Wantonmien
Contributor
Time Flies but heres a slightly delayed summary of another trip to Philippines - Boracay 24 to 29 March 2011, - incase it helps anyone.
With a couple of days notice hurriedly booked the Cebu Pacific red eye flight from Taipei to Manila - initially thought about domestic flights to Bohol, Malapascua or somewhere in Palawan as destinations but due to slow planning, thought forget the not yet visited destinations - lets go lay on Boracay beach in the sunshine and do just a dive or two !
On advise from a Taiwan expat dive friend, instead of normal dive centre (Calypso) weve used and been happy with, I contacted Diving Boracay with Whitebeachdivers they helpfully suggested a couple of places to stay, and we booked into VillaCamilla - pretty much next door to the White Beach dive centre, near boat station 3.
-- decided to hide ! Instead it was to be rain 
March 24, landed early morn at Caticlan to find grey rain filled sky, enjoyed a wet and rough crossing to Boracay.
Hotel checked in, went to meet the guys at White beach divers dive op. Looked at the rain and grey skies - and was very quickly convinced it wasnt going to be a get a sun tan day and taking a dive was a good idea.
Couple of hours after arrival - Camia 2 wreck was the first get wet, and it continues to improve every time Ive dived on it. We were lucky in that it was just self, buddy, the DM at the wreck and a nice start to wash the sleepiness out of the head. Later, Fridays Rock at night which by day is a standard reef, but at night really comes alive. Day 2 it was Punta Bunga and on to Baling High where I could hardly stop myself laughing underwater as I watched a sucker fish following and trying desperately hard to affix itself to the DM tank for half the dive and that was followed by an unscheduled lazy afternoon drinking Sangria under cover of the rain. Day 3 morning Virgin drop off (as Yapak was a No no with rough seas), a White tip cruised past and seen by buddy, then the Camia wreck again (basically as weather wasnt fit to go around East side of island). Day 4, the last we could dive as flying out next day, and a day trip over to Carabo island arranged, it being about 40 mins North from Boracay.
At Carabo island, Whitebeach divers have a 2nd dive centre on the beach, when I was there run by a South African DM and it is on my list of places to go stay a night or two in future, for the quietness and idyllic setting away from the busier Boracay. At Carabo, we dived West Wall, ate in the palm leaf covered but open air restaurant gazing onto the blue ocean, with just the palm trees rustling in the breeze. After a laze around we headed out to dive on Larnas slope. The dives on Carabo, both good, and worth the day trip. The DM had eagle eyes finding plenty of unusual life rounded off with an electric blue ribbon eel swaying in the gentle currents, perfectly posing for a picture which was typical as the camera battery had died, ah well.
Finally back to the Boracay at dusk, where we hurriedly decided (and convinced the DM) we should head out and make one last dive at night on the wreck (again !), a fateful mistake as my Canon housing failed :depressed:, but stayed down at the wreck to gaze in awe at the different life at night and wonder how a dive site can change so much between day and night also by torchlight coming face to face in the ships hold with the largest puffer fish Ive ever seen at least 1 metre long, and as big and fat as a Pig !
So, 5 nights on Boracay, plenty of rain, wind, rough seas (so we couldnt get to Yapak or Crocodile Island side of island), couldnt get our planned suntan and laze on the beach holiday, instead it was 8 dives, plenty of Sangria, Tanduay rum and eating !
The hotel VillaCamilla spacious rooms, clean, plentiful hot water (which I didnt have on last two visits in other hotels on Boracay !) no problem, nice staff and on the beach. Rooms a little pricier than our intended budget, but a decent place, especially if a group as the hotel has a large upstairs eating area/bar looking onto beach - and a second little bar with its bar counter on a small swimming pool. Its also not jammed between other hotels so beach in front is nice and quiet, and its within a few minutes walk to various restaurants, and of course 1 minute to the dive centre.
The Dive centre Diving Boracay with Whitebeachdivers - a couple of German & Swiss guys doing courses while we were there & joining us for a few of the dives, plus some visitors calling in for a dive or two, but not overly busy at the time, which suited us. Mike (the owner), Andre and the DMs we dived with being Stephan, Daniel and Andrew (on Carabo) all spot on, not a bad word to say. Good sense of humour, good spotters in the water, very flexible, arranged diving as and when we wanted to go (We even dragged Mike from his dinner to be the boatman for our last night dive), no undue risks taken in the dodgy weather we had, nice small groups of us (I think 5 divers max on any dive we made). I was also very impressed when it came to settling up the bill for buddy and I dives, the cost of Nitrox crossed off the bill (instead of getting stung 200 ~ 400 Peso extra per tank as some operators sting you for), and especially good considering (due to weather) on a few dives it was just buddy, myself and DM on the bancas so all around, a very good deal, and a good dive centre to use. The bar with White Beach divers op also well run, fairly priced, tables on the beach, the best Kebabs on the island (cooked to order by the bar girls), or seemed like it after rinsing the dive gear and finding it was beer oclock under the palm trees !! Thanks to Mike / Andre at White Beach Divers and all who made our rainy, windy holiday a good one. Well see you again.
