Back form the Visayas - Part 1 - Malapascua

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pitri

Guest
Messages
37
Reaction score
0
Location
Israel
# of dives
200 - 499
After 3 weeks of travelling we are back home.
First, I would like to thank all the forum members that helped us focusing on what intrest us in this trip.
And now for the trip. Since there is a lot to write I will do it shortly (i hope) and in parts
Getting there
We flew all the way from Israel to Hong Kong and stayed there for 2 days till our flight to Cebu.
The flight to Cebu nearly didn't happen since Cathay told us the company wants to increase profit and therefore performs overbooking. Hence, there is no room for us on the scheduled flight (note that we got confirmation on the flights about 4 months before). After some arguments and long faces there was a miracle and we got onboard.

First destination - Malapacua
From Cebu airport we took a private cab to Maya (2500 peso) that took around 2.5 hours.
From Maya we waiting for some more people to arrive so we can share a boat to Malapacua. After 15 min we managed to be 5 people on the boat (150 peso each) and started the boat ride to the island. The weather was sunny and not that hot.
We stayed at Cocobana Beach Resort (http://www.cocobana.ch/bounty_us.htm) and dived with Thresher Shark Divers (http://www.malapascua-diving.com/).
The Island is beautiful but the shore line looks like a construction site. We were told that there is a salvage zone (some space from the sea line till any building) that the government is enforcing. Hence, many constructions are being taken down. Inspite the fact that it looks terrible, many bussiness are closing down so I don't know if there will be anything left in the next year.
Our first day of diving was to see the Thresher shark. Bad visibility and poor luck came to seing only a glimps of the shark and nothing more. Since the sea was starting to get worse the next dive was done in Bantigi and we saw there some great micro life.
On the next day the weather got worse and there were no dives. Apperantly there was a typhoon in Manila and it affected the whole philippines. We found confort in a good restaurant on the island - La Isla Bonita.
We didn't do any dives on the next day either since the bad weather and we decided to get off the island as soon as possible since there was nothing to do there if you are not diving. In the mean time we got to know some other unhappy people...
On our last day we found a boat that is going to Maya (with extra cash due to bad weather crusing). We found ourselvs wet from the rain and from the ocean.
Conclusion : Can't really tell beacuse we did only 2 dives in 4 days. I can't recommend the dive club from various reasons. Maybe next time we will take the Exotic Divers.
 
In Maya we got on a bus to Cebu (150 peso each) and after ~4.5 hours got to our destination, the OceanJet ferry terminal (http://www.oceanjet.net/) on the last ferry to tagbilaran. Since the weather was still terrible the trip (~2 hours) was not to the stomack weak. The sea was high and people got sick all over the ferry. terrible.
Finally, we got to Tagbilaran and too a taxi to Alona Beach (300 Peso).
At night, when the rain falls we looked for a place to stay that wasn't expensive. At 21:00 this is a difficult task and after some places we decided to stay at Alona Kew. They were very freindly and they had a standard room for us for 30$. We decided to stay there and maybe look for something else in the morning since the room was humid, no beach front and karaoke night every night...
On the morning we made some reconecense for a place to stay and a dive club. We found that you get a good value for diving with Atlantis (http://www.atlantisdivecenter.com/en/) and they had a good condition equipment for rent (we came without our equipment). Note that their club were the only one that holds 5mm suits.
We also found a great place to stay - Charlotte (left end of alona beach). This place is a 2 store white houes with very large rooms when all of them have sea view (w/fan or aircon). The best thing is that this place cost the same as alona kew but have more advantages (especially hot water) and it's only 5 min slow walking to the alona beach center.
The weather got better but not as you see in the postcards. We decided to give it ago and started diving at some point on alona beach. The visability was about 10m but at the first minutes we saw a sea horse that we didn't see before so it was some kind of a treat after such bad vacation start.
From that point on the weather got better and we did dives in Balicasag, Pangalo and snake Island.
I can say that the dives on alona were nice but not breath taking. Balicasag had great dives with some current. Many nudibranches, jack fish, some snakes and many jack fish. My best dive from all of the dives was Snake Island. We docked somewhere on the way to pamilacan. went down on the anchor line when a strong current is against us and then let go with the current. After a few seconds our guide singled us for snakes. Since this was our first encounter we were very excited. and then some more on the left and on the right. they were everywhere and they were freindly. From big ones to small ones. Digging in the sand, sleeping under stones, swimming against the current. Amazing. you can add a very good visibility and you get a wonderful dive.
We also wanted to make a trip to cabilao but there were not enought people to come with us on the trip so It was cancelled.
We had a great time in alona beach - drinking and eating at Oops bar, Trudy and the information center that were nothing but kind.
We also had the chance to make a day trip to the chocolate hills and to see the tresher monkey.

