Sea Explorers Island Hopping

Has anyone been on one of the Island Hopping trips that Sea Explorers advertise?

I'm thinking of organising a group trip to the Philippines, and would like to go to two or three places, including Dumaguete (I worked as a Dive Guide on Apo Island for a month or so about 15 years ago, and would like to go back!).

Reading the other forums, it seems that Sea Explorers are still as well-run as I remember (from when they were at El Dorado in Duma!), and being able to do transfers by boat rather than air (and with diving during the transfer!) sounds great.

My only concern, though, is whether these transfers are fairly reliable? I know that even large Bancas aren't the best in rough seas, and their website says that they can't guarantee transfers by Banca - does anyone know how often they have to transfer people by bus and ferry? (I'm planning the trip for March 2010).

Strangely, it appears to be cheaper to book the accommodation direct with the resorts, and buy a separate diving package (The resorts charge between 23 and 33 Euros per per night in a Deluxe room, whereas the Sea Explorers package rate works out at 36 Euros per night, regardless of the resort). Admittedly, the Sea Explorers package includes transfers from Cebu airport, but even taking that into account, it seems a big difference.

The diving prices seem to be the same regardless of whether you buy it with accommodation or not.

Also, can anyone give me an idea of how much we should allow per day for lunch and dinner, assuming that we eat at the resorts, rather than at (presumably cheaper) restaurants nearby?

Anyone with any experience of the Island Hopping trip - your comments would be very welcome!

Hi Nstead
I just got back from a 3-week trip with Sea Explorers, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

We found them VERY well-run, ALL the guides we dove with were very professional and had amazing local knowldge. The critters and coral we saw blew our minds. Sea Explorers seemed to do the maximum to ensure all our transfers were diveable-- and in several instances, it was just the two of us with our own banca and dive guide!! We did a few transfers in rather bouncy seas, and found it just fine (we are sailors by profession though so a big sea does not phase us). Of course, it depends on where you go. Cebu to Moalboal is always overland. There was one day where they had us transfer mostly overland instead of diving due to lack of boats (Cabilao to Alona Beach) but the land transfers were always fine too-- drivers in nice SUVs were there on time, and had no problem with our impromptu stop requests along the way. Fast too.
March in the Visayas, from what I remember hearing, should be nice and sunny. Lucky you!

Go ahead and book the resorts seperately if you do the math and find it cheaper. We only had a week to plan our 3-week vacation, and appreciated that we didn't have to contact each place individually and wire transfer them the deposits-- $30 bucks a pop here, which adds up if you want to travel to more than a few places. Having Sea Explorers handle all the transfers, and deal with our last-mintue changes, was also very very appreciated. We could have cheaped out and taxi'd to whatever ferry, but really glad we let them handle it, and got more diving in along the way. All we had to do was show up. Worth every penny for us.

In terms of food & bev, we spent about 900 pesos a day or so each for lunch and dinner, drinks (say, 3 drinks each a day post-diving), snacks, raiding mini-bar, etc. sometimes more sometimes less. Surprisingly, even the lower-than-average amenity resort (Cabilao Beach Club) were just as expensive, maybe more, food-wise, as the lush, landscaped, pool-equipped sprawling resorts (Pura Vida in Dauin or Coco Grove in Siquijor).
Be warned that unless you make arrangements to rent/hire transportation to get you elsewhere, you can ONLY eat at the Cabilao Beach Club (we eat healthy and thought the food there was blechh and rented a motorbike to go across the island, but just about had a nervous breakdown on the INSANE muddy rutted hilly road home in the dark). In Dauin, you could mosey down the beach to some other large resort, but I doubt you'd find it cheaper. Same with Coco Grove on Siquijor. (We liked it there the best). In Moalboal and Alona Beach, definitely try the other nearby food options, of which there are many.

ANyway, there were quite a few >6 person groups diving with Sea Explorers while we were there, and we all agreed that it was a great way to go.
Hope you have a great time, and get Aking in Cabilao to show you the Pygmy Seahorses!!
And DO NOT MISS the Black Forest on Balicasag Island. Best dive ever. Ever!!

Dont hestiate to contact me directly if you want to hear other kudos and gripes about our trip with Sea Explorers.
cheers
CanukDiver

Canukdiver,

Thanks for your reply. I've been corresponding with Sea Explorers via email, and found them to be very helpful. One sticking point for us was that their "unlimited diving" package is actually only two boat dives per day, however after a few emails, they've agreed to give us a minimum of 30 boat dives in two weeks.

I think you're right - booking everything through one place makes life a lot simpler, so that's what we're going to do.

At the moment, the plan is 5 nights Dauin, 4 nights Siquijor, and 5 nights Alona Beach - this should give us 4 days diving in each location (provided we get transferred by Dive boat).

Cheers,

Neil.

This has certainly given me some things to start with. I'm going on vacation in Siquijor in the 1st week of April. So, might as well start with the Sea Explorers info. Thanks Canukdiver! Have a fun time in the Philippines, Neil!