Where to go March - Apo Island / Sogod Bay / Anilao / Puerto Galera / Somewhere else?

[bibeldyboo]

Hi All,

This is yet another, where should I dive in the Philippines post.

I'm heading in from the USA, and will be landing in Manila on the morning of March 18th. I'm leaving as quickly as I came, evening of March 23. I'm trying to figure out where exactly to go. For me, this is a once in a lifetime trip (hopefully it won't just be once, but it certainly feels that way). I'll be traveling solo. Cost isn't a huge issue, but the better on the wallet the better. The last place I dove was in Belize, and I thought Lighthouse Reef was awesome. My fondest experiences was the Lizard Island and the Yongala wreck in Australia. This is my only my second time in the Pacific and I'm really excited. I don't mind traveling a bit, and have already realized that the 18th and 23rd are lost days, but want to be able to do lots of dives on the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd. I tend to like off the beaten path places as well. I also wouldn't mind a nice beach and / or good food (good doesn't mean fancy).

What I enjoy:
Tied for 1st: Healthy reefs and extensive coral coverage
Tied for 1st: Small creatures w/great biodiversity; including nudibrach, octopus, shrimp / crabs, seahorses
3rd: Shark encounters, especially whale sharks
4th: Large schools of fish
5th: wreck diving

I'm pretty torn right now about where to go. I've never done muck diving, but it sounds awesome. I'm afraid that if I do muck diving, I'll miss out on the healthy corals / reefs I also love. I'm torn about where to go.

1. Anilao
Pros: convenient, awesome muck diving / biodiversity, can be paired with Puerto Galera
Cons: not much coral (or is there), $$$, single divers pay a lot more

2. Apo Island
Pros: Awesome coral coverage and health, doesn't seem to be an issue as a single diver
Cons: Not much in the way of Biodiversity when it comes to tiny creatures, most difficult to get to, bad flight timing

3. Sogod Bay
Pros: Good coral coverage and health, some macro creatures / biodiversity, chances to see whale sharks, good flight timing, doesn't seem to be an issue as a single diver
Cons: Coral not as good as Apo, macro not as good as Anilao, 3 hour ride from airport

The above are not ranked in any order. I'm also open to other suggestions as well, I'm still learning about all the different areas out there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Really looking forward to my trip!!!!

 

[DiverGirl1972]

We stayed at Mike's Dauin Beach Resort and did the whale shark snorkel at Cebu, 2 dives at Sumilon Island, 4 days of muck diving in Dauin, spent a day at Siquijor Island and took 3 day trips to Apo Island. Nine days, 26 dives, the best of all worlds and the boat was docked 100 feet from our hotel room.

 

[Centrals]

Any domestic connection will shorten your diving time on 22nd unless you pay lip service to "no fly" time!
Anilao is your best option with minimum travelling time and maximum diving time. You might be paying premier rate as single diver but you will receive maximum attention from the dm!!!! And you might be able to find some divers to share cost on 22nd(Sat). However, you do have to dive, eat and sleep from the same place.
You can mix it with Puerto Galera if you want but that would be a rush to cover two areas in 4 days. Do enquire a special trip to Verde Island if you stay either Anilao or PG.

 

[Wingy]

I dived PG at new year and was impressed with reef health and diversity. Other than that I havent dived anywhere else in PI so cant give any comparison but would say PG is worth diving.

 

[frank707]

To get to the realy good sites in Sogod you mostly need a couple of divers , i realy like Sogod but its also a bit of a hassle to get to when u have so few days.
Go to Anilao it has a good mix of macro and healthy reefs. No sharks tho .Even a transfer from Anilao to PG takes like 5-6 hours
Frank

 

[FT]

Voting with Centrals, don't fly if your time is that limited, which narrows it down to Anilao and PG. You can add in Verde Island from either place (highly recommended). The macro photographers seem to bring home the most spectacular photos from Anilao, and it certainly offers more than just macro (woo-hoo Sombrero Island and Beatrice Rock!) but I'd give a slight edge to PG for variety of dive sites, ease of flitting among different restaurants in the evening and the fact that it's busy all week not just weekends, therefore no disadvantage to the single diver. There are a few wrecks, nothing particularly historic or stunning tho. Big La Laguna will give you a beach to stretch out on.

Also -- a personal prejudice based on experience six-seven years ago -- three times I've had seriously iffy experiences with rental gear or divemaster incompetence at Anilao, three different resorts. YMMV.

 

[Centrals]

1. Some if not all dive resorts in Anilao offer unlimited shore dive.
2. Nearly all the dive sites around PG are within 10mins so the boat will go out with no additional charges even if you are the only diver ie. flat rate unless it is nitrox or night dive.
3. Getting from Anilao to PG or vice versa should not take more than 3-4hrs however it does involve change of jeeney etc etc. And ferry schedule is also worth consideration. Last ferry from Batangas to Sabang(PG) is 16:30 and 14:30 vice versa. Early bird gets all the worm so start early.
4. You can reach both Anilao and PG by using public transport but it is tedious for first time traveller. However, private transfer is quite expensive, expect to pay Anilao(P4,500.00/ US$100.00) and PG(P6,000.00/US$135.00)!!!

 

[bvarn1]

I have been to Sogod Bay to dive in August every year for the last three years. The diving is great. It is not a good idea to try to get there on your limited time table. An alternative that is an excellant dive spot with plenty to see and do is Alona Beach in Bohol. There is an airport next door in Tagbilaran.

 

[jbb]

Ok. you say you arrive in the morning of the 18th? How early? say you do take a flight either to dive (these are Philippine Airlines flights):

1. Tagbilaran to dive Alona Beach areas and Balicasag - 30 minutes from Airport to Alona beach (I dived with Philippine Fun Divers)
---flight at 9:20am-arrive 10:35 or 14:40-arrive 16:00.
---return flt at 11:15am-MNL 12:30pm or at 16:40 - MNL 17:55

2. Dumaguette to dive Dauin and Apo Island. Maybe 45 minutes to Dauin if you have resort arrange car. (I dived at Mike's Dauin Scuba Resort)
---flight at 8:40 - arrive 10 or 13:10 arrive 14:40
---return flt at 10:40 - MNL 12:00 or 15:20 -MNL 16:40.

At either location if you have your stuff together you could get in an evening dive or even possibly an afternoon dive depending on which flight you can catch. Both locations have night dives at about 6 pm or so. What time is your evening flight out of Manila? No diving after 3 or 4 pm on the 22nd for the early return MNL flights on the 23rd. You could get maybe one more dive in at Anilao (night dive) and maybe an additional dive at the beginning.

I think anywhere else the diving requires too much land travel. Don't get me wrong I would love to dive Anilao but I am a single traveler as well and I can't afford to hire my own boat and guide.

You could go to Cebu and dive Mactan island but I've never dived there. There are more and more frequent flights to the Cebu city from Manila. The Cebu-Tagbilaran ferry only takes a few hours if you split your time but too much traveling around for me. For a once in a lifetime trip you aren't giving it much of a chance...

I think I got all the timing right. Philippine airlines is easy to book with on-line but the afternoon flights on any of the carriers do not usually depart on time in my experience.

 

[frank707]

Alona beach on Bohol is the worst diving i've done in the Philipines .I stopped diving after 3 days.
Alona beach and Bohol is nice tho.
Frank