Apo Island (OR) Apo Reef which is better?

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rjjj111

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Location
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I have heard a lot about APO Reef. I dove Apo Island near Dumaguete a few years back. Frankly I was not impressed with Apo Island, maybe it was the time of the year, I do not know?

I have heard APO Reef is pretty good place to dive?

Can I dive Apo Reef without doing a live a board?

Any opinions?
 
You ought to take a look where Apo Reef is in respect to "civilization".
There are resorts on the west coast of Mindoro which will take divers to Apo Reef. I had also read that resort in Coron is also prepare to take diver there!!! But I would imagine that the resort has to be on the northen side of the island rather than in town.
I had dived Apo Reef couple of times on liveaboard. The diving was OK ie. hit and miss.
To be honest with you, I would pick either Coron or Sogod Bay over Apo Reef anytime. But that is my opinion.
Rags II runs regular combined trip to Apo Reef and Coron departs from PG. Have a drink or two at the Point Bar before and after the trip!!!!!

Wherever you choose, you can't go wrong with the diving in Philippines.
 
I had read on Scubaboard.com that Apo Reef was wonderful......? Coron is really that good? I believe you 100% but wanted to understand better?
I am still unsure about where to dive just yet? I have been to many places in PI (PG, Anilao, Davao, Moalboal, Mactan Island, Oslob, Apo Island at Dumaguete, Bohol, Camiguin Island). The top places I have not been seems to be Coron, Apo Reef, Sogod and Tubbataha reef.

Any suggestions?
 
Found Apo Reef and Apo Island to be quite similar. Lots of hard corals a middling amount of fish life. At the reef saw a couple of sharks but otherwise not much difference.
 
the dive sites around the main island of api mayor in api reef are pretty amazing… good coral nice stiff current… occasional big pelagics… hammer heads on more than one occasion… the rest of api reef around the api menor islands has a lot of really bad coral damage due top big storm… that being said though there are always reef sharks… eagle rays and the occasional manta sightings… there are also 2 reefs of not on the out skirts of api reef itself… theres bahura cinco whose top is at 5 meters… and bahura bent nuebe… which is at 29M and deeper… chance sightings are plentiful at 29… but make sure to have no2 to have any sort of decent bottom time at 29...

Apo island is good but for the ridiculous marine park fees they charge id dive elsewhere….
 
thanks for the information.

are there any places to see school of barracuda?

or any other schooling fish?
 
there are really big schools of jacks at apo island…. big school of jacks and chevrons at balicasag… and cabilao… i don't remember them at api reef… api reef north was though has a lot of giant grouper in the shallows...
 
do you know where or what dive site at Apo Reef where the big groupers were at? how many?
I have seen the school of jack fish at balicasag island, that is really nice.
I am not sure about going to Apo Island (Dumaguete) I went there once and dove for 1 day only, it was pretty ordinary for me. maybe it was the dive locations they took us to?
 
...I am still unsure about where to dive just yet? I have been to many places in PI (PG, Anilao, Davao, Moalboal, Mactan Island, Oslob, Apo Island at Dumaguete, Bohol, Camiguin Island). The top places I have not been seems to be Coron, Apo Reef, Sogod and Tubbataha reef.
Any suggestions?
I would add General Santos and dive with South Point Divers.
The problem of diving Apo Reef is getting there. Unless you are on liveaboard, the journey is physically pain on the "back side" ie. long distance.
Besides the wrecks(several at various depth) there is a interesting "thermal lake" in Coron, really hot below the thermocline!! Wreck diving is not everyone cup of tea but the wrecks in Coron do have a "real" history behind them. They are "real" not "prepared".
As far as I am concern, Tubattaha is the BEST in the country. However, I had read indifferent comments on the place but I love it( 3 trips on 3 different boats with 3 different operators!).

---------- Post added December 19th, 2013 at 09:04 AM ----------

Found Apo Reef and Apo Island to be quite similar. Lots of hard corals a middling amount of fish life. At the reef saw a couple of sharks but otherwise not much difference.
Agree.
The only difference is the number of divers/boats.
 
i used to call it the apo mayor north wall… there really isn't much on the wall… but the shallows are where the groupers were… id see 4-5 per dive I'm sure theres more oz there are a lot of smaller ones… there is also a part of the shallows right in front of the beach where some good sized trivially gather on top of the rocks when there is a current… its nice to just hang there beside them… also in the same general area theres a school of bump heads grazing on the coral if your lucky...
 
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