Philippines in September- private guide and/or boat at Buceo?

[Searcaigh]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Enough of this petty bickering

Play nice or go home

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[NAUI Wowie]

When divers think about the weather of Philippines, it is always "typhoon" that first came to their mind. Unfortunately typhoon is a fact of life from May to Dec and there is NO escape from it. Even deep south in Mindanao eg. Davao:

Typhoon Bopha - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Pagasa spots LPA off Davao City, says it may become a typhoon

https://youtu.be/u1R3N6DtNw8 MANILA, Philippines — A low-pressure area (LPA) was detected off Davao City on Friday, and it is likely to develop into a typhoon, the Philippine Atmospheric,

newsinfo.inquirer.net

Summer is the low season. Pity.

Yea ive got a buddy in Naga Cebu that had a small id guess you would say boutique resort on Siargao that got wiped out recently. Humble dude. And other friends here in CA that I talk to at filipino get togethers that had their roof ripped off in Naga. All on that same hurricane that went through central P.I.
Manila and Luzon missed the brunt of it.

 

[Centrals]

Philippines is NOT a small country and not even a super typhoon eg. Yolanda(Haiyan in 2013) could affect the whole country.
I can fully understand why tourists/divers are reluctant to visit the county. Because they do not want the act of God ruin their holidays.
I used to visit the country several times a yr, pre-Covid, because the fare was dirt cheap(the lowest was US$50.00 for a return). So I was prepared to forfeit the ticket for any reason and did happen once or twice. But would I prepare to do so if the fare is 20 times more?

Just remember typhoon does not strike everyday/week.
Please do a thorough research on the topic.
Philippines will reward you with great diving.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

When divers think about the weather of Philippines, it is always "typhoon" that first came to their mind. Unfortunately typhoon is a fact of life from May to Dec and there is NO escape from it. Even deep south in Mindanao eg. Davao:

Typhoon Bopha - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Pagasa spots LPA off Davao City, says it may become a typhoon

https://youtu.be/u1R3N6DtNw8 MANILA, Philippines — A low-pressure area (LPA) was detected off Davao City on Friday, and it is likely to develop into a typhoon, the Philippine Atmospheric,

newsinfo.inquirer.net

Summer is the low season. Pity.

Bro, you are the only person in this thread bringing up typhoons. I personally mentioned the rainy season as given the chance id rather not go in the rainy season. Also rain two weeks straight was an exaggeration not a literal worry of two weeks straight. I know there might be 3 or 4 sunny days in those two weeks..... I have about 20 relatives and relatives of relatives that tell me when the rainy season is. Im in Filipino households every week. All are from Cebu. September in Cebu is supposedly not nice like february.

 

[Centrals]

Im in Filipino households every week. All are from Cebu. September in Cebu is supposedly not nice like february.

OP was asking Sept to Anilao and Cebu is hundreds of miles from Luzon.

Epic flood in Metro Manila caused by record rainfall

The rainfall brought by tropical storm

www.gmanetwork.com

26th Sept 2009 brought in by typhoon "Ondoy" the most devastating typhoon to hit Manila.
But my flight to Cebu City from HK on 26th was not affected and went to Camiguin for some diving. Weather was absolutely fine. And I only read about the flooding when returned home.
I was in Manila in Oct and could still see the high water mark left at the fly-over.

Non typhoon related flooding has far less destructive power.

Outbreak of Leptospirosis after Flood, the Philippines, 2009

After a typhoon in September 2009, an outbreak of leptospirosis occurred in Metro Manila, the Philippines; 471 patients were hospitalized and 51 (10.8%) died. A hospital-based investigation found risk factors associated with fatal infection to be older ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

One thing I have learnt.

 

[Tippytoes12]

The guides in Buceo are all excellent, you probably don’t need a private guide and boat because the groups are so small. In March, I had 13 nights and was buddies with a really nice America couple who were excellent divers. With the other guide on the boat and his two guests we all dived together and spread out. Then brilliant spots, of which there were many, were shared and visited in turn by all of us. It was the same arrangement in 2016 when I was last there. The family who own Buceo were there at the time and were very hands on in the nicest way possible.

 

[dianna912]

The guides in Buceo are all excellent, you probably don’t need a private guide and boat because the groups are so small. In March, I had 13 nights and was buddies with a really nice America couple who were excellent divers. With the other guide on the boat and his two guests we all dived together and spread out. Then brilliant spots, of which there were many, were shared and visited in turn by all of us. It was the same arrangement in 2016 when I was last there. The family who own Buceo were there at the time and were very hands on in the nicest way possible.

Awesome! Thank you for sharing. How long were you able to dive?

I can't reply with regards to Buceo, but I've always had a private boat + guide with Crystal Blue Resort and long dives are the norm.

The longest dive time I had was 90+ mins at a site called Bethlehem about 10 years ago when it was just me and the guide raking through the rubble finding nudi after nudi after nudi.

This is EXACTLY what I'm hoping for!

 

[Tippytoes12]

Awesome! Thank you for sharing. How long were you able to dive?



This is EXACTLY what I'm hoping for!

We came up on the air level of the group member who had the least air left. All were 70 minutes or a little more, but the guide was so good and the water colder than expected, so this was fine.

 

[jjmochi]

I would 100% get a private guide - you would think groups of 3-4 are “small” but the difference is night and day when you want to shoot super macro and go really really slow! I lost my group soo many times and now only dive w a private guide for macro dives. If your group has mostly photographers you will be lining up waiting forever and if not everyone goes really fast (relatively speaking ofc). I’m like you I can spend 10min with one critter especially if I’m having trouble getting it right. I went Buceo in Sept 2017 and it was great- not many other divers so my husband and I had a private guide without having to pay extra

 

[hedonist222]

I would 100% get a private guide - you would think groups of 3-4 are “small” but the difference is night and day when you want to shoot super macro and go really really slow! I lost my group soo many times and now only dive w a private guide for macro dives. If your group has mostly photographers you will be lining up waiting forever and if not everyone goes really fast (relatively speaking ofc). I’m like you I can spend 10min with one critter especially if I’m having trouble getting it right. I went Buceo in Sept 2017 and it was great- not many other divers so my husband and I had a private guide without having to pay extra

Agree and that was my experience in Sulawesi.
We were only "three" with the guide. But one of other divers took up a solid third of our dive time taking pictures while we sort of waited nearby.
Next time I'm opting for a private guide.