Trip Report Dauin and Moalboal

[diveUAE]

I just wanted to share our experiences diving Dauin and Moalboal on a budget. (But still with the luxury of private transfers)

Last year we spend a lot of money on our trip to Galapagos, so this year we needed to be more budget conscious.

First step was finding the cheapest tickets – I was searching out of all nearby airports (up to 3 hours drive) and looked at Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines. Phils came out way cheaper than the others – but had a 6 h layover in Istanbul on the way out (midnight-6 am). Still I booked and was hoping Yotel in Istanbul would give me a reasonable price for the 4-5 hours – turned out I was wrong: 300 Euros for a room!! So we tried to get some sleep in the “quiet/rest” area close to our arrival gate, but a group of Portuguese thought it was the perfect place for a loud pizza party – and did not react to the dirty eyes from the rest of us – or even remarks about this being the “rest area”.

Managed to sleep a few hours, and anyway booked exit seats on the flight to Cebu, so actually slept a lot during the 14 hour flight (12 h something to Manila, where some passengers got off, the 1,5 h to Cebu for a 1.20 am arrival)

Will reconsider Turkish airlines, since everything in Istanbul airport is very expensive (more than the "normal" airport expensive), so paying more for flights could end up being cheaper. Other than than planes were nice - staff ok although they could be better at cleaning/restocking the toilets.

Upon arrival in CEB we were asked to show proof of filling out the online form (even though it clearly stated you did not have to, as it was already registered in their system), but an official was standing and asked everyone to show the qr code before we were able to join the queue. My husband and I had (automatically) taken a screenshot, so had no problem, but my SIL (who’s 65 and more of a “it says it’s not needed so I won’t do it) did not take a screenshot and could not access the free airport network – probably because a huge group was already trying to either fill out the form or accessing it to show to the lady. I’d opted to buy an esim from Airalo (a bit more expensive than buying a sim/esim on arrival), but came in very handy as I could share 4G with SIL, who could then retrieve the qr code. Airalo worked very well in both Dauin and Moalboal as well as in between.

I used my Revolut card in the ATM’s outside the airport to get some cash – 250 PHP charge by the ATM for withdrawl of 10.000 PHP. First ATM did not work, but second was fine.

Original I booked a 13.20 pm flight CEB-DGT (about 3.600 PHP per person with 32 kg and prebooked seats) but Cebu Pacific kept changing the flight and we ended up on a 21.40 pm flight instead, had I not booked the Bai hotel with no cancellation we would have looked into drive/ferry options, but we really enjoyed our stay at Bai and had an awesome (although very expensive) steak at the “Marble and Grain” restaurant on site. Booked with “Danny Noi” (recommended on TA) for pick up/drop off to airport for 1.500 php (total). 1 night at Bai was 4.800 PHP inclusive of breakfast. Pool was nice with a great view and the drinks at the top bar were good. We walked to the nearby Park Mall to exchange money and see if we could get a massage. Exchange rates for Euro varied a lot, but finally we found 1 with about 59 PHP to 1 Euro. (at the hotel it was around 57 and some others in the mall only gave around 55).

All the massage places were fully booked, so we ended up in the very nice and expensive spa at the hotel (think it was 1.800 PHP for 90 min), massage was very good.

 

[diveUAE]

Check in at CEB was fast, they did weigh our hand luggage and my husband and I travel with regulator, mask and dive computers in the carry on, so my husband was at 9 kg, but they did not ask any questions, just said ok. Flight was on time and pick up was arranged with Bongo Bongo divers – very nice van we shared with a couple from US (1000 PHP total).



Everything at Bongo Bongo was ready for our arrival and after filling out papers for diving we were on the plan for diving the next day at 9, 12, 3 and 5.30/6.

I’d booked “room with ac and private bathroom” and it was 1750 PHP a night, so did not really know what to expect. Let me just say: the room was small. No rack, no cupboard only a small table, the build in double bed (clever design: we had the low bunk and my SIL the upper – in the other room) – literally concrete bed with a foam mattress, surprisingly comfortable and a small shelve unit – only for small stuff like torches, sun screen, keys etc. 2 outlets (bring a cord), 2 windows and a lamp. Sink was in the room, shower and toilet was separate, but I was pleased to learn we had hot water. We ended up placing our suitcase on the table and open it, so we could just take clothes etc. from there. Very strong ac, a fan and good internet connection. Very clean and we got new towels 2 times in the 9 night stay and new bedding once. Most days there was a cleaning service to empty the basket (no toilet paper in the toilet as most places I’ve been in SEA), sweep etc.

