Short trips from Manila

[Bearkeley]

Hi all - visiting manila in January and need advice on best places we can drive/fly/dive for a couple of days/nites. Original plan was to travel all over with my dad, but he is going thru radiation/chemo and can't travel, so hubby and I were thinking of taking about 2 - 3 short trips without him, then return to spend time with him.

Anilao looks like a place where we might be able to have him come with us given that it's only 2 hours away (any nice dive resorts that offer ocean front room recommendations would be great!). He probably cant handle a boat ride to Puerto, but thinking we can head there on our own pretty easily too. Subic might be good too, but not crazy about wrecks, but again, might be a good option for him to get away and us to dive.

However, any thoughts on quick flights that allow diving same day? We've never been to cebu / bohol but not sure if we will be limited to number of dive days due to the flights....any other places?

Dive ops/ Resort recommendations would be great! Thanks!

 

[wannadive64]

If you're going to fly, check out Padre Burgos in Southern Leyte. First flight from Manila will get you to Padre Burgos by 9am. Superb macro, fantastic walls, muck diving and on your last day you can enjoy uncrowded whale shark watching (snorkeling only) so no problem about flying.

 

[Centrals]

Diving areas which are very near to the airport ie. well within 1 hr(car journey) from touch down:
Alona Beach(Tagbilaran), Dumaguete and Mactan(Cebu). Plenty of flights from Manila and none of them is over an hr.
You can easily arrange a trip to Oslob(whaleshark) from Mactan.
Please make sure you give yourself plenty of time for "no flying after diving".
Southern Leyte is good but the land transfer from Tacloban is at least 3 hrs.

 

[Searcaigh]

Anilao is very close but not sure if your dad can handle stairs. I have only stayed at one resort there (Crystal Blue - brilliant) but most look similar built on multilevels as this area has a steep coastline.

 

[Karl_H]

Anilao is very close but not sure if your dad can handle stairs. I have only stayed at one resort there (Crystal Blue - brilliant) but most look similar built on multilevels as this area has a steep coastline.

Most resorts in Anilao are pretty flat, although there is often stairs between the parking and the resort itself. The stairs at Crystal Blue are mainly down to the very thin plot of land it is built on rather than the steep coastline - the majority of resorts have a wider beach front and less depth to the resort itself - hence few stairs.

I'd suggest the following for easy access (flat) resorts with good facilities:

- Acacia (very few stairs and easy parking access)
- Arthurs (some stairs between the parking/restaurant and the rooms but nothing major - maybe 15 steps?)
- Seas Spring (no stairs)

Aquaventure and Planet Dive are good resorts but have a lot of stairs between the parking and main resort.

 

[OZE]

Hi Bearkeley,

Anilao is just a part of Batangas City. I would highly recommend Dive and Trek Resort, it is also in Batangas. You take the Sta. Rosa exit instead of going through Startoll High way. From my experience, Dive and Trek have the friendliest and most professional staff, excellent food and nice rooms. Hot and cold shower are working too. From parking it only take 10 minutes boat ride to the resort itself. The resort's house reef is protected where there are a lot of giant clams and fishes who seems to have fiesta (festival) during weekends . You can do a lot of shore dives from there and if you want, you can take less than 10 minutes boat ride to Ligpo Island where there are tons of beautiful soft corals. Anilao is 30-45 minutes boat ride from the resort, depending on how fast the boat is and the dive site you are going to. This normally suggest 2-3 dives out.

I hope you will be able to pan your vacation well and most of all have fun!