Sabang: Scandi Divers ft a week

[WoodyLompoc]

We arrived at Scandi yesterday AM. Quite a long haul from LAX, fourteen and a half hour flight, two hours to get out of the Manilla airport (long wait for the bags) and two and a half hours for the private (group of five) van and boat to resort. After a flight that long, going for the Scandi organized transportation was a good call. We were able to enjoy the scenery and not touch our luggage from thy airport to the hotel room. We checked in, registered at ty dive shop, got to know Larry (our DM for the week) and settled in for an hour and a half while our son and his buddies grabbed a meal at the on site restaurant. As we arrived in the AM, our booked room was still occupied. They gave us a nice room with bedroom, kitchen and balcony overlooking the ocean, until our room was available, with option to keep this room. As the room we booked was in the other building, we were happy with the change and hope to enjoy being steps from the dive shop and restaurant. The guys we are traveling with booked a large room for three. They were offered three singles on check-in and took the offer.

We met in the dive shop, one flight of stairs below our rooms, at noon for dive one. One of our group only has his certification dives so far, so was set up with rental gear that I would rate as good as far as rental equipment goes. We set up our units and they were put on the boat by the staff. The dive was a five minute ride, just past Sabang. The vis was better than I expected, 50 - 60 foot, with a water temp of 85. (I love the rash-guard and swimsuit water temperatures!) The amount of sea life was AMAZING! FINALLY I have a fish box checked. Amazing numbers of nudibranches, a couple types of fish, etc, etc.

After the dive, back at the resort, our gear was carried to the shop, where we cleaned an stored for today's diving.

We cleaned up and hit the on-site restaurant. We took the guys advise (as they ate there before the dive) and enjoyed a nice meal. Around $6 each for a meal and my wife and I also split a salad ($4). A beer was around $2 for 500 ml.

Four of us walked the ten minutes to Sabang, to check it out. It appeared as expected. While in town, we purchased fruit for dinner, as we had a late lunch.

With the "slight" time difference, I was able to take this shot while typing this:

 

[D_Fresh]

Nice report so far! Scandi is a great operation, very good customer service.

As you've experienced, I always suggest arranging transportation through your resort out here. It's really affordable and soooo much easier than trying to DIY and haggle.

Enjoy the diving and enjoy the Philippines!


PS, give Kris a shout out from D_Fresh

 

[MomZo]

Following your report.
I just came back from Sabang and loved my trip.
Enjoy the diving which is really nice over there.
Give a try to El Galleon for dinner, it is our best pick.

 

[Blueringocto_73]

Thank You for posting the pic. I had imagined rough water as it's the beginning of the rainy season for the Philippines in general. Yes a shout out to Larry and Kris.

I'll be there on July 3rd most likely. It's my "go to" destination. My girlfriend is my guide. She does the negotiation for Filipina priced transportation.

I am hooked on simple dinners of Tilapia and rice with chili, lime and vinegar. And eggs with toast and kape(coffee) for breakfast.

I opt for a few shallow dives to 60 foot but I "pine" for some deep dives of about 130 foot or so. And I enjoy diving the Alma Jane shipwreck.

The divemasters are top notch videographers. Just hand them your camera and they do the rest.. Nice memories of your dives to enjoy with family and friends.

Two thumbs way up for Scandi Divers. Highly recommended!!!

 

[WoodyLompoc]

It has become obvious after only 2 days that all my boxes will be checked here. We have seen electric clams, giant clams, Harry frogfish, pygmy sea horses (note a quarter in seahorse is VERY hard to spot. Thanks Larry!) and hundreds of others.

We are only two days in, but my wife is already leaning towards this being one of the best places we've ever been diving.

we cannot say enough about how good scandy is. We are being treated like Kings. has I did all the planning of this trip, I'm also very happy that the three guys who are traveling with us are very happy, especially after looking at what it is like in town.

The water temperatures still remains perfect. It did go down to around 78 at 100 ft when we dove the wreck, but most of the dives are still in the mid '80s.

P.S. Sorry for the typo in the title. Giving a trip report on a phone is kind of challenging.

 

[WoodyLompoc]

El Galleon was a great call for dinner last night. My wife and I enjoyed the best meal since arrival. The rest of the group was too tired to go out, so enjoyed the great happy hour prices at Scandi.

We had Rommel (sp?) as a guide, as Larry had the day off. Another top quality DM. Frog fish on every dive plus ghost pipe fish ( as requested by my wife). Now THAT is customer service! Of course, we had sensory overload with all the other amazing life on each dive. Actually, one of the day's big hits were the snake sea cucumbers. I know, a bizarre choice, but we were all amazed by them.

Side note humor: Before one of the dives, I asked my son to take a posed picture of me, with my slate and an interesting subject. I may have made a bad call on the subject. I now have a nice picture of myself holding my slate, but no subject easily identifiable in the picture. Note to self: Another hundred dives from now, do NOT choose a frogfish to share the photo with.

 

[WoodyLompoc]

With one week of diving here so far, a problem has developed. "Unfortunately", I can only think of two items that are still on my bucket list. Everything we ask for, Larry manages to show us. The only reason we do not have the flamboyant cuttlefish checked off the list is, my wife wanted to skip one dive to do a hike. The boys took the dive with Larry and they have excellent video of a flamboyant cuttlefish. The blue ringed octopus is still on the list.

Scandi was still a good call for us. There is a real beach here and the guys are enjoying snorkeling and seeing tons of fish right out front. My wife and I much prefer the food at El Gallion but prefer the vibe at Scandi. Until Friday, our group was the only Americans here. One American and one Dutch diver arrived yesterday. El Gallion appears to have a big buddy buddy atmosphere. Every time we eat there we see the guests grouping up and bonding. My wife is a bit more private. She prefers a resort like this where everyone is speaking other languages. The owner told us his sales manager is hitting the US scuba shows hard right now to get more American guests.

We are very happy we did not book in one of the locations downtown I was considering. The creepy vibe downtown with the middle age and old American guys "interacting" young women here is really sad and gross.

The diving conditions remain perfect. There were a couple of days with late afternoon showers and one EARLY morning thunderstorm.

Again, sorry for typos. My phone is enjoying fixing what it thinks is typos and reformating my sentences, for some reason.

 

[WoodyLompoc]

For the last day of driving here, we did the Verde Island trip. The guys traveling with us convinced my wife that it wasn't just some "macho" dive and would be great. They convinced her and we had three great dives and the best meal prepared by Scandi to date.

We are off to Analao after breakfast for a week at Blue Ribbon. The bar was set quite high after the week here. We will see how they compare.

In conclusion, all members of our group want to do this trip again; with the same resort, dive operator, and guide.

 

[Trailboss123]

For the last day of driving here, we did the Verde Island trip. The guys traveling with us convinced my wife that it wasn't just some "macho" dive and would be great. They convinced her and we had three great dives and the best meal prepared by Scandi to date.

We are off to Analao after breakfast for a week at Blue Ribbon. The bar was set quite high after the week here. We will see how they compare.

In conclusion, all members of our group want to do this trip again; with the same resort, dive operator, and guide.

Thanks for the update on the trip. I very much look forward to your opinion of Blue Ribbon (food, accommodations and diving). They are on my short list for Anilao.

 

[borisphotosafari]

Enjoy Blue Ribbon, I had a great time there in May.
Good luck with flamboyant cuttlefish, I didn't have luck with them in Anilao. Did see blue ring octopus there.