September trip advice sought.

[Diver71_au]

Planning to spend a couple of weeks diving the Philippines after the DRT dive show in September. At this stage I am hoping to do 3-4 days at malapascua 2-3 days at anilao and 2-3 days Puerto Galera. I will be on a fairly tight budget.

Seeking advice on: hotels, dive operators, transport between locales. At this stage I think it will be Manila to Cebu to malapascua to Cebu to Manila to anilao to PG TO Manila (via ??)

 

[nudisusie]

For Malapascua I'd recommend Thresher Shark Divers. They work with a few local hotels depending on how tight your budget is! Tepannee would be my pick there (about 40Euro per night). Getting there fly into Cebu and take the Ceres bus to Maya from the North terminal and then the local banka ferry - or contact TSD for a transfer (its not as expensive as you might think!)

For Anilao, Aiyanar always gets good reviews on this forum and elsewhere

Hope you have a great time at the show, still deciding if i will visit or not

 

[xrcjdx]

for puerto galera take the jam bus from the pasay (south) bus terminal in manila directly (express) to the batangas ferry terminal. it is a bit confusing your first time at the ferry terminal, but consider letting one of the kids there (who will surely approach you) walk you through it. 100 peso tip for them is plenty/more than enough. inside the terminal are a variety of local 'delicacies', including the best panocha either side of the date line. bargain. make yourself popular by buying a few extra to give away to the hotel workers in p.g. sabang inn is a good medium/low budget option, and the dive op attached to it is great. you will find many experienced divers staying and diving there. if the sabang inn is full, consider the seashore next door (no dive op, store gear and dive at sabang inn). both of these places are clean and well taken care of. you will get a better price booking through them directly. if you are up to it, and if enough people are interested, strongly suggest that you consider a 2 dive trip to verde island. it is one of the better dive sites in all of the philippines, imho. tell them you are interested and they will post it.

 

[Diver71_au]

Thanks folks for the responses. Starting to look like Anilao may be out of my budget as a single traveller. The two places that have actually got back to me are looking at AUD$100 plus for accommodation and around the same per dive. Making a 4 dive day very expensive.

Might just have to add an extra couple of days to Malapascua and Puerto Galera and give Anilao the "next time" treatment

 

[dirtfarmer]

Thanks folks for the responses. Starting to look like Anilao may be out of my budget as a single traveller. The two places that have actually got back to me are looking at AUD$100 plus for accommodation and around the same per dive. Making a 4 dive day very expensive.

Might just have to add an extra couple of days to Malapascua and Puerto Galera and give Anilao the "next time" treatment

You might check out Buceo Anilao they have all inclusive pricing for their dives making it possible for a single diver to not run up big boat charges. I dived with them in Jan and they were a great operation.

 

[mlsantos]

Hey NudieSusie thanks for the shout out...

Hello Diver,

What dates Exactly are you planning to come? I may be able to join you up with a group and make it a little cheaper for you to come and see anilao in sept. feel free to PM me if you are interested.

Dive Safe

Marco

 

[Wingy]

Puerto Galera check out south sea divers - great people long established operators.

 

[Centrals]

Thanks folks for the responses. Starting to look like Anilao may be out of my budget as a single traveller. The two places that have actually got back to me are looking at AUD$100 plus for accommodation and around the same per dive. Making a 4 dive day very expensive.

Might just have to add an extra couple of days to Malapascua and Puerto Galera and give Anilao the "next time" treatment

Unless you are really keen on the thresher shark, Anilao + PG is more sensible than Malapascua + PG. You can save the extra domestic flight and the transfer cost for your diving in Anilao.
South Sea Divers in PG get my vote as well. In Malapascua try Evolution and Matt can find you cheap accommodation to suit your need.