with small stuff, anything from cool anemone shrimps, boxer crabs and tiny frogfish. If on Cebu and on your way to Dumaguette and Apo overland, I would not skip Moalboal. Also good place to chill out from your travels, its about 3 hours by taxi from Cebu International. Has a good atmosphere, quite some bars on the beach. Not as classy as Pangloa, more budget. I liked it better, especially as it appears to attract a crowd of nice folks (panglao felt more like honeymoonplace? not what you need as a single travelling diver).
Two days in Moalboal, 4/5 dives on Pescador would have you see it all and move on to Dumaguette. You have to get the ferry from southern cebu, took me better part of a day to get to Dauin south of Duma on public transport where the El Dorado resort is, one of the places from where you can set sail to Apo Island. People rave about the place, I didn't think it was that special, lots of coral gardens; like you I prefer walls. There is good muck diving around, and mandarin fish are guaranteed. I thought the resorts were, again, catering to the honeymoon crowd, got bored quickly and left. Maybe its better at Peter's resort on Apo Isl itself, dunno.
I also did some diving on Siguijor which you can skip without missing a heartbeat, waste of time (although I got trapped by a school of big barra's - scary dudes that came close in 14m of water. That was one of the highlites of the trip, actually, but Siguijor on your own would be too much for even the true einzelganger, nothing happens there). Romantic place though.
Moved on to Southern Leyte - now there's some walls! Around Limasawa Island there is steep walls virtually untouched. check
www.leyte-divers.com for more info. Difficult to get to though - I overlanded from Panglao to east Bohol (messy place) and took the boat to Maasin on Leyte. True frontier diving.
Did Malapasqua on the way back (via Cebu which is a 6 hour sail or so from Maasin, fun to cruise the archipel by ferry on a bunk, liked it) and that was fun. The treshers are amazing, biggest sharks I saw yet. Dunno whether the chance of spotting them is still the 50.50 is was at the time. There is some fun diving at Gato Island near malapasqua with lots of rocks, swimthroughs etc, good fun and lots of cool stuff (saw my first juvenile sweetlip there - so cute!). Also hear that the reefs around malapasqua are good for muck diving and mandarin fish, didn't try as I had to race to get plane back.
Let me know if you want some further pointers. Happy travels.
Arie
