Apo Island going downhill?

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diver69

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Hi all,

I just read a post on Lonely Planet Thorn Tree that Apo Island seems to have slid downhill recently.

I'll try to paste the report below (Don't know how to link the page)

I'm actually in the process of planning a trip to Phil that include Apo Island in November. In fact, I just e-mailed Liberty's Lodge last night.

Can anyone confirm the situation at Apo Island?

Quoted Post below:

Apo Island - paradise lost?

I've just returned from diving Apo island in the Philippines and I really wanted to share my dissapointment with some of the things that are happening there. This was my third trip there as the diving is stunning but now I find that there are very few bigger fish left there. I also noted much more anchor damage to the coral than 2 years ago.

Firstly, of the three threasher sharks that were hanging around at Rock Point, two have been caught and killed - one sent to market, one consumed by the islanders - and I didnt see the one that is supposedly still there...

Then there WAS the school of jacks that used to hang off Coconut and Mamsa Points - while we were there a commercial fihing boat did what appeared to be a deal with the islanders - headed out there and when the boat left the isdland - no more Jacks to be found - we did numerous dives and only saw about 3 jacks around the whole island.

Then there is the hike in prices. $25US for a dive, in addition to 300 pesos per dive (not per day!) for a diving levy, the 200 pesos camera fee per dive, 100 pesos "entrence fee" to come onto the island, the 50 Pesos fee to dive or snorkel in the sanctury per dive, the 1100 peso boat fee to get to the island - (I've never been able to get around this so far and it's gone up 100 pesos).

Add to this that there is no running water on the island due to some problem with the village well/water supply and that all consumables have a 30% price hike. That 1/2 the islanders want diving and are warring with thoses that dont want divers and maybe this explaines why it seems to be going to ****.

Our contracted in, US divemaster Garry (The Philippino divemaster Renauld, who is brilliant, was injured at the time) was the only DM that I have ever experienced that has abandoned divers and just swum off without even looking up to see what has happened, while 3 of the group had not successfully decended. I ended up with my safey sauage up about 150 M away from the boat, my dive buddy aborted his dive because he couldnt find me and the DM wouldnt surface to find me and the third diver couldnt get below 8M due to being unable to equalise and was also abandoned by the DM. Suffice to say - Garry went in with 4 divers and came up with one. - he also NEVER shut up the whole time he was on the island! Anyway, just wanted people to be aware of the situation and to watch out for this DM - he's dangerous - it was only that my buddy and I are experience that prevented real trouble during that dive.
Oh, yeah, every BCD used malfunctioned in some way - the gear REALLY needs servcing!

I've had some stunning diving over the years at Apo but I'm afraid I'm not going back there - cheers
 
Hi,
I think I can second to that comment about Pauls diving and Liberty Lodge. My dive buddies ( locals) told me about his story when they went there April 2005( I was not able to join them bec. I was in PG). The lodge does not have enough water. They were just given about 1-2 buckets of water to rinse off and take a bath. No electricity during evenings, So its hot during that time. They said food was ok but a bit expensive. the diving was great but you cannot hold to corals if the current is running or else you would get a scolding. My buddies related to me when there was a time when they were left by their DM near the shore and told them to swim to the shore line. But the shore line was around 500 mts away and they are preety tired bec of the current. the reason for this change of plans because they have to fetch a couple of divers ( foreigner) and bring them to the dive site. And since they only have one available diveboat so the priority are where the big bucks are.
Paul immidietly aplogized for the incident and offered food to compensate for tiring swim.
My other buddy ( my compadre) said this is the lousiest diving holiday he has ever experienced. And he said never again would he come back to that place.
 
I was there in April as well. Didn't stay at Liberty and use Paul's. Stayed at the Apo Island Beach Resort. Same thing, water has to be brought from Negros or if they run out, they buy the "not so fresh" well water from the village. That is one place that needs a water purfication plant for the size of the village.
The diving fees in general were exhorbitant for Negros area. Seems like the local government is trying to capitalize on the tourism, which is fine IF they do their bit to protect the area. I was there when the 3 threshers were around everyday. If they have been caught, then why are we paying marine park fees for? It's the same in Malapascua. The fees paid and we still hear fish bombing going off nearby even on Monad Shoal, which is the reason why Malapascua exists as a dive destination. My complaints (as a tourist) to the lady collecting the fees fell on deaf ears... "I'll talk to the people" is all she could offer.
I'm also not sure if there is a pinoy rate for divers in Apo Island. I was there for a week and all the pinoy divers paid the same as I did (which they didn't like). They said they were given a break on the 100pesos island fee etc but the diving and everything else was the same. I can't really understand why Paul's would not hire another boat? It's only 100-200pesos for gringoes so for them it must be cheaper. I know cos I hired a boat for the week. It's got nothing to do with foreigners or locals but just being cheap if that's what happened.
As for the complainant's claims of the overcharging of boat fees, he could've taken the smaller boats for about 300-500 pesos and shared it with the locals. It's a wet ride but cheaper :)
 
When I was there 2 yrs ago, the water situation wasn't that bad.
Can anyone offer any insight on how the diving is there now? By the sound of the report I quoted, it appears the school of jacks is no longer there (it's probably on someone's dinner table a while back). But how about the other stuff?
Electricity was always off during the night when I was there 2 yrs ago, and the breeze was cool enough for a good night's sleep.
But the stories about being left alone by the DM, and having to swim to shore is really putting me off.

