Hi.
I only know about the Visayas - Puerto Galera / Mindoro may also be great, don't have a clue - you would need to review that further.
Try to fly into Cebu City directly (cathay is an option from Hong Kong). Moalboal has some great diving around Pescador Island. Great visibility, lots of fish, serious whitetip reefsharks in the early morning at 50 meters (that is a bit of a pity), basically a really nice wall dive. Other sites as well including Ronda Bay, blacktips and tresher sharks (that is a big shark) have been seen there recently. The town itself is nice and friendly but not romantic - the beach was blown away in a 1980s typhoon and although a beach is nearby at 15 min drive, there is none to speak of in Moalboal itself. Accomodation is ample available - of all places, Eve's Place would be my favorite. Nice rooms, open restaurant on the ground floor, really lazy athmosphere, great people. This is the place that has been around since the discovery of Moalboal and its shows - great operation. Their diveshop is called Nelson's and is equally great (no I do not hold shares in their operation) ; nice and good guides.
I spent two days in Moalboal and at the end of my trip an additional two; four days is really enough to dive all places if you dive three times a day. Prices are cheap: Using own equipment, you should be able to make three dives a day for approx USD 30-35 (three dives). Moalboal is reached by taxi from Cebu in say 2.5 hours for approx USD 50, the bus takes a bit longer but is waaaaaay cheaper, something like a few dollars.
Dumaguete on Negros is an additional 4 hours from Moalboal, including bus ride and crossing of the Tarom Strait. There's two nice resorts south of Duma, Atlantis and el Dorado Beach resort. Both have excellent nightdive sites (see discussion on the board re the Duma Pier; mandarin fish!!!) and are the best access point for Apo Island dive trips. Apo Island has great diving, but wouldn;t stay on the Island itself, hassle to get there. The El Dorado Beach resort has a dive shop in it run by a Swiss guy, Sea Explorers (this shop is everywhere in the Visayas - you can buy 10 dive cards you can use at all shops, pretty neat). In my opinion, these resorts are nice for a few days but definately not longer - there is NOTHING to do for a non-diver. Take 6 dives around Apo (2 days) and get out of there would be my suggestion.
From Dumaguete you can take a ferry to Larena on Siguijor (45 min sail), a really, really, really nice, cozy, silent, laid-back, non-touristy island with some diving. You're options are basically the Cocogrove Resort on the Southside withs views over Apo Island, beautiful white beach and a local wall dive spot. In the Northwest corner near the Marine Park, there's two resorts there: Kiwi Dive Resort and another one (immediately next to it on the beach). The one whose name I forgot has funky cottages immediately on the beach; you can go diving with the guys from the Kiwi resort next dives. There is a huge school (500+) of big barracuda's in the marine park - big as in excess of 150 cm. Also blacktips, but haven't met anyone who actually saw them. The island is lovely, definately more romantic than the other two but again - it is really laid-back and diving is limited.
Next option: take the boat from Larena to Bohol or immediately from Cebu to Bohol. Tranfer to Alona Beach (60 mins from the port, easy enough). Alona Beach is basically a collection of resorts on the beachside with a few bars thrown in and a couple of diveshops. Excellent place for diver / non-diver couples because of the nice white beach (in duma, the beach is negros = black). Good for divers cause much more variety than Siguijor and there is some nightlife - you can eat in different places everynight and will meet different people instead of same ones all the time. Diving is great: Balicasag Island, Pangloa Island (used to be famous for the school of hammerheads, but since El Nino, they are missing. Rumours are they are caught in Taiwanese fishing nets. Sink the bastards) and Arco Point - they have found pygmy seahorse there. Accomodation is nice and plentiful and pretty cheap - USD 30 a night gets you something really upscale right on the beach.
If I where to do it again with a imaginative fanatic diving girlfriend, I would do 3 days in Moalboal, travel 1 day to Duma, stay 2 days in Duma to dive Apo, travel 1 day to Siguijor, relax for two days in the place the name whereof I forgot and perhaps make 1/2 dives. That leaves me 14-9 = 5 days which I all would spent in Alona Beach (there is a late evening ferry from Larena to Bohol so you don't loose a day travelling).
If I where to travel with a non-diving girlfriend but would like to have the best chance to see big stuff and dive a lot, I would stay a week in Moalboal and one week in Bohol / Alona Beach.
If I where a casual diver mainly seeking to get out there to spend some quality time with the lady, I would hire that cabin on Siguijor and watch the sun set again and again and again and again and nevermind that beach that at low tide means a half hour walk to the waterfront (hmmm....maybe check out the Cocogrove after a few days).
For other permutations, feel free to send me an e-mail or ask additional questions via this forum.
Bahala na!
) not for the dieter, though vegetables are always available.
