So many Visayas islands, so little time.....thoughts on our itinerary

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travelbuddy03

Registered
Messages
7
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Location
Broomfield, CO
# of dives
500 - 999
We're planning a 3 week trip next March (2016) to the Visayas and we like the idea of Island Hopping with Sea Explorers. We've been to Anilao twice before so we want to go somewhere else in the Philippines. My husband is an UW photographer while I am not. We both want a variety of muck diving, wall diving, pelagic critters, and macro so the Island Hopping option seems perfect.

We're thinking of this itinerary:

Day of arrival Transfer from Cebu to Malapascua
Days 2-4 Dive Malapascua, including one day trip to Gato Island
Day 5 Long car/ferry transfer to Dauin. Non diving day.
Days 6-12 Dive this area (including day trip to Apo, day trip to Oslob, possible day trip to Siquitor)
Day 13 Dive boat transfer to Cabilao, hopefully diving Balicasag on the way
Days 14-17 Dive around Cabilao (including another day trip to Balicasag)
Day 18 Off gas by taking a land based tour to see Tarsier monkeys
Day 19 Start trek home


I know it will take a full non-diving day to get from Malapascua to Dauin. I've read mixed reviews about Malapascua so my first question is whether it is worth 3 full diving days.

We're also choosing not to go to Moalboal and Alona Beach. Of the 5 destinations (Malapascua, Moalboal, Cabilao, Alona Beach, and Dauin) which would you skip and why? We could fit one of these in time wise, but it adds another transfer and it seems that Cabilao and Alona Beach are somewhat similar.

Finally, how difficult are the transfers regarding equipment and packing/unpacking hassles? How helpful is the staff at Sea Explorers in this regard? We don't mind moving around a little but don't want a vacation like "it's Tuesday so we must be in Venice". So anyone who has done the Island Hopping tour with Sea Explorers - would you do it again or would you stick with one land based resort? What was the packing/unpacking like?

Thanks for comments and suggestions!
 
hi Travelbuddy03

This looks like a very good itinerary to cover the Visayas region and see the highlights. i would certainly go to Malapascua and then to Dauin - so you miss a day of diving but it will be worth it to experience the variety.

Only comment would be not to skip Alona Beach if you would like to dive Balicasag. The Balicasag island is just a short trip from Alona, whereas its about 2.5 hrs from Cabilao so you'll waste precious dive time if you do the trip from there. I would go from Dauin to Alona, spend a day there diving and then go to Cabilao for the end of the trip, finishing with Tarsiers for the non diving day.

I used to run the liveaboard Philippine Siren, and know each of the areas very well - they are all really great for macro but add in the thresher sharks in Malapascua, corals in Apo and the whale sharks and the trip is really one of the best worldwide in my opinion. I love it so much I go back there each year to dive a combination of Siren and Atmosphere Resort in Dauin. I've not experienced Sea Explorers personally but do know them to be a quality operation, with nice staff and very professional. Their resorts in Dauin and Malapascua look very good also.

If you could travel in Feb 2016 then Siren Fleet offer a 12 night trip which covers the entire itinerary as above plus moalboal and you don't miss days of diving as you move between the islands or from Malapascua to Dauin. their trip departs Malapascua, heads down the Tanon Strait to Moalboal, then to Oslob/ Sumilon for half a day before Dauin/Apo for a couple of days, up to Balicasag with the last day of diving in Cabilao before returning to Cebu.

Either way you;re sure to have awesome diving!
Susie
 
Susie, thank you for your reply. We could add one day to our trip and spend two days diving Balicasag from Alona Beach while shaving off one of the days at Cabilao. Are you familiar with the dolphin watching tours? Although we've seen many dolphins over the years, it's always a thrill to see them in the wild. Sea Explorers can arrange a morning dolphin watching tour from Alona but I'm not sure if it's worth giving up a morning of diving.

We'd love to do the Philippine Siren trip but I still work part-time and February is bad timing. :cool2: That would be an awesome trip and we looked at their website before finding Sea Explorer's Island Hopping tour. Who knows? Maybe in 2017!
 
hi Travelbuddy03

This looks like a very good itinerary to cover the Visayas region and see the highlights. i would certainly go to Malapascua and then to Dauin - so you miss a day of diving but it will be worth it to experience the variety.

