Darnold9999
Contributor
A quick summary. The boat and crew were excellent, the diving just so so. I would not do this itinerary again and would need to know that the diving on another itinerary in the Philippines was significantly better for me to return.
The boat was an excellent dive platform with only a few very minor quibbles. The accommodations were spacious and with lots of room to store and hang everything I needed to. A small desk with a computer and monitor were a bonus. Did not use either, but did use the desk to edit pictures on my laptop. The single beds were comfortable (some complained that they were too hard, I found them perfect). Shower was roomy with lots of hot water. Could have used a shelf in the bathroom for odds and ends, but there was nothing. I just kept everything in a bathroom bag - no big deal and in a rough crossing probably better anyway.
The dive deck is very spacious with a drawer for odds and ends beside each diver. Multiple rinse tanks with separate tanks for cameras, wet suits, and other odds and ends. Diving is done from two RIB's. you gear up on the main boat and walk to the RIB fully geared carrying fins and mask, put them on in the RIB on the way to the dive site and then back-roll off. Cameras are loaded on the RIB by the crew. My initial impression of this was not the best as walking on a moving boat and then down stairs to a platform and then a giant step to a RIB that is bouncing in the water was a bit daunting, but in the end it worked well. Crew are stationed everywhere to support you and assist in case of an unexpected movement. I managed to slip on one step from the platform to the RIB and the two crew who had a hold of me while making the step caught me and turned what could have been a nasty fall into a graceful collapse to the deck with no damage done.
The first minor quibble. The RIB's have two stroke engines, they smoke and breathing the exhaust while waiting for others to board was not pleasant. These engines need to be replaced with 4 stroke engines.
The second minor quibble is reboarding the RIB. The ladders on these boats are possibly the worst I have ever used. You could remove your gear and have the crew pull tanks up and reboard without tanks. However if you choose to reboard with gear on you needed the crew to physically pull you up the ladder and into the boat. It was all but impossible to climb the ladder without assistance. The angle of the ladder, the weight of diver and equipment meant that until you were partly into the boat you were hanging from the ladder falling back into the water. Just did not work well at all. With assistance it worked, but was a pain.
The third very minor quibble is the size of the camera table. It is a bit small for a boat of this size. Lots of storage space for cameras and associated gear, but the actual working surface area was small and we all had to be prepared to share. As camera sizes shrink this will become less of an issue.
The food was excellent, but I do see where a previous reviewer's complaints came from. The meals were all, but one night with an on deck BBQ, quite predictable. Rice, some kind of potato (fries, baked, boiled ), a cooked vegetable dish (beans, cauliflower, eggplant etc.), a seafood dish, two meat dishes (two of beef, pork and chicken) and a plate of mixed fresh fruit. The meat dishes were always chopped meat in some kind of sauce. If you like your meat plain you will be sorely disappointed. I had read reviews which complained about the lack of a dinner salad and had asked for a salad at dinner which was excellent, but served individually to me. Had serious salad envy from the other passengers by the end of the trip. Personally I think they could cut back on the meat and add a salad dish and most would be happier, but otherwise I thought the food was excellent even if predictable.
The diving was disappointing from two perspectives. The first was my own fault and a bit of research would have told me not to do this itinerary. I choose diving from liveaboards largely so that I can dive in places where I can't dive easily from resorts, not so much for the convenience factor. The vast majority of the dives done on this itinerary can be easily done without the expense of a liveaboard. Only the dives at Apo Reef could be considered remote and best done from a liveaboard. The Coron part of the itinerary and the Anilao portion of the itinerary were within easy travel from local dive resorts.
The second perspective is the actual dives. The Coron dives on the wrecks were very disappointing. The vis was awful - 15 to 20 feet sometimes less. I didn't even consider taking my wide angle lens on any of the wreck sites, nor did I take my 105 - just too much stuff in the water. It is hard to get any kind of perspective of a wreck if all you can see is 15 feet in any direction - and that through a haze of crap. Reminded me of diving here in the PNW at its worst. I imagine that these wrecks would be excellent as penetration dives, but as wrecks to explore and view from the outside they were not very interesting at all in that kind of vis. I have exactly no pictures of any of them. Just macro pictures of the life on the wrecks. No other photographer on the trip came back with any pictures of the wrecks either. The night dive with mandarin fish and the Barracuda Lake dive were highlights of this portion of the trip. Still haven't got a mandarin fish picture I like, but at least the opportunity was there.
The vis opened up to about 40 - 50 feet on Apo Reef and the dives we did there were better with lots of healthy hard coral, aquarium fish and some larger life. There were a few very shy sharks and a couple of turtles, but altogether a pretty average set of dives in average vis.
The highlight for me was the diving at Anilao. The vis was about the same here as Apo, about 50 feet or so. However by and large these are macro dives so the low vis is not as critical as it is for wrecks and coral reef diving and it was clear enough so that the 105 was useable. The macro life was varied and interesting and the night dives excellent. I would dive Anilao again, just not from a liveaboard as many of the dives we were doing were house reefs for hotels. Easy to get to from shore resorts.
