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[Centrals]

1. There is not much diving around Puerto Princesa, contact Island Divers for local info. El Nido which is at the northern tip of Palawan has diving.
2. Sight seeing: The Underground River in Sabang which is only few hrs away from Puerto Princesa.
2. Cebu Pacific does have some really cheap promotion available from time to time. Register with them to get the latest up-date.

 

[FT]

Since Puerto Princesa is not, I think, an international hub, you will be accessing it through one of the international gateway cities. IIRC those are Cebu, Iloilo, and Manila.

From Cebu your options with a bit more land travel include Moalboal and Malapascua; with a ferry ride, Dumaguete (Dauin), Bohol, Maasin (South Leyte) or Siquijor... what am I missing, folks?.

From Iloilo (a very pleasant city for your offgassing day), your best options with a ferry and not insignificant land travel are Sipalay or Dumaguete (Dauin). Not sure about the other diving around Iloilo itself. There is some but it is not well known on this board.

From Manila your options include Anilao (3-4 hours' land travel) or Puerto Galera/Sabang (3-4 hours' land travel and an hour or so ferry. Oh, there are wrecks in Subic Bay too.

There is also wreck diving in Coron which looks as if it ought to be close to Puerto Princesa, but is either a long drive to El Nido + 8 hours on a ferry, or flights connecting in Manila.

 

[Centrals]

You can catch 2GO ferry from Puerto Princesa to Coron(15hrs). Please check the twice weekly schedule.
All the flights depart from Coron to Manila will be on turbo prop so luggage allowance is LOW. I believe 20kg is the absolute maximum. Alternatively, take the ferry.

 

[gkrane]

The wreck diving in Coron looks quite interesting as an add on. After reading some more I think I also might like to experience "proper" muck diving. So many choices......

 

[gkrane]

Is this the Tubbataha area?

Philippines Travel Warning

 

[Centrals]

NO!

 

[gkrane]

Thanks centrals.

 

[tbriggsnh]

The area referred to in the warnings are in the southernmost part of the Philippines, in particular, the island of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, a string of islands off the southwest corner of Mindanao. This area should be avoided by Americans as they are prone to terrorist activities.

The area you're interested in, the islands of Palawan and Coron are more than 300 miles northwest of the sketchy area, about the distance from Corpus Christi to Waco.