April-May 2010 divetrip P.Burgos, ElNido...

[scubasaurus]

Dear PPD´s!

Coming April, we (the Carcarian asawa and me) plan for a trip to Philippines, after some family visit in the Pork Capital of Cebu we plan to head for Padre Burgos (S.Leyte) for some diving.
Some insights needed about this:
- How big is the chance there to see butandings around end April/begin May?
- Which resort/dive operator you advice?
- Any other great tips/dive sites not to be missed/other things not to be missed?

After that we are planning to transfer to Tacloban and via domestic flights (via MNL, and then w/ SEAIR) going to El Nido.
From other posts i already concluded palawan divers is THE operator there, how many days for diving/island hopping would you advice...? Any suggestions for budget accomodations (not miniloc price range heheheh)? Are there also some cool murk dive sites there? (still want to see some cool critters like flamboyant cuttlefish, blueringed octo's)

Does anyone has experience diving in Port Barton? (from the pix it also seemed very nice to have a stop over there)

Anyway, salamat in advance :)
Jelle (and Cherryl)

[beaner1]

I dove S. Leyte 3 weeks ago... stayed at Peter's Dive Resort. Great staff and DMs, decent food, "rustic accommodation". If you're not looking for a "resort" this place will suffice. No bells and whistles, just good diving and helpful staff.
We did four dives a day; night and day diving off the house reef which is great, diving off reefs that are a max of 45min. by boat (one in particular called Napantao Wall 1 was *excellent* - felt like I was diving in an aquarium, there was so much coral and so many fish). The Padre Burgos jetty was incredible for night dives (only on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays - I think? - to allow the fishermen some peace).
Didn't see any "big stuff", as in whale sharks or sharks, but did see an amazing array of other creatures (keep in mind that I generally dive in Phuket, where I live) such as:
-cuttlefish
-SO MANY different nudibranches
-the *biggest* moray i have EVER seen
-tons of shrimp and decorator crabs (!)
-stargazers
-green sea turtle, hawksbill turtles
-lots of scorpionfish and the *biggest* stonefish i have EVER seen
-razor fish
-mandarin fish
-juvenile oriental sweetlips (so cute!)
-angler fish (!!)
-a dozen seahorses
-about half a dozen pygmy seahorses (!!!)
Anyway, hope this helps.

[clgsamson]

hey beaner, you forgot to say you're coming back.

[scubasaurus]

Thanks Beaner for the info... it surely helps a lot for the first part of our upcoming trip! :D

I dived Phuket (Similans!) before, that was pretty impressive.
I also dived in Philippines in various locations (Dauin incl Ducomo!, Coron wrecks, Bohol, Moalboal). The big stuff is getting so rare nowadays... :(

We definitely like the more 'rustic accomodation' (don't really understand why ppl want to pay a 200$/€ for a room in Philippines). So, i guess we'll get in touch w/ Peter's DR soon.
:):):):)

[chip104]

April is typically the last month to see the whalesharks in sogod. Many of us have stayed at and are fans of Sogod Bay Scuba Resort.

For diving in El Nido, definitely check out Bill22's trip report.

[annasea]

Another vote for Sogod Bay Scuba Resort (http://www.sogodbayscubaresort.com/).

[OuterReefAdventure]

Ill go with you!!!