El Nido In November?

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MelasLithos

Contributor
Messages
156
Reaction score
98
Location
Shanghai, China
# of dives
100 - 199
Hi,

Two friends and myself are thinking about going diving in Philippines this November.

Amongst the three of us, one wants to pass his OW (he never dived before, but heard so much about diving from my other friend and I that he wants to try too).
My other friend and I learned last year in Boracay, and just passed our AOW this May (+PPB too). Since our first friend is going to take some classes and probably pass some time with his nose in a book, we were considering advancing our instruction too (Cavern/Night/Deep/Wreck? - we haven't really decided yet).

So I have a few questions:

Regarding location, we were considering El Nido, since I was told that it was a beautiful place, and easy, for beginner divers. What do you think about that? Is it a nice place to go in November? Or do you have other recommendations?

Do you have any resort/hotel/dive center recommendations for there?

Regarding the specialty classes we could take, do you have a recommendation amongst the ones above (or maybe some other we haven't considered yet?), one that fits well with the diving in El Nido?

Thanks for your help!
 
I did exactly that in 2011 doing OW oversea ar El Nido. Beautiful place and a life time worth of the scenic serene place.

Western currencies goes a long way there unless price sky rocketed. San Miguel was cheaper than coca cola!

We went in October which turn out to be a bad idea since Phil.gets hit hard w typhoon around that time. We were flying in between two storms almost werent sure if was going make it out in time.

So i recommend another time not the fall storm season unless u want a very adventurous ride.

Also, porto princessas underground river is worth a trip that i missed if you can afford the time. Its a 8-9 solid car ride between two town on the Isle.

If u need save time book in advance of private charter fly from Manilla to El Nido. But they give priority to resort customers. Shame cuz u will miss all the quaint Euro places to eat around town.

As diving 1st time all over seas, dont do it less ur frend is a fast learner. I had a hard time w some basic skills like equalizing and mask clear since reader just doesnt give hands on experience.

I would spend some time in pool back home to save valuable vacation time. But u guys can perhaps help with that too before he goes.

Good luck and show us some photos of their reef now!
 
EN is pretty meh for diving IMO. For Palawan Coron has the better diving, but less topside. I'd consider something like Anilao or on Cebu island, or down into Dumaguete area. Puerto Galera is good diving too, but a bit more into the storm band. November is pretty late for typhoons in the old days, but recently it seems there are still some in that time frame.
 
I was in El Nido roughly 2 months ago. I absolutely loved it and had considered diving there too, but everyone on Scubaboard and in the town talked me out of it. They said it wasn't all that great. I did some snorkeling on some of the nearby islands and it wasn't bad...until I got stung by a jelly.
 
Thanks everyone for your recommendations.

My other friend and I actually passed our OW last year in Boracay, in November too, and there was no typhoon issues. I live in Shanghai, so we get typhoons here too, I have all the typhon tracking websites bookmarked, so it's not really worrying me, and I think we can plan according to that.

I'll check the other places you mentionned too, such as Coron, Anilao or Cebu. Although to be fair, I've taken my friend on so many dive only trips this year, that I think she'll be glad to have a trip with some other activities too this time ^^.

Regarding passing the courses first time oversea, I don't remember having much trouble with that last year, but we had time and our intructor really took the time to make us comfortable. But I'll look into having him started here in Shanghai, indeed, it might be more interesting for him to just spend more time for diving/fun once abroad than classes. And of course, we'll help him with skills.

And wherever we end going, I'll try to take some pictures!
 
Diving in El Nido is quite nice, even though it's not so well known. Most dive sites are not very deep, and there is not much current. The reefs are healthy.

Palawan Divers, Deep Blue and El Dive are all really nice dive shops.

November should be ok, the ocean might be a tad rough.

As for specialties, Deep will be difficult to do since most dive sites are not that deep. Night is certainly an option with some great night dive sites ("Paradise").
 
My friends unanimously requested "not only diving" for this trip, and they looked quite interested by El Nido, so I think we'll go there this year. I'll keep the other destinations in mind for future trip. I think Philippines is going to turn into at least a yearly trip for me, maybe even more, so I'm pretty sure I'll have plenty of time to explore all other places there.