The vibe at the common/chill area was fabulous – it was so much fun chatting with staff/owners (one of the owners is Danish), DMT’s, other guests at the resort or people just arriving for dives. The pool was lovely and warm, not many sun loungers, but most people were there to dive, so never a problem. I realize I never went to see how the kitchen was, so can’t comment, but they do not have an onsite restaurant, so you just order from a menu and the call the restaurant, who then delivers and you pay the delivery guy directly. Worked great and we had some very nice food and extremely reasonably prices – 180 PHP for the “sweet and sour chicken” ended up being our “go to”, but there’s also an amazing pizza place. The only problem was delivery times: often it would take so long time for lunch delivery we gave up on the 3 pm dive, so never did more than 3 dives a day. They have a bar with very reasonable prices 70 PHP for a beer and (according to my husband and SIL) good coffee for 40 PHP.

The dive center was well organized: each diver had their own “cubicle” to hand suits, BCD etc with a box under it for booties, mask etc. I you were on a boat the next day the boys would load your box with everything in your cubicle (so remove anything you don’t want on the boat) and if you did not tell them “no” they would set everything up on the boat. My SIL was happy for them to do it, but my husband and I want to do it ourselves, no problem at all, they would help if we asked. The boat was big and well laid out for diving. On board toilet with “mandi”. Briefings on boat safety/where to find stuff was done as well as a head count and making sure everyone knew their group and guide. Pancakes was served/ready either at the start of after the first dive. Coffee and cold water available as well.

As with most bangkas/boats in Philippines it was a giant stride entry – crew would help with fins (if you let them) and it was possible to hold on to the railing if you needed to adjust anything.

 

[diveUAE]

They also do shore dives – either house reef or by car to other sites. We did quite a few and it was mostly easy entry and dive guide or driver would help if you needed it (our guide carried SIL’s equipment every time we needed to walk out and was so helpful towards her, she enjoyed this part of the trip so, so much). Our first 3 days of diving we had changing guides, but by day 4 Magnus (the Danish co-owner) asked who we liked the best and as Eric had been so helpful to my SIL we asked for him for the rest of the trip. Turned out to be the best decision ever! Eric had eagle eyes and would often point to things, showing the sign for frog fish, nudie, crab etc. and when I looked I could see nothing until he used the pointer to show me – by the end I was getting so much better at spotting the small/cool stuff it amazed me how much I improved in the 5 days with Eric – after almost 30 years of diving. We saw tons of cool stuff – coleman shrimp, pickatu nudies (including a very, very big one), sheep nudie (Eric called them “Bob Marley”? Little (5 mm?) green ones with white curly “hair”), flamboyant cuttle fish and lots of other stuff.

Some dive sites the critters were more “dense” (loved San Miguel) than others, but that could also depend on tide and time of day: one early morning we dived “secret corner” and found so many octopuses (algea mostly, and sadly not the blue ring), we requested to do the same dive 2 days later (again early morning): swam around for 25 min before we saw anything remotely interesting (wonderpus), and did not see much in the 60+ minutes.
Only was able to do Apo trip once (SIL got sick, so we opted out of the other day), but corals were outstanding and even though our guide (not Eric that day) did not find the harlequin shrimp, still saw a lot of other stuff. Drift dive was fun!

We never did more than a short stroll, so only ate from the menu’s at the resort and did not even think about trying to find a massage place (totally regret that after the great, cheap massages in Moalboal).

We absolutely fell in love with Bongo Bongo and would love to return some day – I do understand the accommodation is not for everyone, but for what we paid it was extremely good value for money!

Our total bill for 9 nights, 23x2 dives and coffee/beer/smoothies/drinks/soft drinks (for 3) was just under 92.000 PHP! That’s less than 1.700 $ or 1.520 Euro. Of course we tipped well;-)

 

[diveUAE]

Transfer to Moalboal: Bongo Bongo arranged for a van to the ferry terminal (1200 PHP) and Danny Noi himself picked us up on the Cebuan side – could have easily taken a bus to save some money, but we like to know it’s a good/safe driver. Paid 2.500 PHP to Moalboal. We left Bongo Bongo at 9 and arrived at Cebu Seaview at 12.30.

Check in at Cebu Seaview was fast and we grabbed a quick lunch before getting our big rooms (seaview) at 2 pm. Had booked for 3 pm dive, so we quickly got our gear and walked the few steps to “Cebu Fun divers” located within the resort.