The boat was an excellent dive platform with only a few very minor quibbles. The accommodations were spacious and with lots of room to store and hang everything I needed to. A small desk with a computer and monitor were a bonus. Did not use either, but did use the desk to edit pictures on my laptop. The single beds were comfortable (some complained that they were too hard, I found them perfect). Shower was roomy with lots of hot water. Could have used a shelf in the bathroom for odds and ends, but there was nothing. I just kept everything in a bathroom bag - no big deal and in a rough crossing probably better anyway.
The dive deck is very spacious with a drawer for odds and ends beside each diver. Multiple rinse tanks with separate tanks for cameras, wet suits, and other odds and ends. Diving is done from two RIB's. you gear up on the main boat and walk to the RIB fully geared carrying fins and mask, put them on in the RIB on the way to the dive site and then back-roll off. Cameras are loaded on the RIB by the crew. My initial impression of this was not the best as walking on a moving boat and then down stairs to a platform and then a giant step to a RIB that is bouncing in the water was a bit daunting, but in the end it worked well. Crew are stationed everywhere to support you and assist in case of an unexpected movement. I managed to slip on one step from the platform to the RIB and the two crew who had a hold of me while making the step caught me and turned what could have been a nasty fall into a graceful collapse to the deck with no damage done.
The first minor quibble. The RIB's have two stroke engines, they smoke and breathing the exhaust while waiting for others to board was not pleasant. These engines need to be replaced with 4 stroke engines.
The second minor quibble is reboarding the RIB. The ladders on these boats are possibly the worst I have ever used. You could remove your gear and have the crew pull tanks up and reboard without tanks. However if you choose to reboard with gear on you needed the crew to physically pull you up the ladder and into the boat. It was all but impossible to climb the ladder without assistance. The angle of the ladder, the weight of diver and equipment meant that until you were partly into the boat you were hanging from the ladder falling back into the water. Just did not work well at all. With assistance it worked, but was a pain.
The third very minor quibble is the size of the camera table. It is a bit small for a boat of this size. Lots of storage space for cameras and associated gear, but the actual working surface area was small and we all had to be prepared to share. As camera sizes shrink this will become less of an issue.
The food was excellent, but I do see where a previous reviewer's complaints came from. The meals were all, but one night with an on deck BBQ, quite predictable. Rice, some kind of potato (fries, baked, boiled ), a cooked vegetable dish (beans, cauliflower, eggplant etc.), a seafood dish, two meat dishes (two of beef, pork and chicken) and a plate of mixed fresh fruit. The meat dishes were always chopped meat in some kind of sauce. If you like your meat plain you will be sorely disappointed. I had read reviews which complained about the lack of a dinner salad and had asked for a salad at dinner which was excellent, but served individually to me. Had serious salad envy from the other passengers by the end of the trip. Personally I think they could cut back on the meat and add a salad dish and most would be happier, but otherwise I thought the food was excellent even if predictable.
The diving was disappointing from two perspectives. The first was my own fault and a bit of research would have told me not to do this itinerary. I choose diving from liveaboards largely so that I can dive in places where I can't dive easily from resorts, not so much for the convenience factor. The vast majority of the dives done on this itinerary can be easily done without the expense of a liveaboard. Only the dives at Apo Reef could be considered remote and best done from a liveaboard. The Coron part of the itinerary and the Anilao portion of the itinerary were within easy travel from local dive resorts.
The second perspective is the actual dives. The Coron dives on the wrecks were very disappointing. The vis was awful - 15 to 20 feet sometimes less. I didn't even consider taking my wide angle lens on any of the wreck sites, nor did I take my 105 - just too much stuff in the water. It is hard to get any kind of perspective of a wreck if all you can see is 15 feet in any direction - and that through a haze of crap. Reminded me of diving here in the PNW at its worst. I imagine that these wrecks would be excellent as penetration dives, but as wrecks to explore and view from the outside they were not very interesting at all in that kind of vis. I have exactly no pictures of any of them. Just macro pictures of the life on the wrecks. No other photographer on the trip came back with any pictures of the wrecks either. The night dive with mandarin fish and the Barracuda Lake dive were highlights of this portion of the trip. Still haven't got a mandarin fish picture I like, but at least the opportunity was there.
The vis opened up to about 40 - 50 feet on Apo Reef and the dives we did there were better with lots of healthy hard coral, aquarium fish and some larger life. There were a few very shy sharks and a couple of turtles, but altogether a pretty average set of dives in average vis.
The highlight for me was the diving at Anilao. The vis was about the same here as Apo, about 50 feet or so. However by and large these are macro dives so the low vis is not as critical as it is for wrecks and coral reef diving and it was clear enough so that the 105 was useable. The macro life was varied and interesting and the night dives excellent. I would dive Anilao again, just not from a liveaboard as many of the dives we were doing were house reefs for hotels. Easy to get to from shore resorts.