Only comment would be not to skip Alona Beach if you would like to dive Balicasag. The Balicasag island is just a short trip from Alona, whereas its about 2.5 hrs from Cabilao so you'll waste precious dive time if you do the trip from there. I would go from Dauin to Alona, spend a day there diving and then go to Cabilao for the end of the trip, finishing with Tarsiers for the non diving day.

I used to run the liveaboard Philippine Siren, and know each of the areas very well - they are all really great for macro but add in the thresher sharks in Malapascua, corals in Apo and the whale sharks and the trip is really one of the best worldwide in my opinion. I love it so much I go back there each year to dive a combination of Siren and Atmosphere Resort in Dauin. I've not experienced Sea Explorers personally but do know them to be a quality operation, with nice staff and very professional. Their resorts in Dauin and Malapascua look very good also.

If you could travel in Feb 2016 then Siren Fleet offer a 12 night trip which covers the entire itinerary as above plus moalboal and you don't miss days of diving as you move between the islands or from Malapascua to Dauin. their trip departs Malapascua, heads down the Tanon Strait to Moalboal, then to Oslob/ Sumilon for half a day before Dauin/Apo for a couple of days, up to Balicasag with the last day of diving in Cabilao before returning to Cebu.

Either way you;re sure to have awesome diving!
Susie

I second Susie's Motion of leaving out Alona Beach and Spending more time in Malapascua... Oslob... and Dauin... If you have extra time you can cut the Malapascua to Dauin Trip in Half and Dive Mactan as Well... Mactan's Diving is pretty good it just gets over looked alot of the time as many think it is a travel hub more than a destination.

Happy Diving!
 
Im not familiar with the dolphin watching tour from Alona but typically you should see pods from the banca boats as you cruise between the islands. i do know there is dolphin watching off negros island but not sure losing a morning of diving would be worthwhile.
agree with Marco that there are also some great sites around mactan / cebu city. i enjoyed Talima for the macro and schooling jacks might be worth trying to dive there b4 malapascua or after Cabilao.

Are they transfering you by banca boat, ferry or overland? could be a hassle with dive kit if overland in which case you may wish to limit the main body of your trip to 3 bases? the diving in cabilao is lovely but there is not anything there that you cant see elsewhere on your route.
 
mlsantos - I'm a little confused about Alona Beach. Susie was suggesting we not skip Alona Beach if we want to dive Balicasag since Alona is closer. Are you suggesting we skip Alona Beach since we already have Cabilao on our itinerary?

I'm not dead set on diving Balicasag. If we want to throw in some nice wall diving what are everyone's thoughts on how best to do this? Moalboal is out due to the time it takes to get there, so that leaves Alona Beach and Cabilao if we stick with Sea Explorer resorts. Which is the better choice from a diving perspective? (I don't care if the resort itself is quiet or touristy since we're there mostly for the diving.)

I think we're set on spending at least 3 full diving days in Malapascua and 6 full diving days in Dauin. That leaves us 6 days of diving, including transfers, for wall diving. Some thoughts on this portion of our itinerary?

Day 1 of 6 transfer by dive boat from Dauin to Alona, hopefully diving Balicasag on the way; overnight Alona
Day 2 dive Balicasag from Alona; overnight Alona
Day 3 transfer by dive boat to Cabilao, diving along the way
Days 4, 5, 6 dive around Cabilao

Or....spend a little more time in Dauin and then either dive around Cabilao or Alona, but not both.

Too many choices!

susie - thanks for the info re: dolphins. I think we'll skip this and maybe we'll get lucky and see them from the banca.

The transfer from Cebu to Malapascua is by car/ferry, so "dry" packing and no diving. The transfers between Dauin, Alona, and Cabilao are by dive boat if weather permits and you can dive along the way. So on these transfers we wouldn't miss a diving day but we would have the hassle of packing up our stuff and moving it.

I'll look into mactan/Cebu city. I hadn't even thought of those places.
 
Whoops... I meant leaving out of Alona Beach or departing from Alona Beach... The trip to Balicasag from Cabilao is looooong...
If you are transferring from Dauin to Alona by Boat you may do a dive in the Santander Area or sumilon before hitting Bohol youll probably only dive one bohol dive in the afternoon; if this is the case make sure to ask your guide to take you to the site named Arco... its a great shallow wall off the shore of the Bohol Beach Club... lots of cool finds on that wall.

