Happily seeking advice, Malapascua and....choices, choices, choices.

[markmaloof]

Hello fellow divers! My wife and I are dying to return to SEA/South Pacific waters (we have been to Thailand three times and once to Palau/Yap, the best diving we have ever done). We have 100 dives under our belt, so somewhat experienced, and are planning on going to the Philippines first two weeks in March. Flying from NYC to Manila, hundreds of dollars cheaper than flying direct to Cebu. A dive master in Belize told us about Dumaguete/Apo Island, and we thought about there (and like the fact that there are flights from Manila to Dumaguete), but have been reading much about Malapascua, very interested (though there was one negative blog article from 2010 I read, the diver loved Sogod, but had a mediocre experience in Malapascua, overpriced room, bad vis, and his description of the way overcrowded and murky Thresher "novelty" dive turned me off from wanting to try it.)

I'll try to be brief: we are self sufficient types that while we are not adverse to "resorts" (if that is the ONLY option, as it seems to be with Dumaguete), we like the idea of our own lodging, choices of places to eat, and since we sometimes like to take a day off for our sinus cavites to have a break, a sandy swimming (and possibly snorkeling) beach is a nice thing to have (or at least a jungle to explore). Malapascua seems to have this all, and except for that one negative blog post I read, I have read nothing but raves about Malapascua. Also found a op called Evolution Dive that seems to be top notch (safety first, we'll pay a little more for better crew, boats, gear, etc).

But we figure maybe two weeks would be a bit much (?), and mabye we should try another spot, knowing we will loose a day traveling (we are willing to pay for the quickest transport possible, but, ahem, I know that is not often an option there!)

Also we are curious to see whale sharks, but have reservations abou the Oslob "petting zoo".

So a couple places we are thinking of:
Alona Beach, Bohol: has what we like, real sandy beach, different places to stay and eat, quiet nights, supposed to be good diving.

Turtle Bay dive resort: ok, it's a resort, but it looks nice, and if we (with possible guilt) decide to see the whale sharks in Oslob, they do a 5.30 am trip there. (and from what I understand, Moalboal is supposed to be nice in general).

Sogod(this may be out, I think from what I have read it may take two days to get there from Malapascua, we would rather kill one day traveling)

Could always do Dumaguete/Apo island as planned, stay at a resort, but at least could fly back to Manila when we leave.

Lastly, I know it may take a couple days to get there from Mala, but what about Donsol? I know you can snorkel with Whale Sharks there (without the petting zoo feeding aspect), and it's supposed to be sleepy (not necessarily bad), but is there good diving there? Might take up too much time traveling, we have not booked flights yet, but figure on spending two weeks in the Philippines.

OH! Very improtant: do you think we should do Malapascua first, or for the second half? We are flying in and out of Manila.

Very sorry for this novel, but we have never been, and there are so many choices, it's conflicting. Wish we had a month!

 

[Centrals]

1. Contact Evolution if it is possible to charter a boat to take U2 from Malapascua to Sogod Bay. If affirmative then fly into Cebu and leave from Tacloban for Manila. It never takes more than 1 day to travel from Malapascua to Sogod Bay even by indirect routes.
2. Malapascua, Moalboal and Dumaguete. Fly out from Dumaguete.
3. Anilao and PG. No penalty on flying except on your home bound leg.
4. Getting to Donsol is NOT that easy unless travelling fom Manila.

 

[cephalopod2]

I dove the Philippines in 07. I enjoyed Malapascua as my first SEA destination. I did the thresher shark dive dark and early every morning (that was the reason I chose Malapascua) - they are beautiful animals. If you have no patience for waiting still on the bottom however this may not be the dive for you. Not sure how much crowds have increased since 07.

If you are going to cut a dive day anyway, losing a day transiting between two locations may not be a big deal, except if you are flying the cost may actually become two dive days. Whether you should divide your time between two locations or not depends on what your diving priorities are and how you like to vacation.

If you want to explore two locations, Puerto Galera + Dumaguete might be easier to do. Or in Dumaguete there are ops that dive Dumaguete (muck), Apo Isl (reef) and Siquijor Isl (reef) all from 1 base. I only got to see a little of Apo Isl before I got sick - and this was before the hurricane damaged a good segment of the reef - but it was great. Fishier than the diving I did in Malapascua.

