I’ve been lucky enough to make multiple trips to the Philippines and the Caribbean and even though I don’t like to compare because every place is a different experience if I had the choice hands down the Philippines everytime. We stayed at Atlantis when we were in PG actually Sabang and they were great, also don’t miss Verde Island.
First trip to Phillipines
- Thread starter gkrane
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Luko
Contributor
Lol... is this a troll or are you completely misinformed?For what I have heard (I'll see with my eyes when I'll land there) is exactly the opposite: there's an abundance of soft corals and no real interesting formations; there's much less marine life, especially in the mid-size and pelagic, most of the marine life in the area is small and muck dives; ...oh and the cost, this I can answer already, coz I paid for my trip in PG already: I spent the double of what I paid in Cozumel (eat and the drink there could be different..). I'll update my "collected info" with the facts as soon I'll be there....but I think the Caribbean area cannot be compared to anything else, really.
Disclaimer : I had my OW in Bonaire 25 years ago went a few times diving in the Caribbeans and once I dived SEA and the South Pacific I never went back to Caribbeans for the next 900 dives, so boring and expensive.
I'll first head to the facts : scientifically Caribbeans is a dead end when it comes to biodiversity. Read all studies from Allen et al, you'll get the most diversity in the Coral Triangle (grossly formed with northern Phils, Bali, eastern PNG) species then decrease with distance, less diversity on the GBR, lesser in Fiji, even less in French polynesia, etc. on the western side, less diversity in Thailand, Maldives then even less on the African coast and lastly... Caribbeans is the poor man of the underwater planet.
Secondly,
I'll resort to the photos, as a small image talks more than a lot of words. May be you'll find Caribbeans are not that colorful... I am supposed to be a macro photographer, btw, so not really chasing whale sharks, mantas and that stuff you will also find in the PIs.
Costwise, I am also from Europe except I organisze myself alone, not from travel agencies. You can take a flight to HKG then a low cost to Manila which is cheap.
There are hotels from 20EUR to 250EUR if you want but I don't know anywhere else where you can dive from 20USD like in Moalboal for instance, certainly not in the Caribbeans, except in that overrated dive factory in Roatan...
OP
gkrane
Contributor
Now that's what I am talking about right there! Nice Photos!
I just returned from a Philippines group trip I arranged where we stayed 7 nights in Sabang for about $100usd per day that included oceanview room, breakfast and lunch, 4 boat dives daily, and nitrox. You cannot do that anywhere in the Caribbean, not even close, not with the lowest budget option to be found. I'll bet money on it. You won't get 4 boat dives in Coz for $100 unless you live there and are personal friends with the owner.
OP
gkrane
Contributor
Before I started doing research and booked my trip to PG I had always thought that Coz was the cheapest destination for us to go to from South Texas. Airfare there is relatively inexpensive, and if I stayed somewhere like Blue Angel I could do shore dives there next to the stingray pen whenever I wanted to get my extra time underwater. I was really blown away after I got quotes from places in the Philippines that offered much more for so much less. What really surprised me was the low airfare cost compared to going to other places in Asia or Indonesia. Historically it has been the airfare costs that have kept me away from going to a lot of the places that I would love to dive like Raja Ampat, Komodo, Palau, Maldives, etc.... My trip to Puerto Galera is not until October but hopefully it will be a great experience with great diving that will open up a whole new option for me in the future. To dive all over the Philippines that is!
Yes, for us in North America it's the airfare that makes the Caribbean cheaper than Asia. We did the Philippines because we could get RT air on EVA for under $800. Air to Roatan or Bonaire will cost me almost that, of course Coz and especially Cancun is a lot cheaper.
OP
gkrane
Contributor
I havent gone diving in Cancun yet. What is it like diving there? Where do you stay? I really never even associated Cancun with diving except Cenotes and such. All of my trip to Mexico have been to Coz.
We dive in Coz. Sometimes we fly into Cancun and do what is known by some as "the bag drag". Take an ADO bus from Cancun to Playa del Carmen then the ferry over to Coz. We do that because we can get RT air to Cancun for around $250 but RT air to Coz is around $450. Takes about 2-3 hours but we're in Mexico relaxing and drinking beer and enjoying the sights so it's not much of a hassle with the right state of mind.
It has it's pros and cons. One pro is that there are a dozen daily flights from Houston to Cancun and just one to Coz. If the Coz flight is cancelled or you miss it, you lose a day. With Cancun, just get on the next one. This paid off last December when poor planning and a slow uber driver caused us to miss baggage checkin by one minute. We were put on the next flight leaving 1.5 hrs later at no cost.
NFacey
Registered
Hey Centrals, I'm planning our first trip to the Philippines in July, which I'm aware isn't the best timing, especially out West. So of the places you mention I think Southern Leyte is likely to have the best weather, can anyone please compare the diving there to Malapascua, Panglao and Moalboal for me? We've dived Komodo / Flores and would love to re-live that experience, ideally with added manta rays / whale sharks ;P
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