September dive trip to PI?

Well we have the dates for our next dive trip, Sept 18 - Oct 4, 2009, but are discussing the destination. The Philippines does not sound ideal for those dates. From what I can tell it's still rainy up North, like in Puerto Galera. And it can be stormy in the South, like in Dumaguete. I'm concerned about long boats trips being canceled, like to Apo Island from Dumaguete.

Can anyone give my some help? We want to dive PI, this would be our first time to PI, but there are other options with good diving.

Thanks

I've dove Apo Island during some choppy weather. Noooooo problem. (YYMV)

Apo Island from Dumaguete main is only about 25 minutes.

If you're seriously concerned about the weather, try Davao. However, you're going for about 3 weeks so you're bound to get in diving the majority of those days.

September and October are good viz months in PG and the Visayas. It could be stormy in the North and rainy in the south, though.

Dauin (Dumaguete City) has great diving whether they are sending boats to Apo Island or not. When I was there last September the weather was great, not sure about October. It rained every night, but rarely during the day.

Thanks for the responses. I feel better about our dates. Now I have to convince my friends about the trip. Still don't know how I want to do the trip, I have to resist the temptation to move around and see/dive too many places.

On the weather topic, I also emailed the Atlantis Resorts and got this response:

There is no real bad time to visit the Philippines, both air and water temperatures are great all year round, so is the diving. We will get an occasional shower during July and August, but it is tropical, so usually blows over in half an hour or so.

In Dumaguete we have excellent weather most of the year with a minimal risk of typhoons during the last six months of the year. In fact Dumaguete can almost boast its own weather system; surrounded by mountains much of the bad weather associated with typhoons or the rainy seasons in other parts of the country is deflected away from the area.

And I found this on the El Galleon resort website:

We are an all year round dive resort with the sea normally moderate during December to March and calm during April and May, often talked about by the travellers (not divers) as being the best time of year to be here. Water temperature during December to mid or late February 23Ž° to 27Ž°c.

From June to November (typhoon season July to August) can be and often is some of our best diving conditions. We do get rain (sometimes) during these months, however its normally at night either early evening or early morning leaving the days to be fine and mostly sunny with sea condition being excellent. The visibility is often at its best during this part of the year, however its not called typhoon season for nothing. There is always the risk of having a typhoon pass by and leaving behind it a day or two of rain and coursing some swells. Its rare that a typhoon would pass through Puerto Galera and in the past years we had one in 1996 and the next two where 2006, May and December! None since then as of this righting that have affected Puerto Galera. Weather temperatures, mid to late February to November 28Ž°c to 30Ž°c

I've been diving and teaching scuba in the Philippines for 2 years, diving most weekends, four or five dives a day - I can count on one hand the number of wekends that have been washed out by the weather!

The reality is that even in bad weather, it rarely affects the whole country at the same time - there's 7,107 islands - so there is always somewhere to dive. It is truly an all-year round dive destination with every type of diving you could wish for - big blue sea, wreck, macro photography, drift, reef and some great night-diving locations.

If it's of interest, check out gearupdiving through Google - these guys know their stuff and can probably help.

The weather in Southern Mindanao is good year-round - we do not get typhoons here. In fact, we are far closer to Indonesia than Manila (between 5 and 6 degrees North).

Davao and General Santos both have excellent diving. Davao is excellent for macro. Gensan has superb reefs and walls, great pelagic life and good macro.

Water temeperature is a stable 28C year round (+-.5C).

You are gonna love it!
I was there in the Visayas for 13 days at the very same time 2008. I same two days where it rained for 1-2 hours. It just poured and then stopped. Very Asia style of rain. You won't have any problem (the locals are telling the truth!!)

The vis was great, Apo was tremendous (we dove with Adventure Dive Center and they were a very good bunch). The drift dive section of Apo was definitely in my top 5 five of dive experiences. Superman style all the way!!! The reefs are great, life crawling on life!

I live in Hawaii and I can assure you that I saw no surface chop like I see here. The Visayas are an excellent choice as the islands are smack dab in the middle of the Philippines and very protected. The ride from Dauin to Apo is smooth. And the lunch break is sweet, you pull up on the beach and have a great lunch at a cool little beach hotel..and then back in the water for a final dive. Look out for their resident Napoleon Wrasse..he's a big fella!

There are some little mini resorts right at Dauin south of Dumaguete City (where the boats actually leave from to go to Apo Is.) You might find them interesting.

Check out a couple other locales if you have time. I dove Moalboal and liked Pescador Island there very much. It's loaded in coral and you can see some great life such as sea snakes, lionfish, soft corals and sponges....

This fall I plan to dive in Panglao in Bohol (my friend was there last year and he like Philippines Island Divers shop) and Malapascua Island (I wanna see those thresher sharks in action!). All of these places can easily be reached in a day's time from Dumaguete via boat+bus as long as you get up EARLY. Travel in the PI is cheap. Fifty pesos max for a beer, 1000 pesos for pretty damn good acommodation...and the people are fantastic!

Have Fun! I hope this helps!

Jason