Aussie Divers first time to Philippines

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AusUsr

Registered
Messages
6
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0
Location
Sydney, Australia
# of dives
200 - 499
Hi there,

We plan to travel to the Philippines in August and would like to get recommendations on dive locations/resorts to stay at. We are keen to see whalesharks and thresher sharks, in fact all palagic, however we are also happy to mix it up with macro diving.

If we had a wishlist for the trip it would be:

  • Excellent Safety Record - O2
  • No Crowded dive boats
  • Eco freind;y Operators with focus on the well-being of wildlife. (Whalesharks in particular)
  • Easy Accessible boats/or shore dives, cleaning of dive gear, storage.
  • Smaller resort
  • Nitrox
  • Min 3 dives a day
  • Happy to travel to remote or 'out of the way" locations
  • A couple of Unique dives. (Wreck, Cave)

Thanks in advance
 
HI there

The only place you can see Thresher Sharks is Malapascua so if they're a must that narrows one of your locations down. It is not Whale Shark season in August (Donsol, Sogod Bay) so perhaps the only chance to see those is in Oslob which is a fish feeding programme so not for some and probably not for you based on your list.

August is a quieter month for dive tourism so you can probably avoid the crowds wherever you are.

For Eco friendly you can check out the Green Fins top ten members list and see if any fit your list. ;-)
 
Have a look at Philippine Siren liveaboard. They have trips between Cebu to Malapascua 05-15 August or 16-26 August which go through Cabilao, Balicasag, Oslob (whale sharks) Apo Island, Dauin, Pescador, Moalboal and Malapascua (thresher sharks). Its great weather in the visayas in August.

Excellent safety record
dive groups are max 6:1 guide. max 16 guest
strict policies on no touching and care for the reef, Oslob whale shark snorkeling is optional - in my view the regulations have been improved and its safe for the sharks
The rental gear is free, the crew clean your kit for you, wetsuits are rinsed after each dive and they have large rinse tanks for cameras
nitrox is free
3-4 dives per day - your choice how many you take.

Liveaboard is a great option to see more of the area without having to cut down dive time for travelling between spots. And Siren have a 10% discount offer on at the moment!

I'll be on board in less than 3 weeks!
 
Check out Scandi Divers in Puerto Galera. It's a smaller dive resort; offers Nitrox; professional, helpful dive instructors; over 35 dive sites within 10 minutes of the resort (wrecks, caves, muck, coral, etc.); on-site restaurant; rooms for all budgets.
 
how much time do you have for your trip?

pelagics are not a big part of the diving scene in phil, especially in august, threshers in malapascua notwithstanding, unless you are making your way to apo reef (i'll for now avoid a tirade about industrial whale sharking in oslob). august is as you probably know off season for tubbataha. it is not so difficult to make your way to apo reef out of coron or pandan island. some dive shops in the puerto galera area offer several day liveaboards to apo reef on a semi-regular basis, but as rounding the point around mindoro can be problematic at that time of year, not sure what you will come up with.

it is unlike me to discourage you from visiting phil at any time, but suggest that before you pull the trigger you compare indonesian options. i believe august is indonesian prime time, but you can enquire on that forum.
 
How large is your group? With 6 or more (8 if you don't want any strangers to join you), you could charter the liveaboard Rags Two, which I highly recommend. It is small but spacious for only 8 diving guests, and it can meet all the criteria you listed. (Your profile says 50-99 dives, so I assume that by "wreck, cave" you mean "non-penetration swim-throughs in wrecks and caverns," but Rags II can also accommodate technical divers for proper tech dives into wrecks and caves). Rags II sails out of Puerto Galera, so you should spend a few days diving the very good local PG dive sites for a few days before and/or after a Rags II liveaboard. However, Rags Two might be in drydock when you're in the Philippines. Moreover, if cost is a serious factor, Rags Two is rather more expensive than many shore-based options. It is a truly excellent dive operation and in my opinion is a good value, but you might appreciate it better after you've gained more experience.

As nudisusie mentioned, August is the wrong season for whale sharks.