Sea-Ex would probably dedicate a full day to balicasag as it has 4 really good dive sites and one decent one.
As for Cabilao... Its always been in my Philippine's Top 10 list... so if your already in bohol id continue on with Sea-Ex and Go with it...

Moalboal is a great destination too but the problem with Moal is that once you cross over to the west side of cebu nothing is within a hops distance.

As for Mactan... Talima is good and at the time you are going the weather will be perfect for a trip out to Nalusuan Island... Its got great wall dives with 30 sometimes 40M vis in the summer and beautiful shallow reef tops teeming with fish perfect for reef photos... That is if you can keep the schools of Orange Vested Snorklers out of your frame.... :)

mlsantos - I'm a little confused about Alona Beach. Susie was suggesting we not skip Alona Beach if we want to dive Balicasag since Alona is closer. Are you suggesting we skip Alona Beach since we already have Cabilao on our itinerary?

I'm not dead set on diving Balicasag. If we want to throw in some nice wall diving what are everyone's thoughts on how best to do this? Moalboal is out due to the time it takes to get there, so that leaves Alona Beach and Cabilao if we stick with Sea Explorer resorts. Which is the better choice from a diving perspective? (I don't care if the resort itself is quiet or touristy since we're there mostly for the diving.)

I think we're set on spending at least 3 full diving days in Malapascua and 6 full diving days in Dauin. That leaves us 6 days of diving, including transfers, for wall diving. Some thoughts on this portion of our itinerary?

Day 1 of 6 transfer by dive boat from Dauin to Alona, hopefully diving Balicasag on the way; overnight Alona
Day 2 dive Balicasag from Alona; overnight Alona
Day 3 transfer by dive boat to Cabilao, diving along the way
Days 4, 5, 6 dive around Cabilao

Or....spend a little more time in Dauin and then either dive around Cabilao or Alona, but not both.

Too many choices!

susie - thanks for the info re: dolphins. I think we'll skip this and maybe we'll get lucky and see them from the banca.

The transfer from Cebu to Malapascua is by car/ferry, so "dry" packing and no diving. The transfers between Dauin, Alona, and Cabilao are by dive boat if weather permits and you can dive along the way. So on these transfers we wouldn't miss a diving day but we would have the hassle of packing up our stuff and moving it.

I'll look into mactan/Cebu city. I hadn't even thought of those places.
 
mlsantos - thanks for the recommendation for Arco. If you had to choose between Cabilao or Alona Beach which would you choose? After spending my entire day reading through threads on SB I'm leaning toward dividing up the dive days this way:

3 in Malapascua
8 in and around Dauin (including 2 day trips to Apo and 1 day trip to snorkel with whale sharks, leaving 5 for the muck)
1 day transfer to Bohol (either Alona or Cabilao) diving on the way
3 days diving Bohol

...and I haven't even researched mactan (and the Orange Vested Snorklers) yet! I LOVE frittering away the day on this kind of thing. :dork2:

One more question -- are we giving muck diving in Dauin too much time? We were in Lembeh last year and although I really, really liked it, I was ready for something pretty after about 10 days.
 
I think your plan for 6days dauin and 6 bohol including travel is solid.
There are loads of sites in dauin so don't worry about getting bored... My faves are pyramids and Richards point... Lots of frog fish and flamboyant cuttlefish.
You get a full day at balicasag which is probably enough. Agree with Marco, Arch point is a great site... Guess for seamoths pipefish and nudis

As you transfer mostly by boat and don't miss much diving, the Sea_ex plan is v good.
Enjoy!
 
Well Miss Susie Said it best... I would think Doing 8Days in Dauin when theres so much more to see close by might make you miss out... And Dauin is not all muck... But Frogfish of all colors and sizes are all around...

off course theres the "Pretty" reefs of Apo Island with some hairy currents at coconut.
And one sight not alot of people mention but provides quite a rush is the mainit sanctuary... All the strong current of coconut without the possibility of a Down current...

3 Diving Days in Malapascua seems short... specially since there have been reports of hammer head sightings... :)

I think your plan for 6days dauin and 6 bohol including travel is solid.
There are loads of sites in dauin so don't worry about getting bored... My faves are pyramids and Richards point... Lots of frog fish and flamboyant cuttlefish.
You get a full day at balicasag which is probably enough. Agree with Marco, Arch point is a great site... Guess for seamoths pipefish and nudis

As you transfer mostly by boat and don't miss much diving, the Sea_ex plan is v good.
Enjoy!
 

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