Palawan (Coron?) in Jan

[cloggy]

Hi all,

First time to Phills for me... I'm planning to go with a group of friends (4-5) to Palawan, prob. Coron for a week of diving. My friends are all AOW or Rescue, with 20-80 dives. I'm instructor. The idea is that I'll do some Nitrox/Deep and esp Wreck courses for them whilst there.

How do you feel about Coron? Interesting enough or would you recommend other places in Phills? Any reefs that may be interesting too? Is shore diving possible?

What are the conditions like in January? Which wrecks are definitely worthwhile doing? Any shallower wrecks great for the wreck course (130 ft not ideal to do all the skills required for the specialty...)?

Any decent, but not too expensive, resorts recommended?

Thanks,
Simon

 

[Centrals]

I cannot think of any reason of coming to Coron other than diving those wrecks. They are ALL quite a distance from the town. So do expect a whole day trip unless you are staying on Sanget Island or other places close by(expensvie option).
There are more than enough informations on those wrecks and finding couple of them for training is NEVER a problem.
Irako and Akitsushima(the only warship among the rest) are relatively deep but they are fairly close to each other.
Ask about the possibility of diving Kyokuzan Maru(asbestos wreck), a seldom dive wreck because of its relatively remote location.
If you are bored with wreck diving then there are the Barracuda Lake and the Catherdral Cave.

Chinese New Year is on 23rd Jan so beware of the crowd.

 

[Rogersea]

Not knowing how long you intend to stay in the Philippines, makes it difficult to provide meaningful advice.

 

[cloggy]

Hi, its just for this one week I was talking about. Wish I could stay longer though

 

[Centrals]

So your group has 1 week(7 days) in Philippines. Allowing the local transit(domestic flight) etc etc and 24 hrs "no flying" after diving , you have at most 4 full days for your disposal. Is that enough for your group?
Subic Bay is the logical alternative for wreck diving in the country. It is only 3-4 hrs(road) away from Manila and the wrecks are much closer to base. You also have much wider selection of resorts, restaurants and entertainment etc etc.

The wrecks in Coron are GREAT but 4 days seems a little bit too short to sample all of them "meaningfully".