I'm looking into Cabilao and Malapascua right now.

Any other suggestion?
 
Where do I step in here? I was just there in mid June with my g/f, this was my first time to Apo island. The diving itself was good, the two Philippino dive masters were good and I was never abandoned or felt cheated, they actually let me dive my whole tank (almost always over 60 min. each time) my g/f who does does not dive was even escorted one day in the sanctuary on her snorkeling trip. I stayed at Liberty's Lodge, Paul is not around, Paul is not even in the country, everytime I mentioned his name I got a 'blank stare', I will say no more there! (but there is a story going around). In charge of the diving was an Englishman named Dave (the instructor) who claims to have been there for 4 years, a rather arrogant individual who never came diving with us, but always managed to hang around the lodge when 'happy hour' came (by the way they can't keep the beer cold due to power situation). The food was allright, although a bit overpriced, the water in the bathroom (we stayed in the Sunset suite) was 'mandi' style, after a day or two, I could smell the chlorine dumped into this water! hmmm!. Otherwise the suite was clean and very nice, the mosquitos were 'killer' but that is mother nature. After 7-8 dives the price comes down to US$17 a dive, but yes they get you on the daily P200 entrance fee and P300 if you use the sanctuary, so yes at least US$20 a dive.
In conclusion, I would go back again, but I could see there might be trouble 'in paradise' looming on Apo island and Liberty's Lodge!
 
Ah June... that's when the pipes actually have water at the other resort where I stayed. Rain water is collected and probably chlorine is used to keep the water "clean". I heard about the stories about Paul, but why support gossip?
The diving is quite decent. No big schools anymore but there's nice coral all round and there's always the macro life, sad as that sounds.

Tboxcar, were the threshers still around?
tboxcar:
Where do I step in here? I was just there in mid June with my g/f, this was my first time to Apo island. The diving itself was good, the two Philippino dive masters were good and I was never abandoned or felt cheated, they actually let me dive my whole tank (almost always over 60 min. each time) my g/f who does does not dive was even escorted one day in the sanctuary on her snorkeling trip. In charge of the diving was an Englishman named Dave (the instructor) who claims to have been there for 4 years, a rather arrogant individual who never came diving with us, but always managed to hang around the lodge when 'happy hour' came (by the way they can't keep the beer cold due to power situation). The food was allright, although a bit overpriced, the water in the bathroom (we stayed in the Sunset suite) was 'mandi' style, after a day or two, I could smell the chlorine dumped into this water! but yes they get you on the daily P200 entrance fee and P300 if you use the sanctuary, so yes at least US$20 a dive.
In conclusion, I would go back again, but I could see there might be trouble 'in paradise' looming on Apo island and Liberty's Lodge!
 
The morning we were getting ready to leave, Dave "the instructor/dive boss" came runnning up and said some fisherman had caught a 12 foot Thresher on hand line at 80 meters while fishing for Jacks. Their policy was that the fisherman sliced off an 'unimportant' section of the sharks fin to bring back as proof of the size of the shark and inturn they are given P1,000 to release it!
Yes, I don't want to perpetuate any rumors as I have never met Paul. It's quite obvious he has put alot of time and money into building that place and I'm sure others would like to 'have a piece of it'
 
I just checked the thread on Lonely Planet and someone posted that he dove at Apo Island this Saturday and saw a school of several hundred Jacks.
I'm kind of up in the air right now with conflicting reports/info. I was really hoping to see the big school of Jacks again. I tend to remember it as a very BIG school, probably in the thousands, but then again, could just be exaggeration of my memory.

When I was in Sipadan last year, I ran into a girl who spent quite a bit of time on Apo Island a couple of years back, and she was indicating all is not well between Liberty and Paul either. When I was there 2 yrs ago, I never met Paul either. If the rumours are true, it's really too bad, because talking to him over the phone, Paul sounded like a really nice guy. Liverty is very nice as well.

tboxcar,

I know what you mean about the "Instructor".

Diver69
 
Just go stay at Apo Beach Resort. Better food than Liberty ( I tried their crap...although the pizza was edible) and better value. The guy running the dive shop is also the husband of one of the girls there. Much better atmosphere, quieter and you get a beach all to yourself.
I actually heard the threshers were poached from the ABIR people. Pity... that's the problem with news, it can bring the bad and the good people.
Diver69
Too many places have lost their jacks to fishermen who poach. DiveNTrek had a school of about 1000 jacks in their house reef. Those were caught once it was determined the resort wasn't in the protected area. I'm sure the local fishermen at Apo also nail the jacks with lines. Which is ok but when you have 10 fishermen hitting the same school daily, it affects the population. Good thing is the school is relatively active unlike the ones at DiveNTrek.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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