The Diving Well having been Puerto Galera, Dumaguete, Dauin, Apo island, Moalboal, Mactan, Talima (and just back from Malapascua) Ive seen some brilliant diving around the Philippines and Boracay, well it never seems to get a lot of rave reviews, but once again we enjoyed some great varied diving there, saw plenty of life (mainly small stuff) and we never even got to the best dive sites ! In a nutshell, still well worth checking out many of the sites, day and night and have Boracay island to enjoy as part of the parcel albeit a bit more sun would have helped !
The down point I think its 10 years since I first visited Boracay, and some of the prices in the main restaurants area and shops are going to the extremes.. OK its not expensive compared to a lot of non Philippine places, but it was more expensive than Manila or other islands Ive been in Philippines. Prices of food, drinks, taxi trike rides, boat rides, gifts etc all seeming to have been overly hiked in six months and even porters carrying your bag from boat complaining about the tips and telling me its expensive on Boracay .. Yep, I know its popular place, but having been there year after year it seemed this time that many of the locals on Boracay were in competition to try and hike prices and make it expensive ! I got better prices on diving at Boracay than elsewhere Ive visited, but everything else I bought cost more even the San Miguel ... Oh well, I guess next time its more diving and less drink, food and shopping !
Anyway, Boracay, still a great place for a vacation, and even when the weather is wet, windy and cool, as it was for us still a place I enjoy diving.
Nothing too special but some pics from trip posted here - ScubaBoard Gallery - Boracay, Philippines - Late March 2011
And a few down below -
Cheers
Thought this sucker was trying to eat something off the DM - but it was trying to 'leech' onto his tank ... much to my amusement.
Great colour.
Never realised these little guys actually have 'filters' to collect food from the water.
Three dives on the wreck due to adverse weather above - but 3 enjoyable dives.
Probably the best pic of the trip, and a nice Nudi.
Some very young pipe fish, and one in particular seemed to enjoy posing for a close up
And there always seems to be a posing scorpion fish every dive I make !
Inside the wreck - the largest puffer fish I've ever seen, this guy was just a cousin.
OK OK it's just another Nudi - but a nice one.
With a couple of days notice hurriedly booked the Cebu Pacific red eye flight from Taipei to Manila - initially thought about domestic flights to Bohol, Malapascua or somewhere in Palawan as destinations but due to slow planning, thought forget the not yet visited destinations - lets go lay on Boracay beach in the sunshine and do just a dive or two !
On advise from a Taiwan expat dive friend, instead of normal dive centre (Calypso) weve used and been happy with, I contacted Diving Boracay with Whitebeachdivers they helpfully suggested a couple of places to stay, and we booked into VillaCamilla - pretty much next door to the White Beach dive centre, near boat station 3.
-- decided to hide ! Instead it was to be rain March 24, landed early morn at Caticlan to find grey rain filled sky, enjoyed a wet and rough crossing to Boracay.
Hotel checked in, went to meet the guys at White beach divers dive op. Looked at the rain and grey skies - and was very quickly convinced it wasnt going to be a get a sun tan day and taking a dive was a good idea. Couple of hours after arrival - Camia 2 wreck was the first get wet, and it continues to improve every time Ive dived on it. We were lucky in that it was just self, buddy, the DM at the wreck and a nice start to wash the sleepiness out of the head. Later, Fridays Rock at night which by day is a standard reef, but at night really comes alive. Day 2 it was Punta Bunga and on to Baling High where I could hardly stop myself laughing underwater as I watched a sucker fish following and trying desperately hard to affix itself to the DM tank for half the dive and that was followed by an unscheduled lazy afternoon drinking Sangria under cover of the rain. Day 3 morning Virgin drop off (as Yapak was a No no with rough seas), a White tip cruised past and seen by buddy, then the Camia wreck again (basically as weather wasnt fit to go around East side of island). Day 4, the last we could dive as flying out next day, and a day trip over to Carabo island arranged, it being about 40 mins North from Boracay.
At Carabo island, Whitebeach divers have a 2nd dive centre on the beach, when I was there run by a South African DM and it is on my list of places to go stay a night or two in future, for the quietness and idyllic setting away from the busier Boracay. At Carabo, we dived West Wall, ate in the palm leaf covered but open air restaurant gazing onto the blue ocean, with just the palm trees rustling in the breeze. After a laze around we headed out to dive on Larnas slope. The dives on Carabo, both good, and worth the day trip. The DM had eagle eyes finding plenty of unusual life rounded off with an electric blue ribbon eel swaying in the gentle currents, perfectly posing for a picture which was typical as the camera battery had died, ah well.