Check in at dive center was as normal: fill in the papers, here’s your box and you can hang your gear anywhere (inside or outside) as you wish – no personal space, bit chaotic. They did have a cool rack for booties though. Rinsing of equipment is not in tanks but with a hose. This is the first time we see this, we prefer the tanks to just dunk the equipment.

The ladies at dive center was very, very accommodation and nice, always smiling and asking, if we had a good dive. But the other guests were … strange … Trying to say “good morning” to the other guests and they looked at you like you had 2 heads. Never, ever had this on a dive trip.

Dive guides were unenthusiastic. On our first dives our guide never asked how much air we had left or if we were ok - I thought it might be because he saw we were dive professionals, so figured we would let him know, but when our friend (aowd) joined he never asked her either. He also only told my husband about a change in the dive plan (in the surface, just before descending) and only signalled “safety stop” to my husband as well - at 47 minutes of diving, while we still had more than 100 bar. Our friend commented and complained about him to the dive receptionist and we were assigned a new dive guide. Suddenly the dive briefings also changed to include: “your guide will ask for your air …”.

Our new dive guide was better and very helpful towards my SIL (I asked him to, since she’s 65 years old with about 70 dives and only started diving at 56), he kept close watch on her buoyancy and air, helping her get weights and bcd off in the water. We also got 60 minute dives (after our friend very sternly said: I assume if we have air we can use the full 60 min). Best of all: he found 2 orangutan crabs on the “sardines” dive.

Watched the instructors doing both DSD, refresher and OW certification and from what we could hear/see they were professional and great at explaining theory and what comes next/showing the exercises on land. I do think they were letting new divers a bit down by not helping them bring the equipment to the boat during low tide. (The crew carried our gear to the boat, and I found it challenging to walk on the dead corals to the boat, can’t imagine why you want new/not certified divers to do it with equipment!) At high tide would be ok to carry their own to learn how to get aboard with equipment.

 

[diveUAE]

The crew on the boat were also helpful with getting the equipment on and off. However the boat was not as big as the Bongo Bongo boat and others we have used in Philippines and when trying to put on the mask/make final adjustments before giant stride there’s nothing to hold on to. Have had this many times before and normally 1-2 staff members will be there to hold on to you or you hold on to them, but not at Cebu Fun divers. Ended up doing a back roll on the rest of the boat dives.

We did 2 trips to Pescador: beautiful corals, a bit current, but not too bad and several frog fish around. Also a bit crowded on the dive site: Once a guide spotted a frogfish and his group had seen it, the next group was already waiting and the next and next … Still we enjoyed and as experienced divers just went up/down to avoid more novice divers – at one point I did have to stay put for a while, since lot of divers were below so I could only see bubbles.

Also did the “sardines” twice – mesmerizing, absolutely a “do not miss” dive (finding the orangutan crab was just the icing on the cake). Cebu Fun divers did it at 12 noon and though I did ask for an earlier time before going first time they could/would not accommodate – don’t think it made a big difference though and I would happily do it again at 12 … or 3.

Getting to/from the boat at low tide was a challenge – I’m very happy the boys took our equipment on our night dive (house reef) it was very low tide and I struggled to walk over the dead coral with my equipment (no help from dive guide). On return (even lower) we swam as close as possible, but then the water level was so low it was tough to stand up. I walked for 1 minute then fell over twice – impossible to get up. Dive guide came back to help (he was already nearly at the beach) and asked, if I wanted to take the equipment off, so I (yes I!) could drag it through the water. He actually ended up dragging my equipment, while I struggled to shore – where my equipment was laying in the sand, so I could carry it up the stairs. I did notice there’s 1 resort with a bridge going out into the water – if we ever go back to Moalboal I would try to find out the name and see if we could book with them.

Our room at Cebu Seaview resort was nice. Big and spacious – especially compared to Bongo Bongo – nice queen bed, a bit hard for our liking, but that’s just our liking, table with chair, and cupboards with shelves and hangers to unpack. Lovely balcony with a drying rack, 2 chairs and sea view – nice place to spend the mornings. Good bathroom with plenty of hot water and dispensers with soap. The included breakfast was ok – eggs to order and (cold) hash browns, rice, ham and pancakes or waffles. Price pr night (with breakfast) was 3.900 PHP.

Final bill for diving (8 divesx2) around 26.000 PHP. Final bill for room+food (mostly lunch, but also 1 dinner) and drinks was just over 21.000 PHP.