Last I checked there was at least 1 op that would coordinate diving with the transfers btw popular destinations but they may need more than 2 people to do so.

There was a house reef where I stayed in Malapascua but I'm not sure how good the snorkeling would have been.

 

[PhatD1ver]

Hello fellow divers! My wife and I are dying to return to SEA/South Pacific waters (we have been to Thailand three times and once to Palau/Yap, the best diving we have ever done). We have 100 dives under our belt, so somewhat experienced, and are planning on going to the Philippines first two weeks in March. Flying from NYC to Manila, hundreds of dollars cheaper than flying direct to Cebu. A dive master in Belize told us about Dumaguete/Apo Island, and we thought about there (and like the fact that there are flights from Manila to Dumaguete), but have been reading much about Malapascua, very interested (though there was one negative blog article from 2010 I read, the diver loved Sogod, but had a mediocre experience in Malapascua, overpriced room, bad vis, and his description of the way overcrowded and murky Thresher "novelty" dive turned me off from wanting to try it.)

I'll try to be brief: we are self sufficient types that while we are not adverse to "resorts" (if that is the ONLY option, as it seems to be with Dumaguete), we like the idea of our own lodging, choices of places to eat, and since we sometimes like to take a day off for our sinus cavites to have a break, a sandy swimming (and possibly snorkeling) beach is a nice thing to have (or at least a jungle to explore). Malapascua seems to have this all, and except for that one negative blog post I read, I have read nothing but raves about Malapascua. Also found a op called Evolution Dive that seems to be top notch (safety first, we'll pay a little more for better crew, boats, gear, etc).

But we figure maybe two weeks would be a bit much (?), and mabye we should try another spot, knowing we will loose a day traveling (we are willing to pay for the quickest transport possible, but, ahem, I know that is not often an option there!)

Also we are curious to see whale sharks, but have reservations abou the Oslob "petting zoo".

So a couple places we are thinking of:
Alona Beach, Bohol: has what we like, real sandy beach, different places to stay and eat, quiet nights, supposed to be good diving.

Turtle Bay dive resort: ok, it's a resort, but it looks nice, and if we (with possible guilt) decide to see the whale sharks in Oslob, they do a 5.30 am trip there. (and from what I understand, Moalboal is supposed to be nice in general).

Sogod(this may be out, I think from what I have read it may take two days to get there from Malapascua, we would rather kill one day traveling)

Could always do Dumaguete/Apo island as planned, stay at a resort, but at least could fly back to Manila when we leave.

Lastly, I know it may take a couple days to get there from Mala, but what about Donsol? I know you can snorkel with Whale Sharks there (without the petting zoo feeding aspect), and it's supposed to be sleepy (not necessarily bad), but is there good diving there? Might take up too much time traveling, we have not booked flights yet, but figure on spending two weeks in the Philippines.

OH! Very improtant: do you think we should do Malapascua first, or for the second half? We are flying in and out of Manila.

Very sorry for this novel, but we have never been, and there are so many choices, it's conflicting. Wish we had a month!

1) you are going to be a little disappointed about Alona Beach. It is mostly hardpan, very little soft, sandy type beach along there. The diving is good, but you should realize the beach for chillin and snorkeling isn't that great.

2) Anilao and PG - I would say you need at least 2 days (6 dives) to hit just the highlights, personally, I'd give them three, especially if you want to hit some deep dives and see 'big stuff'. Personally, I liked Aquaventure Reef Club in Anilao. Badladz in PG. Also a note about Anilao, there is no such thing as a BEACH in Anilao. Everything is small resorts (which is good because the nearest town isn't convenient at all) and they all bump right up against the house reefs, boat dock, or rocky entry shore. So any relaxing is going to happen on their lanai, or in your room, or both. PG has a garbage beach that's been encroached on by the 30+ dive shops/resorts along it by Sabang, and Laguna beach is nicer, but just as bad with resorts crowding the beach to the water. PG proper (Puerto Galera is broadly and area at the tip of Mindoro island) which is the little town that kind of hid away in a little bay around the corner from Sabang has no beach either. Aninuan has a beach, but the transit time from there to the primary dive sites is prohibitive in my book. White Beach is more for the LGBT crowd these days.

