Apo island diving

gaudencio · Feb 12, 2005

Hi,
My buddies and I were planning to dive Apo Island this April 19-25. I chanced upon the website of Liberty's Community Lodge Apo Island. has any one of you had the chance to dive and stayed in this resort. How is the diving also at Apo island, is it worth it to spend for this trip. Can you recommend also other resort in Apo island. I had reports that Apo island is good for sport fishing. Can you share if you had done so.
thanks in advance.
:dazzler1:

shugar · Feb 12, 2005

gaudencio:
Hi,
My buddies and I were planning to dive Apo Island this April 19-25. I chanced upon the website of Liberty's Community Lodge Apo Island. has any one of you had the chance to dive and stayed in this resort. How is the diving also at Apo island, is it worth it to spend for this trip. Can you recommend also other resort in Apo island. I had reports that Apo island is good for sport fishing. Can you share if you had done so.
thanks in advance.
:dazzler1:

the only operations i noticed on Apo were "paul's dive resort" and another one whose name i never got although it did look pretty good

i did 2 dives in apo last month... both drift... it was great! sea life was wonderful, the current was racing... the area's a sanctuary and the locals have taken pretty good care of it

i dove out of Bahura Resort, Scubaworld's new operation in dumaguete... it was a 20-or-so minute crossing via their dive banca (they have their own boat)... last month it wasn't operational yet but i hear they will open by march... why don't you give scubaworld a call (if they ask where you heard about it, just say "jag" one of the guys doing their video) they should be able to help you

the trip is worth it... definitely... really wouldn't mind going back once again

Jag

jbb · Feb 12, 2005

gaudencio:
Hi,
My buddies and I were planning to dive Apo Island this April 19-25. I chanced upon the website of Liberty's Community Lodge Apo Island. has any one of you had the chance to dive and stayed in this resort. How is the diving also at Apo island, is it worth it to spend for this trip. Can you recommend also other resort in Apo island. I had reports that Apo island is good for sport fishing. Can you share if you had done so.
thanks in advance.
:dazzler1:

Yes, I stayed there last spring in May 2004. Nice place they have some cheap rooms and nicer rooms (Liberty gives the pricing on their web site). There is no hot, running water or showers in the rooms. It's local style of a water cistern and a handled pail of water dumped over your head. They have mosquito nets and fans in the nice rooms. I liked staying there as it was an easy 15 minute boat ride to any dive spot on the island. The Liberty Lodge is connected to Paul's Diving. Food was o.k. nothing fancy. I loved the diving. I spent 5 days there. The currents change from day to day depending upon which site you dive. I like to dive the same site a few times as they always change and there is always something new to see. There isn't anything much else to do there other than dive, just in case you have some non-divers along.

Jason

gaudencio · Feb 12, 2005

Yes, I stayed there last spring in May 2004. Nice place they have some cheap rooms and nicer rooms (Liberty gives the pricing on their web site). There is no hot, running water or showers in the rooms (quote)

Hi Jbb.
Just like to ask , is the food expensive? Around how much is per meal?
Yes I also plan to bring along some sportfishing friends, did you see any sportsfisherman while you were there?
JimmyT.

erik.p · Feb 14, 2005

Paul (as in Paul's Diving) is married to Liberty (as in liberty's resort).
I've been there 1 998 and 2 003 - I love the place.
Simple but clean accomendation and food.
Can't remember the prices for food, but it was on a normal level, not too expensive as it wasn't too luxuriuos.
Diving is really good and worth a trip - certainly from Manila.
There is a fishing village on the island, so I guess they could set you up.
The dive resorts and the fishermen have an agreement, where the fishermen are they don't dive and vice versa (expect for the manire sanctuary which is off limits för the fishermen at all times). This chnges from day to day, depending on who's first to the site.

jbb · Feb 14, 2005

gaudencio:
Yes, I stayed there last spring in May 2004. Nice place they have some cheap rooms and nicer rooms (Liberty gives the pricing on their web site). There is no hot, running water or showers in the rooms (quote)

Hi Jbb.
Just like to ask , is the food expensive? Around how much is per meal?
Yes I also plan to bring along some sportfishing friends, did you see any sportsfisherman while you were there?
JimmyT.

Jimmy,

I can't really recall how much the food was priced at. It was near the beginning of my trip and I wasn't terribly concerned nor were the prices very high. Maybe $6-8 for dinner at night depending on how much beer you have and $2-3 for breakfast. I'm sure Liberty would respond with some pricing if you e-mail her. I didn't see any sport fishing off of the island. Perhaps you could hire one of the fishermen to take your buddies out. Most of the fishing boats were those one man craft though. Again e-mail Liberty for info.

They did offer discounted dive pricing if you had more than 5 dives (one dive is $20 with discounting from $1-2 depending on total dives). There are fees for some of the dives. I think they will accept American Express travelers checks in $US and of course cash in pesos or $US. Make sure to bring it with you because the nearest exchange is back in Dumaguete.

Also a very strange thing is the time there. Apo island is 10 minutes ahead of the rest of the Philippines. Not sure why.

Jason

gaudencio · Feb 15, 2005

I can't really recall how much the food was priced at. It was near the beginning of my trip and I wasn't terribly concerned nor were the prices very high. Maybe $6-8 for dinner at night depending on how much beer you have and $2-3 for breakfast.(quote0

jbb,
lIBERTY quoted me and said that meals per person in a day wuould cost around P 450-550/ day and depending on how much we eat, meaning it could go higher. Did you bring your own mineral water. I'm afraid that water there might be expensive or is it free. I remembered when we were at Balicasag Island, Bohol. Water we consumed were really hurting our pockets.
Gaudencio

gaudencio · Feb 15, 2005

Hi Erik.P
We were also planning to go on half moon, so the currents might be only slight. I think the rooms she quoted me are OK. its around 995 for a room and 1 free bed for my kid. We are taking the morning flight so we can go diving by Afternoon. did you also do the same ?
Gaudencio

shugar · Feb 15, 2005

gaudencio:
Hi Erik.P
We were also planning to go on half moon, so the currents might be only slight. I think the rooms she quoted me are OK. its around 995 for a room and 1 free bed for my kid. We are taking the morning flight so we can go diving by Afternoon. did you also do the same ?
Gaudencio

if you take the 1st flights to dumaguete you should be able to get a dive in by 10+ or 11am hehehehehe :eyebrow:

Jag

erik.p · Feb 15, 2005

I live in Europe, so both times I've gone it's been for my holidays.

Both times we've arrived in the afternoon, and then taken the "water boat" out to
the island. You can head straight from the airport to the small fishing village opposit Apo Island and then get a "special ride" out to the island.

Regarding water I don't remember if it was for free or not, but as they have to get it from land every day my guess is "no". But I don't recall it being expensive either.

The "10 minutes" time thing is true. What I heard from David (one of the DM:s) is that this is true for a large part of Cebu - expect for Cebu city- and parts of Negros.
To make things more confusing, this doesn't apply to airplanes, busses, boats etc. - they run on "Manila time".

We hade the same kind of system in my home country Sweden, but this was a long time ago.

Anyway - I hope you enjoy your stay. The diving is really good!

Apo island diving

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