Since we only did 2 dives a day in Moalboal we had more time/energy to explore the “town” – lots of tourists – some nice places for dinner/lunch (recommend the Thai place and the Mexican bar/restaurant), but also many places with massage – around 450 PHP for 1 hour – we ended up going to 3 different places in 3 days and all were good-great. Regretted not getting massages before

For our last day I booked Bai Hotel again – our flight was 2.40 am and we wanted a place we could rest, enjoy the pool, have a drink and another steak. Also had time for a 2 hour "nap".

Transfer from Moalboal-Bai-airport was 3.700 PHP – Moalboal-Bai was more than 3 hours including bathroom and snack break.

Before entering CEB there’s a guy asking to see your flight reservation – bring a copy or a screen shot (must include names and flight number).

Check in was fast – again they did weigh our carry on, but did not mention anything – this time we also had regulators in carry on without any problems.

Flight home was loooooooong. Wishing we could just go back, really, really enjoyed our “budget” trip.

Total bill (excluding flights): 200.000 PHP or around 3.500 $/3.300 Euro – for 2 (sometimes 3) people 2 weeks, 31 dives each, transfers, food, drinks, massages, tips. This comes to roughly 56 $ pr. dive.

 

[jeremyl]

Nice detailed review. I am booking my trip which will include 5 days in Dauin. My agent recommended Mikes, which is a bit more expensive lodging, but a more boutique place. When I suggested I would like to go more budget she said BongoBongo would be the only other place she recommends. Its $30 vs $80 per night (I'm travelling solo so its a bit of a bill after all the other diving I'm doing (including a Birthday splurge at a luxury dive resort before Dauin).... so debating b/n the two. My bigger concern with BongoBongo is Im a fairly experienced diver and dont want to be in a bigger group with newer divers. Not sure how small the dive groups are with Bongo. All the reviews of both places are excellent, but I have to pick one.

Side note, I just paid $75USD for a fairly crappy sports massage in Australia, so factoring in how many cheap massages I am going to get in Philippines I might move some money into the accommodations budget But it does add up as I am doing a ~4wk trip, all solo.

 

[Centrals]

Nice detailed review. I am booking my trip which will include 5 days in Dauin. My agent recommended Mikes, which is a bit more expensive lodging, but a more boutique place. When I suggested I would like to go more budget she said BongoBongo would be the only other place she recommends. Its $30 vs $80 per night (I'm travelling solo so its a bit of a bill after all the other diving I'm doing (including a Birthday splurge at a luxury dive resort before Dauin).... so debating b/n the two. My bigger concern with BongoBongo is Im a fairly experienced diver and dont want to be in a bigger group with newer divers. Not sure how small the dive groups are with Bongo. All the reviews of both places are excellent, but I have to pick one.

Side note, I just paid $75USD for a fairly crappy sports massage in Australia, so factoring in how many cheap massages I am going to get in Philippines I might move some money into the accommodations budget But it does add up as I am doing a ~4wk trip, all solo.

I would book Bongo Bongo for a few nights and with option for extension.

Liquid Dumaguete: Philippines Dive Resort - PADI 5 Star CDC Dive Center

Welcome to Liquid Dive Resort, a small boutique resort located on a secluded beach front in Dauin, home to some of the best diving in the Philippines.

www.liquiddumaguete.com

Standard cottage is listed at P3,300.00(US$60.00) ie. between Bongo Bongo and Mikes. Breakfast is included.
Zoe will reply to your enquiry in no time at all.

 

[diveUAE]

Nice detailed review. I am booking my trip which will include 5 days in Dauin. My agent recommended Mikes, which is a bit more expensive lodging, but a more boutique place. When I suggested I would like to go more budget she said BongoBongo would be the only other place she recommends. Its $30 vs $80 per night (I'm travelling solo so its a bit of a bill after all the other diving I'm doing (including a Birthday splurge at a luxury dive resort before Dauin).... so debating b/n the two. My bigger concern with BongoBongo is Im a fairly experienced diver and dont want to be in a bigger group with newer divers. Not sure how small the dive groups are with Bongo. All the reviews of both places are excellent, but I have to pick one.

Side note, I just paid $75USD for a fairly crappy sports massage in Australia, so factoring in how many cheap massages I am going to get in Philippines I might move some money into the accommodations budget But it does add up as I am doing a ~4wk trip, all solo.

Thanks.

Envious of your 4 weeks
Traveling solo at BongoBongo you’ll never be alone (unless you want to) As I wrote: the rooms are basic, but if you’re ok with that, then I highly recommend them.
Dive groups are max 4 pr guide - ask for Eric or Marwin.
Enjoy.