Go back to the Philippines again and go to Sogod Bay! I went there in February with six of my friends and we all had an amazing time. The whale sharks were well-treated (that is, no feeding and no touching; lots of screaming people swimming after them with cameras is sort of unavoidable . . . ), and although encounters were for snorkeling only, that didn't detract from the experience at all and probably is best for the animals. Mainly, though, we were there for the macro life, and Sogod Bay did not disappoint. Lots of nudibranch species, loads of ornate ghost pipefish, a number of blue-ringed octopuses, a handful of flamboyant cuttlefish, Coleman's shrimp, pygmy seahorses, larger seahorses, etc etc. Most of my buddies enjoyed an encounter with a wonderpus (I missed it, unfortunately). We absolutely loved the muck diving site called "Malitbog Lembeh" (nicknamed after the Lembeh in Indonesia because so many of the same critters are there in the sand near the village of Malitbog, near Sogod Bay). We asked to go back again and again, to dive in the muck instead of the pretty reef sites. I can't wait to go back . . . in fact, if you can get over the lack of whale sharks, you should go in August.

Malapascua is also fantastic, and has a lot of diverse types of dives. You can have big animal encounters (thresher sharks, whitetip reef sharks, maybe devil rays), great macro critters, a couple of wrecks, some reefscapes etc. Malapascus can be combined with another destination or two in the central Philippines if you don't mind losing a diving day or two in transit.

Close to Manila and also offering great diving is Puerto Galera. Loads of info on this website and elsewhere about PG. Nearby is Anilao, where I haven't been yet but is well-recommended, especially for nudibranch lovers. I think if you're as far north as Puerto Galera and Anilao in August, you might have a typhoon risk that's greater than the one you'd have in the central Philippines, but I'm not sure.
 
Hi there,

We plan to travel to the Philippines in August and would like to get recommendations on dive locations/resorts to stay at. We are keen to see whalesharks and thresher sharks, in fact all palagic, however we are also happy to mix it up with macro diving.

If we had a wishlist for the trip it would be:

  • Excellent Safety Record - O2
  • No Crowded dive boats
  • Eco freind;y Operators with focus on the well-being of wildlife. (Whalesharks in particular)
  • Easy Accessible boats/or shore dives, cleaning of dive gear, storage.
  • Smaller resort
  • Nitrox
  • Min 3 dives a day
  • Happy to travel to remote or 'out of the way" locations
  • A couple of Unique dives. (Wreck, Cave)

Thanks in advance

Dear AusUsr,

You may combine Malapascua (thresher sharks, wrecks and macro) and Moalboal (macro and caves) or Malapascua and Anilao (best macro in the Philippines) depending on the number of available days for your well deserved dive holidays… However, you may wish to leave the whale sharks for another trip to Donsol (Feb-May) as you may not like the practices being carried in Oslob.

For Malapascua and Moalboal you may fly directly to Cebu and use land/boat transfers, while for Malapascua & Anilao you will need to take domestic flights from Cebu/Manila and vice versa. All these 3 destinations will cover all your listed wish list.

You may visit www.BuceoFilipinas.com or drop us an email for a personalized program…

Thanks and warmest regards :wink:
 
....We plan to travel to the Philippines in August and would like to get recommendations on dive locations/resorts to stay at. We are keen to see whalesharks and thresher sharks, in fact all palagic, however we are also happy to mix it up with macro diving.
Malapascua for the thresher shark.
Oslob for the whaleshark(circus style).
There is no way that I would plan a liveaboard in Aug(typhoon season).
 
As nudisusie mentioned, August is the wrong season for whale sharks.

hmm I never wrote that at all! The whale sharks in Oslob are there year round

I actually think, contrary to Centrals, that August is an excellent time to visit the Visayas region of the Philippines (Cebu, Bohol, Negros) - either by liveaboard or land based resorts. Its the most protected area in the Philippines in terms of the summer monsoon which mostly affects the northern areas around Luzon.

I'm going in 2 weeks for a month - resort -liveaboard-resort
I went last year in August - resort(s)
I went in 2013 in August - resort (s)

Dive sites are less busy and you can usually pick up some good package offers (eg right now Siren 10% off, Atmosphere book 3 nights get 1 free).... Because everyone seems to think that its a bad time to visit! it isn't
 
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