Where to dive in Philippines?

[matt215]

I've never been to the Philippines so I'm not sure exactly where to go. I love sharks, and getting some nice photos of threshers would be great, but my understanding is that thresher encounters can be hit or miss, and they are quite shy so the probably wont come close anyway. On the other hand, Anilao is definitely on my wish list. So my question is... Is there enough good diving similar to anilao in the thresher shark sites, or is it just threshers and not much else. I'm a little short on time so I probably can't do both. I just went to lembeh, so I'm looking for something similar to that. I believe anilao would be good but don't know about other areas...

 

[drbill]

I Just returned from three weeks in the PI (Anilao and Sabang outside Puerto Galera). Sharks in those sites are essentially non-existent. Never saw one and the guides tell me a sighting is very rare. Anilao is for muck diving... soft substrate that can affect visibility (still fairly good though) with LOTS of critters, mostly macro. Sabang had a mix of coral reefs and some muck. I can't say anything for other sites in the PI as I have yet to visit them but hope to try a few in the future.

 

[Tippytoes12]

I spent 8 wonderful days in Malapascua in February and went to thresher shark site every morning. On every single morning we had multiple near sightings of 5 to 7 individual animals . Most mornings we had thresher s in our view for the entire dive. It was truly amazing. The diveshops stagger the dives , and you are not allowed past a line on the rubble. The shops say that this has helped increase spots greatly. I also did three dives to Gato ISland and on each saw several white tips very close.I also saw the whalesharks at Oslob , again awesome. In Malapascua I stayed and dived with Sea Explorers , which I'd Swiss run with lots of excellent local DM s and instructors.

 

[matt215]

Tippytoes, that's what I'm interested in hearing about. I'd like to photograph the threshers, but if it's iffy then I don't want to be stuck in a not so good location. DrBill, I've heard lots about Anilao, and after diving Lembeh, I'm wanting to see some more critters and maybe find a rhinopias.

 

[h2odragon1]

Agee with Malapascua for Thresher sharks! Puerto Galera has the most varied diving you can find in one stop! Wrecks? Subic Bay or Coron! You're in for a great time!

 

[Tippytoes12]

Before Malapascua I spent 5 nights in Maolboal, which had some good muck , but mainly lovely coral with heaps of turtles.

 

[jbb]

Tippytoes, that's what I'm interested in hearing about. I'd like to photograph the threshers, but if it's iffy then I don't want to be stuck in a not so good location. DrBill, I've heard lots about Anilao, and after diving Lembeh, I'm wanting to see some more critters and maybe find a rhinopias.

There is a hell of a lot more to see on Monad shoal but if all you are looking for are Threshers... well that's all you are going to see or not see. The difficulty is that you are at 65-75 foot depth with no in-between other than the descent line.

 

[ocdiver1]

In five trips to Malapascua probably saw threshers 75-80% of the time so I'd say you'd have a fantastic chance of seeing..and I wouldn't say they are shyer than any other type of shark, and can come quite close at times. You're more limited in getting a great view of them by the time of day you dive (sunrise essentially), where there's not much sunlight, rather than how close they are to you. I'd say you won't see much else specifically at Monad, but you will at other sites in Malapascua...in fact as a fellow macro lover it's my fav place in the Philippines for it's combination of being able to see "big and small" in one place. You'll be done with diving at Monad by 9 am at the latest then have all day to dive other sites where you can see other things. I'd say there's no other place on par with Anilao in the Philippines for macro, but Dumaguete comes closest. You say you have a short time, but it's certainly possible to combine both in one trip.

You mention rhinopias..only one I've ever seen in the Philippines was once in Anilao. You'd have to be really lucky to see one. Better on a future trip to try to make it to Ambon or Alor in Indonesia and you'll have a great chance of spotting one.

 

[DevonDiver]

No reason not to do a dual-location trip, if you're flying in-and-out via Manila. Anilao is only 2 hours drive south of Manila - so easy to squeeze in a few days macro/muck at the head or tail end of a primary trip to Malapascua etc.

Malapascua does have macro (frogfish, scorpionfish et al), but not the 'muck' magic you can get in Anilao. Best to ask Matt Reed (here on Scubaboard) as he's over there in Malapascua full-time with Evolution Divers.

 

[eagerbeaver]

I think it's fair to say that the Thresher's when seen at Monad Shoal come closer, more regularly and more consistently then any other Pelagic shark you can see without feeding. Sightings vary from a quick fly-by, to a 30 minutes magical encounter with 1 or more sharks. If you do 3 or 4 of the morning dives and you haven't seen one at all I would be surprised - it does happen but it's rare.

In terms of the other diving. Well, the main reason we set up business on Malapascua is due to it's fantastic variety of all kinds of diving. Yes Anilao and Dauin have better Macro, yes Coron and Subic have better wrecks, yes Tubbataha has better wall dives. But nowhere has all of this together. We regularly see a longlist of "rare" critters, and I'm still seeing new nudibranchs I've never seen before after 3yrs here, 10 in the Philippines and over 6000 dives.

Lembeh it is not. If you want to be fussy it's easy to pick holes...but if you are a relaxed diver looking for great diving then you should be happy. Rhinopias might be pushing it, but they have definitely been spotted.

If you have time to do a few days in Malapascua and a few in Dauin then that might suit you best. 1 days travel between the 2 spots.