Advice for Philippine dive trip

So I was sleeping when the invasion 2016 booking was opened, and we are SOOL. My husband and I have decided to do the Philippines in 2015. We have no interest in technical diving. We are pretty fish people, birdwatchers, into photography etc. Just as interested in wildlife on land as well as marine. This will be our first and likely only trip to Asia. We are planning on 3 weeks. We are both AOW with 200+ dives, but the worst current we have dealt with was in Cozumel.
We would prefer not to do a liveaboard.

I have been researching and here’s what I have come up with:

El Nido, Palawan – 5ish days
Puerto Galera – 5ish days
Malapascua 5ish days
(side trip to Oslob – I understand it’s a bit of a circus, but I want to see a whale shark – it’s a bucket list item)
Should we drop any of those and visit Dumaguete (Dauin)? Should we just do 2 spots?

Fly into Manila, Fly out of Cebu via Seoul (Seoul – Toronto / Korean Air)

My research tells me that ITI air (Manila to El Nido) has a limit of 10kg – seriously? Our photo gear is that much, let alone dive gear. How do we work around that? Do people not take their own gear?

I see lots of high end resorts at El Nido, are there moderate options?

Is May a good time of year for all those locations?

What non-diving places would you recommend visiting?

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated; this board has helped me so much in the past!!!

All I can tell you is that we had a fabulous time at the Atlantis resorts in Puerto Galera and Dumaguete. PG did have some strong currents in some places, but little or none in others. Dumaguete is muck diving like Lembeh, with many weird and wonderful critters and lots of good macro opportunities. Both resorts were downright lovely, with superb service and excellent food and very comfortable lodgings. Plus, the management went well beyond expectations to save our butts when the airline stranded us an island away from where we needed to be.

We're headed back in October. I guess that says something.

Firstly may will be a very good and warm time all over the Philippines.

- You'll probably find ElNido attractive for landcsapes and kayaking but it is not the first place that comes to mind for diving,-
Puerto Galera... well, do not settle around Sabang which is quite party/red light. Personally I prefer Anilao for diving, much better macro, but you'll be then restricted to your resort.Malapascua is a small island, no birding I fear.
- Bohol/Panglao might be great for you if you decide to go sightseeing.Negros island (either Dauin or Sipalay) might be your best bet for diving and birding.
- You can stop and dive at Oslob on your way back to Cebu city staying at Moalboal, Dumaguete/Dauin or Liloan.

If I were you I'd do :- Enter Manila- spend 5 days either in Anilao (more macro stuff) or Coron- Fly to Negros : Sipalay or/and Dauin- Take a ferry to Bohol, dive in Panglao/Balicasag - Way back to Cebu.

Hey wait... except for the Bohol part these were like my last holidays in March.

How do manage with the jetlag? Do you take a day before diving to acclimate?

I didn't find Sabang to be unpleasant at all. It was very quiet where we were, but it was fun to take the walk down along the beach and see the stores and hotels and restaurants. We could have had some adventures if we had been so minded, but we mostly stayed in our lovely resort and enjoyed the view. And night diving in the bay, under the boats, was AMAZING!

I totally ignored the jet lag and the lack of sleep on the overnight plane trip from San Francisco. I went diving within 30 minutes of arriving at Atlantis Puerto Galera in the early morning. Did four dives that day and then had a GREAT night's sleep, followed by five dives a day for a week.

Mixing bird watching and wild life with diving in Philippines(3 weeks) is going to be very difficult. Would you like to go to Davao and trek up Mt. Apo to watch the Philippine Eagle? There is reasonable good diving around Davao and General Santos. But you might have second though if I mention both cities are in Southern Mindanao!
Three wks with minimum back-trekking:
1. Manila to Anilao(diving), ferry across from Batangas to Sabang(diving), back to Batangas to catch overnight ferry to Boracay(diving), catch a flight from Caticlan to Cebu.
From Cebu you can branch out to:
Bohol(diving, Chocolate Hill and Tasier monkey in captivity).
Oslob(whaleshark) + Moalboal(school of sardine)
Malapascua(thresh shark)
2. Fly to Tagbilaren from Manila
Short transfer to Alona Beach or Anda(diving), ferry to Dumaguete(diving), different ferry and bus to Moalboal(diving), bus to Oslob(whaleshark), bus to Cebu, bus and ferry to Malapascua and finally back to Cebu.
3. If you want a bit of Nature then you can fly into Camiguin an Island of 7 vocanoes. Plenty of opportunities for hiking. But knowledgeable guide is required. Diving is NOT that great though.
You can also fly into Busuanga(Coron) for the wrecks and might be able to dive with dugongs!!!
There are so many things to dive/see in the country. 3wks is never enough.
Enjoy.

We have had people arrive from afar at the resort, go diving and enjoy the day and literally collapse and pass out later that day. The cause is always dehydration. Jet lag is fine and you can dive if you feel like diving but the big mistake everyone makes is to have an active day, sun bathe, enjoy a few beers and drink too little water.

A popular choice for some is to fly on to Cebu and base yourself in the Visayas for your stay with Malapascua, Moalboal, Dumaguete, Oslob and Panglao all within easy reach

We have just done three weeks in Visayas. We flew into Cebu , so nth the night in the Marco Polo hotel. We were then picked up by Sea Explorers and taken to Malapascua , where we stayed in Ocean Vida and dived with the shop attached. Stayed there for 9 nights. We than caught a private transfer to the other end of Cebu and caught a local ferry to Negros where we stayed with Pura Vida for 5 nights and again dived with SE. Then we caught the same ferry back to Cebu and stayed in Maolboal in Turtle Bay. This is just 3 hours from Cebu airport so great to hear home. Transfers were a breeze , Malapascua to Dumaguete took most of the day , but it was a stunning beautiful drive and far easier than queuing up at airports. The diving was absolutely awesome. We saw loads of thresher sharks and ten whale sharks in Oslob , as well as multiple turtles on almost every dive in Dauin and Maolboal and the massive bait ball of sardines in Maolbaol.

Tippytoes where did you stay in Dauin?

---------- Post added August 2nd, 2014 at 12:30 PM ----------

Ok I just realized Dauin = negros