3) Moalboal is PG on Ritalin in my book.

 

[FT]

Malapascua and Evolution: great choices. Interesting advice from Centrals on a possible way to get to Sogod Bay. Have heard it's excellent diving.
Easiest transfers (because you don't have to fly) from Malapascua would be (1) Moalboal and then a tie between Dumaguete/Dauin and Alona/Bohol. On Bohol Island, if you would like real beaches along with your diving, you might want to research Cabilao. Your nightlife options there would depend heavily on how many paperbacks you bring with you, though .
It would definitely chew up extra time to try to get to Donsol. Boat/drive back to Cebu from Malapascua (3hrs with dedicated car), flight to Manila, flight to Legazpi, 2 hour drive to Donsol... I just bet you'd be two days doing that. The area is interesting (Mt Mayon volcano, firefly river tour, possible diving at Ticao Island though I hear the currents are rippy) so... up to you.
Just remember to fly back to Manila in time to overnight before you leave. Tight timing and Manila's airport terminals = not a good mixture.

 

[Centrals]

Malapascua and Evolution: great choices. Interesting advice from Centrals on a possible way to get to Sogod Bay. Have heard it's excellent diving.

Forget about it! It is impossible/impractical giving the distance.
It is a real pity that linking these two top diving destinations is so difficult(time consuming).

 

[markmaloof]

I'm very confused, centrals! In your original post, you suggested I contact evolution about a boat possibility (and funnily enough, I was just about to do that, but thought I would visit this post again). In your post, you also mentioned that it never takes more than a day to reach Sogod from Malapascua, even by indirect routes. We are willing to lose an entire day traveling if it means going to another excellent dive spot, and Sogod seems better than Dumaguete. I'm even planning on changing things, spending a little more money and instead of doing a round trip to Manila, flying into Cebu and out of Manila, or even bucking up and paying the cash to do round-trip to Cebu (though it is certainly much more money than doing round trip to Manila, or flying into Cebu and out of Manila). Please explain, my heart is sinking, ha ha!

I could be wrong, but it seems like places like PG are overcrowded/trashed out/over touristed, but Sogod Bay is quieter, not as crowded, etc. Like the Thailand difference of being in Phuket (ugh) vs a slightly less developed place like Koh Lanta or Koh Lipe way in the south.

---------- Post added January 17th, 2015 at 08:19 PM ----------

So if it truly is impossible to do, which would one recommend for two weeks? I I do like the beach aspect of Mala, but the supposedly less crowded diving in Sogod (and possibility of snorkeling with whale sharks in Southern Lyte) also seems appealing. Dumaguete/Apo seems to get so much of either raves or dismissal from people, and I saw the words typhoon damage, and that bothered me (Sogod Bay supposedly had none).

 

[Centrals]

Sorry about the confusion.
I was talking about taking a boat from Malapascua directly to Sogod Bay.
There are two routes and may be more:
1. There is a ferry departing from Maya to Isidro(Leyte). Super Suttle Ferry also has connection from Bogo to Palompon(Letye) at 0900. Getting from Isidro to Sogod Bay would be long and tedious. I bleive there is V-hire service between Palompon and Ormoc(1hr). So if you can confirm the ferry schedule from Bogo to Palompon, Evolution should be able to arrange the transport to Bogo and your resort in Sogod Bay might be able to arrange the pick up at Palompon. You might have to pay the deposit for the 2nd part. Worth a try.
2. The easier option is going back to Cebu City and take the regular slow or fast ferry(Supercat/Weesam) to Hilongos/Massin/Ormoc(Supercat/Weesam). Your resort in Letye should be able to arrange the pick up. Massin is only about 30-45mins away so you should be able to get public transport but depend on the arrival time of the ferry. Ormoc is about 3hrs by private car or you can take the public van to Massin. Hilongos is somewhere between Massin and Ormoc. As far as I can remember, there is nothing in Hilongos.
I hope this will clear up the confusion.
Sogod Bay is very nice and quiet. Make sure you dive the Pier at night(only couple of times a week permitted).

 

[markmaloof]

Thank you for your reply, this is extremely helpful!