Water temps in Philippines?

What are the water temps in Philippines currently?

Just got back.

You're looking at 78 plus/minus a degree.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

Just got back from Dumaguete this morning. Temp was 79-80 on sunny days and about 78 on the cloudy days. I didn't pack my wetsuit and it was a mistake, mostly b/c of all the invisible stingy thingies in the water. I dove with shorts and one of those long sleeve lycra dive shirts and I have itchy welts everywhere that was exposed ( forearms, lower legs).

Bring a 1-3 mm suit and you should be fine. Enjoy. Where exactly are you going?

I'm not really sure, I know I want to dive in the Philippines, but I don't know much about the place. I heard the diving off of Palawan was the best, or near to Cebu. Can you give any recommendations? Where are the more dangerous places to avoid?

Dangerous places -- only ones I'm sure of relate to danger from the human element. Lots of pirates and insurgents in the Sulu Sea/Mindinao region, where of course there's great diving.

Palawan has good diving but is trying to recover from cyanide and dynamite fishing. Tubbataha reef about 100 miles south of Palawan is supposed to rival or surpass Palau for pelagic action and is even better for macro life.

I would highly recommend Dumaguete, Moalbal and Bohol. Dumaguete has lots of macro critters like baby frogfish, ghost and ornate pipefishes, nudibranchs, anemone shrimps and crabs. It seemed every species was mating the week I was there, even the corals, which was a spectacular sight to see. If you do a query on the Asia dive forum, you might get a few more responses.

Hi funkyspelunker,

I just got back from Cebu a couple of weeks ago. I was there working for 4 months and was lucky enough to log 50+ dives around Cebu!

So, if you are planning to go to the Cebu region, I would recommend Gato Island and Monad Shoal at Malapascua (north of Cebu). There you will find Thresher Sharks at the Shoal; and white-tip and black-tip sharks and some sea snakes at Gato. I dove 2x's at Monad Shoal, but did not see a thresher myself. There is almost a 100% guarantee of seeing the white/black-tips at Gato. I dove there 3x's and saw sharks on every dive. The local divemasters know where to find them in the caves and holes around the tiny island. There is also a tunnel at Gato that you can go through where the sharks hang out. You can surface inside the tunnel to see bats.

There is also good diving in Bohol, particularly Cabilao and Balicasag Islands. The reefs here are in excellent condition and there are very nice hard and soft corals. Also a chance to see sea turtles.

I hear that Moalboal has nice diving also, although I did not get a chance to go there personally.

The water temps are warm enough to dive with a shortie suit, although you may run into some jellies and want the protection of a thin long suit.

Hope this information is helpful to you!

Happy Diving!
Becki

oooh, that all sounds so wonderful Becki, I think you've swung my appetite back towards Philippines from Indo, so did you ever feel like your safety was in jeapordy?

No, I actually felt safer there than I do here sometimes....lol. The people there are very friendly and big on hospitality. The Cebu region is fairly safe for tourists. Of course, you don't want to disregard safety precautions completely. Probably the biggest threat you might encounter is pick-pocketing in public places (malls, markets, etc). It would probably be wise to avoid the Mindanao region right now, which is quite a ways south of Cebu. But no, I never felt like my safety was in jeopardy at all.

PS. Feel free to check out my homepage.....have lots of diving pics there from around Cebu. www.picturetrail.com/beckileighs =)

those are splendid photos, it looks like you had a wonderful time over there. I don't suppose you know how easy it is or how much it costs to get to Taipei from Manila (as long as you're answering just about every other question I have). So how is it to be home? You're probably missing Philippines!