Finally back to the Boracay at dusk, where we hurriedly decided (and convinced the DM) we should head out and make one last dive at night on the wreck (again !), a fateful mistake as my Canon housing failed :depressed:, but stayed down at the wreck to gaze in awe at the different life at night and wonder how a dive site can change so much between day and night also by torchlight coming face to face in the ships hold with the largest puffer fish Ive ever seen at least 1 metre long, and as big and fat as a Pig !
So, 5 nights on Boracay, plenty of rain, wind, rough seas (so we couldnt get to Yapak or Crocodile Island side of island), couldnt get our planned suntan and laze on the beach holiday, instead it was 8 dives, plenty of Sangria, Tanduay rum and eating !
The hotel VillaCamilla spacious rooms, clean, plentiful hot water (which I didnt have on last two visits in other hotels on Boracay !) no problem, nice staff and on the beach. Rooms a little pricier than our intended budget, but a decent place, especially if a group as the hotel has a large upstairs eating area/bar looking onto beach - and a second little bar with its bar counter on a small swimming pool. Its also not jammed between other hotels so beach in front is nice and quiet, and its within a few minutes walk to various restaurants, and of course 1 minute to the dive centre.
The Dive centre Diving Boracay with Whitebeachdivers - a couple of German & Swiss guys doing courses while we were there & joining us for a few of the dives, plus some visitors calling in for a dive or two, but not overly busy at the time, which suited us. Mike (the owner), Andre and the DMs we dived with being Stephan, Daniel and Andrew (on Carabo) all spot on, not a bad word to say. Good sense of humour, good spotters in the water, very flexible, arranged diving as and when we wanted to go (We even dragged Mike from his dinner to be the boatman for our last night dive), no undue risks taken in the dodgy weather we had, nice small groups of us (I think 5 divers max on any dive we made). I was also very impressed when it came to settling up the bill for buddy and I dives, the cost of Nitrox crossed off the bill (instead of getting stung 200 ~ 400 Peso extra per tank as some operators sting you for), and especially good considering (due to weather) on a few dives it was just buddy, myself and DM on the bancas so all around, a very good deal, and a good dive centre to use. The bar with White Beach divers op also well run, fairly priced, tables on the beach, the best Kebabs on the island (cooked to order by the bar girls), or seemed like it after rinsing the dive gear and finding it was beer oclock under the palm trees !! Thanks to Mike / Andre at White Beach Divers and all who made our rainy, windy holiday a good one. Well see you again.
The Diving Well having been Puerto Galera, Dumaguete, Dauin, Apo island, Moalboal, Mactan, Talima (and just back from Malapascua) Ive seen some brilliant diving around the Philippines and Boracay, well it never seems to get a lot of rave reviews, but once again we enjoyed some great varied diving there, saw plenty of life (mainly small stuff) and we never even got to the best dive sites ! In a nutshell, still well worth checking out many of the sites, day and night and have Boracay island to enjoy as part of the parcel albeit a bit more sun would have helped !
The down point I think its 10 years since I first visited Boracay, and some of the prices in the main restaurants area and shops are going to the extremes.. OK its not expensive compared to a lot of non Philippine places, but it was more expensive than Manila or other islands Ive been in Philippines. Prices of food, drinks, taxi trike rides, boat rides, gifts etc all seeming to have been overly hiked in six months and even porters carrying your bag from boat complaining about the tips and telling me its expensive on Boracay .. Yep, I know its popular place, but having been there year after year it seemed this time that many of the locals on Boracay were in competition to try and hike prices and make it expensive ! I got better prices on diving at Boracay than elsewhere Ive visited, but everything else I bought cost more even the San Miguel ... Oh well, I guess next time its more diving and less drink, food and shopping !
Anyway, Boracay, still a great place for a vacation, and even when the weather is wet, windy and cool, as it was for us still a place I enjoy diving.
Nothing too special but some pics from trip posted here - ScubaBoard Gallery - Boracay, Philippines - Late March 2011
And a few down below -
Cheers
Thought this sucker was trying to eat something off the DM - but it was trying to 'leech' onto his tank ... much to my amusement.
Great colour.
Never realised these little guys actually have 'filters' to collect food from the water.
Three dives on the wreck due to adverse weather above - but 3 enjoyable dives.
Probably the best pic of the trip, and a nice Nudi.
Some very young pipe fish, and one in particular seemed to enjoy posing for a close up
And there always seems to be a posing scorpion fish every dive I make !
Inside the wreck - the largest puffer fish I've ever seen, this guy was just a cousin.
OK OK it's just another Nudi - but a nice one.
