Manado Tasik Ria or Philippines Malapascua in March Any advice greatly appreciated.

[happysnapper]

Looking to get booked for a two week stay in either Manado or Malapascua departing mid March for 2 weeks. Both keen photographers! Anyone been out to both areas or just one please feel free to add your comments.
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[Mucksavage]

That's a tough one. I think my first reaction is you won't be disappointed by either so don't worry.

I am not familiar with Tasik Ria butI have dives a lot in Bunaken, Lembeh and just a little in Malapascua. Ok a lot.

The three locations mentioned are quite different. For me Bunaken is nice but gets repetitive very quickly. The walls are healthy,there are turtles and a nice variety of reef fish. However each wall dive turns into the next, and the next and the next.

Are you planning on Lembeh or Manado only? For me Lembeh is much,much better with some of the world's best macro and critter diving in a small location. I could happily spend weeks there. For the two Indonesian locations I can say for sure that the diving is good but it is very limiting topside. There is not much happening in Manado, even less in Bunaken and 100% nothing in Lembeh. You can expect to basically stay in your resort for the entire stay. But with 4 dives a day that's not so bad over a week.

Finally Malapascua - as you know its the only place to see Threshers but it also has very strong macro. What I like most about Malapascua is its one location but has a real variety of dive styles. It has classic wall diving (Monad Shoal), it has Pelagic encounters (Mantas, Threshers, Mobula at Monad, Hammerheads at Kimud), it has muck diving (Evolution House Reef - seahorses, Crinoid Squat Lobsters, Devilfish, Stargazers etc), it has some incredible soft corals (Bogtong bato, Lapus etc), WWII and more contemporary wrecks (Tapilon, Dona MArylin, Mogami Maru for tech divers) and it has Gato and Kalangamman Island (for cave / tunnel dives and the latter for tropical mind blowing above and below).

Equally for me the Philippines is so relaxed top side with lots of lazy bars selling cheap beers and of course Malapascua has the beach which is great for relaxing and makes it easy to walk up and down from place to place.

As I said, either way you'll be happy. PM me if you need more info. Enjoy!

 

[hellhole]

agree.. topside malapascua is better...

diving wise.. its all about what is 'your thang'

 

[happysnapper]

Thanks for the info guys, I thought Manado would have offered more topside/land options offering exploring via motorbikes and checking out the volcanoes and lakes?
We would be based at Tasik Ria for 2 weeks and have a day out to Lembeh to check the funky critters out. A concern for Manado at the moment is we have reservations on the weather in March (could be rainy still)
Malapascua reservations are that some divers have mentioned on here that there is evidence of dynamite fishing and no large fish? (maybe fished out) also would be interested to know if there was potential to visit surrounding areas e.g.. Bohol.

 

[happysnapper]

Thanks for the info guys, I thought Manado would have offered more topside/land options offering exploring via motorbikes and checking out the volcanoes and lakes?
We would be based at Tasik Ria for 2 weeks and have a day out to Lembeh to check the funky critters out. A concern for Manado at the moment is we have reservations on the weather in March (could be rainy still)
Malapascua reservations are that some divers have mentioned on here that there is evidence of dynamite fishing and no large fish? (maybe fished out) also would be interested to know if there was potential to visit surrounding areas e.g.. Bohol.

 

[Centrals]

There is nothing to offer beside scuba diving in Malapascua. One week each at Malapascua and Bohol would be my preference. Chocolate Hill and the Tazier monkey etc etc are other attractions at Bohol. Thrasher shark and Devil ray are pretty big fish in Malapascua.
I would split the time equally between Bunaken and Lembeh for the first time visitor. One day in Lembeh is never enough if you are a keen photographer. Some might even consider two months is not enough!!!!
Tasik Ria is on Manado which will require longer travelling time to the dive sites. Personally, I prefer those on Bunaken, more rustic!!
Best time to dive Manado is probably July and Aug. Very dry and no mossie.

 

[Cruiser24]

as highlighted by centrals, tasik ria is quite far from the dive sites so u end up spending quite abit of time on the boat traveling to and fro. if u hv not confirmed ur booking with tasik ria, u may want to consider moving to other resorts that are nearer.

 

[happysnapper]

Thanks guys, which other resort would you recommend ? Also still undecieded on Malapascua or Tasik Ria. Nothing booked yet! Concerned on weather in north sulawesi in March as it seems it could be rainy.

 

[TSandM]

We spent five days at Tasik Ria. The resort is nice enough, although when we were there (2007) the food was at best indifferent. I didn't mind the boat rides to the sites -- the boats are big and comfortable, and what else are you going to do with your day? (The resort is not anywhere near the city, so you're pretty much just there.) I enjoyed Bunaken, which is very colorful, but as someone has already stated, Lembeh beat it all hollow. The viz in Lembeh wasn't as good, and the sites aren't as pretty, but the critters are absolutely astonishing. (You can see some of the same things, though, when you do the "house reef" at Tasik Ria; unfortunately, it isn't a shore dive.) We stayed at Kunkungen Bay Resort in Lembeh, and the place was absolutely beautiful, the people were incredibly nice, and the food was FAR better than TR.

 

[ocdiver1]

Two great destinations, however two weeks is too long to be in just one of those places. If you do N. Sulawesi, 1 day to Lembeh is absolutely not enough. Personally I'd split the two weeks in half and do one week Bunaken, one week Lembeh, or thirds, and take in Bangka. All three are so close together you have very little transport time. As for Malapascua, I think one week there is enough, and I'd combine it with elsewhere in Cebu (Moalboal) or Bohol, or ideally Dumaguete. To address your concern about dynamite fishing/lack of big fish in Malapascua, Malapascua is actually the best place in the Philippines to see something big outside of Tubbataha...in addition to the threshers there are chances of mantas and hammerheads at Kemod, and for sure white tips at Gato Island. You will see evidence of dynamite fishing, the coral is not that great in places, but it's by far my favorite place in the Philippines.