After reading about alona beach with its white sand I can tell that it was a bit disappointing. It seems that a recent Typhoon destroyed all the beach front and it, like malapascua, seem like a construction site. Luckily for us we stay at the far end of the beach and didn't hear the construction going on in the center of the beach all day long.
 
We took a taxi to the pier (450 peso) and again boarded the OceanJet ferry. This time the sea was calm and the trip was quite enjoyable and took around 1.5 hours.
We booked a place at El Dorado (http://www.eldoradoresort.org/main.asp) and planned diving with their dive club as well (Dive Society). The resort is well groomed. Every spot is looked after, the staff are very nice and the whole place is wonderful.
For 31$ we got a standard room (w/air con or fan) with hot water.
After settling down we went to see the dive club. After so many dive clubs around the world that i've been to I can say that this one gets the highest rate. and why ? The dive club offers great prices and make a difference if the dive is at the house reef or a dive trip to Apo. This way you pay specifically for a dive and not same price for every dive. Next, the dive gear. It is the first place that I've encountered integraded weight belt BCDs. The suits are NEW !! , the Regulators are in good condition but get sterilized after each use. If you're renting equipment you also get a DIVE COMPUTER for your safty and last but not least - FREE NITROX !!! i'll say it again - FREE NITROX.
We dived with the 2 swiss instructors and 2 local guys that were very good.
You have never seen such order in one place. All the dive sites had details on a notebook located in your room and the dive schedule was written on a big board outside of the dive club. You just enter your name, place an "N" if you want Nitrox and that's it.
The boats were great and so was the boat crew. Doing everything to make it amazing.
So far for the dive club, now the resort has a restaurant that you won't want to leave. Cheap prices (4-5$ a meal) and amazing taste will keep a smile on your face and a full belly.
Now, for the important thing of all -the dives.
Our first dive was at the house reef. In most places the house reef is for courses and its not in very good condition. We went in without any expectations. As soon as I put my head in the water there was so much to see - nudibranches, Anemone crabs, Anemone shrimps, 3 frog fishes, Shrimp fish, school of yellow tail baracuda, school of jack fish, big snappers and many others. now how can you top that ?
From that moment on, we got out from every dive and said - WOW. There is no way the next dive will top the last, but guess what, every time it did.
We did 2 trips for APO Island that was amazing. I have never saw so many corals in one place with so much variety and in such good condition. The turtles and school of fish that surrounded us were completing one of my best dives ever.
In this place I realized what makes the perfect dive for me - it variety. When you can see the big stuff along with the small stuff and you don't know on what to look at first.
We managed to see so many things in one dive that we didn't have space in our log books to describe the dive.
Belive me when I say I had a good time. I'm been around and dived in some of the best spots in the world. This spot is amazing.
If it's amazing corals in Apo with schools of fish, many turtles, or amazing landscape in the pier or the variety of marine life in Masaplod or house reef. This place has it all.

To conclude - this place was a good place to end our trip that started with bad weather. Great place, great food and great dives. A good value for the money.

I hope you managed to stay tuned till now. If you want some elaboration on any place I would be happy to post it.
I'm still editing the pictures so I promise to post some later on.

Now I know what this forum is called Philippines Paradise Diver. I will definetly return.
 
Hey Pitri, nice report and glad you guys still had a great time, typhoon and all.

Just remember, thats only in the visayas region of the Philippines. Come over the next time in PG and Anilao and we'll have a DOR.
 
Great report..thanks you for your sharing
 
hope to see you sometime Pitri. And definitely come here on summer when the weather is always perfect! :D
 
Pitri, ah that is just too bad about the typhoon and malapascua.

Apo isl. and dumaguete are nice aren't they? :D
 
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