Planning trip to Philippines (Anilao and Malapascua) - OR???

[calliejlong]

Hi,
I have been looking into a dive trip to the Philippines this March. My son and I love odd critters and nudibranchs. We really enjoy muck diving. I was planning on spending a couple days diving in Anilao and a couple days in Malapascua. I have a question about Malapascua though...it looks like there are other odd critters and nudibranchs in that area besides the thresher sharks that we want to see. Can someone please tell me if thats so or if we would be better off diving in Malapascua only a short time (want to see the thresher sharks) and going somewhere else instead? Also, we have heard that Anilao is best for macro, is that true? I just started reading about an area called Duain...would that be better than alot of time in Malapascua? Any feedback or ideas is appreciated. Many Thanks!

 

[TSandM]

I don't know about Malapascua, but we just got home from our second trip to Atlantis Dumaguete, which is just up the coast from Dauin. We loved it. It was a mixture of muck diving for the weird and wonderful, and trips out to Apo Island to dive absolutely incredible, lush coral reef. It's a great resort, very professional, with extremely good service.

 

[Centrals]

1. Anilao is best for macro.
2. Malapascua is well known for the thresher shark.
3. The macro in Dauin is NOt as impressive as Anilao but you can mix it up with the trip to Apo Island and Siquijor Island.
Commuting between Anilao and Malapascua is time consuming(need internal flight + land and sea transfer).
Commuting between Dauin and Malapascua is another 6-7 hrs affair(land, sea, land and sea!!!).

 

[Tippytoes12]

The macro in Malapascua is great, not as amazing as Dauin , but still very good. For a 3 week trip , moving is worth it , for only 10 or so days I would be inclined to stay in Malapascua. The threshers seem to love posing for their adoring public. They practically kiss breather divers.

 

[calliejlong]

TSandM - Curious as to what kinds of weird and wonderful things you saw off Atlantis Dumaguete. I noticed my regular dive shop has a trip going to that place in August. As for Apo Island - besides the coral reef (which I would love to see - but my son is not quite as fascinated with that stuff as me) what else is that area known for? Thanks for sharing

---------- Post added November 4th, 2014 at 09:36 PM ----------

Tippytoes - glad to hear that there is good macro subjects in Malapascua as well. Where did you stay at to go diving in Dauin?

---------- Post added November 4th, 2014 at 09:38 PM ----------

Thanks Centrals - I do have the time to take getting around. Just want to make sure we pick the best spots to dive for our tastes. We probably will not be coming back to the Philippines after this trip. I am guessing probably more time should be spent in Anilao than in Malapascua? How many days do you recommend in Anilao? Thanks

 

[eagerbeaver]

Macro is great, see this as an example
[video=youtube;fxu92AFAJMw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxu92AFAJMw&list=UUlInTlN0E5GKZ9rxR8dvXEQ[/video]

 

[TSandM]

Here is a slide show of some of the stuff we saw: A Week at Dumaguete, Philippines -- Atlantis Resort

In addition to what is there, we also saw Pegasus sea moths, Flying gurnards, a boxer crab, some huge blennies, an octopus about 3 -4 feet across, lots of camouflaged little critters in the various anemones (including some fabulous shrimp), and an amazing number of flamboyant cuttlefish. It was really great macro diving.

 

[rob1967]

Callie, the advice you have received so far is quite good! Having been to all three places you mentioned, most more than once, I can maybe add a bit more info. Anilao, Malapascua and Dauin are my three favourite places to dive in the Philippines, so you can't go wrong whichever way you choose. I am curious as to what your timeline is. You mention you want to dive "a couple of days" at each of two locations, and you don't mind taking the time to travel between two places. The time it takes to transfer from one place to another will basically take about an entire day, so I would recommend spending at least 5 days at any given spot, and a maximum of 10 days at any given spot. So if you have less than about 10 days, I would recommend doing only one location, If you have more than 10 days, you can try two different places within there Philippines. If you have three weeks ore more, try all three places!

Here are the pros and cons of each place in my opinion:

1) Anilao: best macro in the Philippines, and arguably either #1 or #2 in the world for macro (I haven'y tried Lembeh yet!). Also easy to get to from Manila, only about a 2 and half hour transfer by car, so if time is tight, you will spend less time transferring and more time diving! The only downside to Anilao is that there is not much to do there besides diving. If you are an avid diver, this is not a problem, but if there are non-divers in your group, they will probably get bored. Anilao has more than just muck-diving, it also has great all-round diving. Kirby's Rock and Twin Rocks have great corals and wide-angle stuff.

2) Malapascua: The upside of course is the thresher sharks. It also has quite good macro, I would say 3rd best in Philippines, right behind Dauin. I saw and photographed a hairy octopus there, which is quite rare. The downside to Malapascua is it takes time to get there. From Manila, it's a quick flight over to Cebu City, but then about a 4 hour van ride and 1 hour boat transfer. But if you want to see thresher sharks, then by all means do it! I highly recommend Evolution Divers, although I haven't tried the other dive-ops.

3) Dauin/Dumaguete: Dauin has the second best macro in the Philippines after Anilao. Generally good all-round diving. Day trip to Oslob if you want to snorkel with whale sharks. Good tourist infrastructure, with good variety of resorts to suit all budgets. Dauin is only about 30 minutes from Dumaguete airport, so it's an easy transfer after short flight from Manila.

In 2013, I did a 2 week trip with 6 days of diving in Malapascua and 5 days in Anilao. Our group liked Anilao slightly better, but Malapascua was pretty darn good also. Here is a Youtube video I made from that trip: Philippines Dive Trip 2013 ? Malapascua and Anilao - YouTube

I hope this information helps.

 

[duncan1958]

Did a four night stay on Malapascua in late April this year.
Dove with Thresher shark divers.
Stayed in one of the rooms just off the beach about five minutes from the dive centre.
Nothing bad to say of them at all.
Got to see the sharks.
Food good at their bar on the beach.
Getting there bit of a trek.
Followed by the instructions given to me by them.
Took the bus from north bus station in cebu.
I would go again more than likely next year.
Also dove down at Moalboal for a few days.
Sardines huge balls of them.
Turtles loads.
Macro yep

 

[CharlesFoster00]

My wife and I spent a week with Evolution on Malapascua about 2 weeks ago. The macro was great, and the guides were VERY helpful in finding interesting critters. The threshers were great, but I think we were really impressed by the remarkably consistent quality of the dives. We saw something new on every dive. The quality of the instructors and staff was excellent as well. I can't comment on the other locations you mention, but we were not disappointed.