@klausi, thanks for the dive shops recommendation. I'll look into those. And I'll check too if we can sneak a detour through Coron.
 
I'm just back from the Philippines, and had a great time there! For those that are interested, here is a quick summary of our time there.

First, I have to say that there were a few changes from the initial plan. Our non diver friend, who was interested in trying scuba, was unfortunately not able to come. Which means more diving for my buddy and I! We still went to El Nido though, but attached to it a dive Seafari from El Nido to Coron. We ended going with Submariner Diving, mostly because the dates of the Seafari suited us better.

The first couple of days in El Nido were used for relaxing (it looks like my friend and I were both in need of quite some sleep...) and doing theory and on-land line training. Indeed, while preparing the trip and discussing with the dive center owner, he suggested a cavern course, and since it was something I have been interested in for a while, I jumped on the occasion. Unfortunately, we had a storm after that and couldn't dive the cavern before we had to leave on the seafari (on the day of the storm, the boats couldn't leave, and there was far too much waves/currents after the storm to access the cavern entrance). We still were able to pratice the use of a reel and lines underwater (but in open water), pratice our fining techniques (OMG the back-kick is a real horror - although I was suggested that a change of fins might help me a lot with that), etc. So despite not being able to go into the caverns (and not finishing the course), I still enjoyed it a lot. I learned a lot, including a whole new way to approach and prepare my dives. I really thank our instructor for that.

We ended with a fun dive, but because of the previous storm, there was sand everywhere and visibility was almost nil. Not the best dive I've had, but as our instructor said "at least, it was good training for zero visibility diving".

Regarding the town, it's a cute one, with a lot of nice places, and the landscapes in the area is amazing.

After that, we left for the dive safari from El Nido to Coron (4D/3N), and had a lot of great diving during it. We finally had a dive in better conditions in El Nido, and I was finally able to "see" what I couldn't the previous day ^^. We also dived on a lot of gorgeous and very healthy coral reefs (although starting to bleach at the tips - water temperature has been pretty warm lately) between El Nido to Coron, with lots of marine life, including a memorable night dive near Cullion.

The last two days of the Seafari were spent on the wrecks of Coron. They are impressive. It's a really strange feeling to see those and dive through those, thinking about their history. Before that, I had only dived on one small wreck, a fishing boat that was prepared and sank for divers. It was nothing comparable to the wrecks in Coron.

We finished with a dive in the Barracuda Lake, and that was probably the craziest and most fun I've ever had on a dive yet (mind you, I don't have that much diving experience yet). There's a thermocline/halocline in the lake, creating all kind of strange and funny effects. And the underwater landscape is absolutely gorgeous (my profile picture is from that dive).

And I can't finish without mentionning the staff on the boat. They were all fantastic.
For the dive crew, we had an instructor and 2 divemasters for 7 guests. My buddy, myself and another guest dived with the instructor, since we were taking a few courses (wrecks, nitrox). For the other guests, each pair dived with a divemaster. They were great at pointing and showing things to us under water, and our instructor had been especially patient with me and all my questions (especially with all the fish/marine life questions I had after every dive).
We also had a photographer with us on the boat, and those interested could buy here pictures at the end of the trip. I loved the idea, since for once, I had pictures of my dives to show my family and friends back home.
The chef was really good (all hopes of dieting went down the drain when I had my first bite of his food), and all the crew in general very kind and helpful.

Regarding accomodation, we would sleep on the islands every night. Hotels were simple (no hot water, but we didn't really needed it seeing the warm weather we had), but clean and comfortable. We spent two nights in Cullion, which is an interesting town in itself. It's an old leper colony, and there is still a lot left to visit.

All in all, I had a great time, and will probably go there again (I haven't seen enough of El Nido yet, and want to dive the wrecks of Coron again).

I think it's the first time I'm trying to write a trip report here, so I'm not quite sure of what you want to see in those. Sorry if it's a bit messy, there's so much to say,I never know when it's too much or not enough. If there's anything of interest to you that I didn't mention here, please ask!
 
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Hey MelasLithos

Totally how many dives you made in the seafari?
How many were in Coron and how many in El Nido?
It would be lovely , if you could give your detailed itinerary.
Thanks
 

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