Last Minute in the Philippines - Dec 1-7, 2018... Advice?

[xrcjdx]

Thanks folks.


@xrcjdx - I was just checking the Cebu-Maasin Weesum Express schedule - It doesn't show a ferry going that direction until Monday the 3rd. (nothing Sat/Sun). Does that make sense? Sure looks like good diving in your neighborhood!

i am as surprised as you are - but checking the weesam facebook page it seems they will only service that route monday and friday effective november 16. that's especially sad for us who rely on it, and not good for the resorts.

 

[xrcjdx]

i am as surprised as you are - but checking the weesam facebook page it seems they will only service that route monday and friday effective november 16. that's especially sad for us who rely on it, and not good for the resorts.

if you are still considering south leyte in spite of the inconvenient weesam schedule change, send me a pm and i'll respond with your other options.

 

[D_Fresh]

I'll just throw this out there, I'll be diving Anilao Dec 1-2, PM me if interested.

 

[Makhno]

In January, I'm going back to Anilao for the second year in a row. Good muck diving; also some good coral reefs.

We've also gone to Sogod Bay two years in a row. Good muck diving; also some good coral reefs.

Malapascua definitely has some advantages, like the almost-certain thresher shark encounters at Monad Shoal, the almost-certain white-tip reef shark encounters at Gato Island, some good local sites (I had some very good critter encounters on the misnamed "house reef" by Evolution -- misnamed because it's more of a muck site than a reef).

If you're into wrecks, as said above, Coron has some great WWII wrecks, mostly quite shallow and mostly wide-open swim-throughs, with only a handful of truly technical penetrations. Subic Bay also has some good wrecks, and I'm going back there for some tech diving just before I go to Anilao. Apart from the wrecks, though, I don't really care for Subic Bay, and for your first Philippines trip I think you'd be happiest with Anilao, Sogod Bay, or Malapascua.

 

[Tehre Brohanan]

I wish for your sake that that you could add another three days and go to Sangat Island in Coron area. It’s a great resort BUT the real reason one goes there is to dive the six LARGE Japanese shipwrecks from WWII. I’ve been diving for more than 40 years now and that was some of the most memorable diving I have done. With a guide, you can tour almost every ghostly space on those ships. As a single diver (I too extended a business trip in Asia to dive), I had a dive guide to myself for these excursions ( they assign one dive guide per buddy or small group). I was there for a whole week and as we dove two wrecks and one reef per day, I ended up repeating several of the wrecks. Normally, I hate being taken to the same spots twice on a weeklong trip but I had NO complaints this time! If I were to do it again, I would go to Sangat long enough to dive the Big Six (three diving days) and then move to another location with better visibility.

Thanks DangerousDan64 for the helpful advice. I am arriving in the Phils tomorrow, and I was uncertain whether to do some wrecks in Coron or not. Your advice here has helped to make that decision.

 

[Scandi Divers]

Kindly consider a trip to Puerto galera, you can take a sea plane from Manila and be in the resort in about 45 minutes. Please check out Scandi divers resort in Big La Laguna.
forty dive sites within 15 minutes including some nice wrecks, great healthy reefs and awesome muck diving.

www.scandidivers.com