Malapascua how long and where ?

[scubamonica]

Hi we will be diving around Philippines from the 10th of December. How long is recommendable to stay in malapascua o? Which resort? Budget and middle range ?
thanks !

 

[BeeCee]

In June I stayed at Tepanee Resort for 2 nights, thought it was great. Eco resort (by Phils standards anyway) feel to it and nice Italian restaurant attached. They have a very small secluded beach a short walk down the steep hill from the accommodation units. It's tucked away a bit from all the other resorts main beach area but they are only 5-10 min walk away, I thought it was really good value and the staff were great, fond memories of massages under the stars. I would go back to them again. Then spent 2 nights at the Hippocampus which is basic but nice enough and located in the heart of resorts and restaurants part of the island, and right on a nice beach. Staff were just ok, I was low on cash (no atm on island) so made very clear before checking in I could only pay by visa which they said was fine, upon checkout their visa machine was not working. The manager turned on me at this point insisting that I pay cash, by this point I had not nearly enough cash to pay, manager was borderline aggressive, in the end I suggested a staff member come with me to the mainland where I'd withdraw cash and pay which worked fine but I didn't like being made to feel like I'd done something wrong.

I did the thresher dives with evolution divers and it was awesome. They charged a bit more but avoided the crowd, felt they were good.

4 nights was plenty of time on Malapascua for us. I could understand people enjoying it for a week or more but for me and my girlfriend at the time (non-diver) it was a bit too quiet.

 

[eagerbeaver]

Hi Monica,

As mentioned, 4 days is enough to get most fo the key dive sites covered, however we have people who hang out for a week or more and are still happy enjoying different dives, and repeating the same divesites but seeing different stuff.

You might find for those dates that many places are booked up already, you could try Mr Kwiiz for budget accommodation(P500 per night), or let me know and I might be able to arrange something with our neighbors in the P1600(fan)-P2500(AC) range.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

Enjoy!

Matt.

 

[exposure]

That is an awesome place As said, it is very quiet. If you like that and are only divers, that's really great to stay a week, otherwise you can stay 3 to 4 days and mix with other places like panglao which is close to CEBU.

Malapascua is one of my favorite place in Malapascua

 

[Centrals]

Hi we will be diving around Philippines from the 10th of December. How long is recommendable to stay in malapascua o? Which resort? Budget and middle range ?
thanks !

You have 2-3 wks max in the country. Dec is the absolute peak season so you have to book early.
Bohol: Sea Quest
Dumaguete: Liquid
Malapascua: Evolution or Exotic
Southern Leyte: Peter
If time is short then give Leyte a miss(time consuming to get there but( diving is very good).
You need to book the flight from Manila to Cebu or Dumaguete or Tacloban(Leyte) or Tagbilaren(Bohol).

 

[Mantra]

After doing quite a bit of our own research, we elected to stay and dive with Evolution (Matt who replied above). We will be in the category of divers who will stay a little longer - we will be there for a little over a week in early January. I quite like seeing a good dive site more than once. We have another month or so in the country after that, all in the Visayas this time around.

Please do a trip report!

 

[scubamonica]

Thanks for your reply ! Good tips !

---------- Post added December 4th, 2012 at 01:12 PM ----------

Oops we haven't booked yet ! My husband is finishing a job here in Jakarta and is not clear the final date ! Wishing me good luck ... Thanks for your rreply!

 

[Makhno]

I think four days wouldn't be long enough if everyone you're traveling with is a fairly serious diver.

A lot of folks make it seem like the thresher sharks are what Malapascua is all about, but that isn't true.

• You also have not too shy whitetip reef sharks almost guaranteed at Gato Island, where I also saw some little bamboo sharks and several species of nudibranchs that were new to me (plus others I often see), and a few cuttlefish and some ornate ghost pipefish and plenty of other marine life;
  
  
• there's a nice wreck, the Dona Marilyn, which can be combined with another trip to Gato Island, and if you're a technical diver then the Mogami Maru wreck, although relatively small, is also a great dive;
  
  
• House Reef, which isn't really a reef, is a great muck dive and has a lot of great macro critters like frogfish, seahorses, snake eels, lots of nudibranchs, seamoths, pipefishes, etc.;
  
  
• Deep Slope offers a lot, including a couple different pygmy seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, etc.;
  
  
• and there are a lot of other sites which, when considered together, offer a great diversity of habitats and marine life. If it's a choice between wasting a day traveling versus doing another day of diving at Malapscua, there's a good chance that you'd be better off staying there.
  

Note, however, that some of the smaller dive centers can't guarantee you trips to Gato Island or the Dona Marilyn wreck because they need a certain minimum number of divers who want to go there to make the trip cost-effective for them. But if stay a little longer, and you let them know that you have your heart set on a particular site, they'll try to make it happen for you.

 

[scubamonica]

Thanks for your reply ! We will probably stay a week or a bit more in each place. We have time, we havent dive for a while (i just recovered from a PFO closure ), we have new photography equipment to try, etc.