Sogod Bay - how frequent are dive cancellations?

[cephalopod2]

I was in Sogod Bay and a damn LPS kept pumping rain and wind right at Leyte and Mindano. I had 2 days of diving then 1 night dive ( and 1 crazy boat ride) after 2 days of sitting on my butt I decided to flee north.

Hi folks,
I am hoping to get to Sogod Bay either this March or on a future Christmas trip. But dirtfarmer's post about a Sogod op cancelling diving for 2 full days (and counting) got me a bit worried. Except for 1 day of diving cancelled in the Phils due to a really close typhoon, I have not had diving in SE Asia cancelled due to weather in all the times I have visited.

Those who have dived in Sogod in mid March or around Christmas/New Years, have you had any diving cancelled? Is there something about Sogod's location which makes it more prone to bad weather, or was dirtfarmer's late January experience just a freak or seasonal event?

Many thanks.

 

[MA]

I was there mid November. Glass outs every day If a typhoon went through im sure it would've been a different story.

 

[Tippytoes12]

I have been there in early February and also in early December. On both occasions the weather was perfect and we dived very day. We saw whalesharks , pilot whales and loved the diving there.

The Visayas and Southern Leyte gets most of its rain in December and January, but we were very lucky and in three weeks only had one half day of rain and that was when we were moving destinations.

March is the start of summer so the weather should be better.,

 

[Centrals]

Mid Mar to mid June is the best time of the year but............

 

[dirtfarmer]

The trip in January was my 4th trip in January and it was the first time rain had affected a trip. My prior trips were all 30 days and longer and during those trips I had seen very little rain at all.
It always sucks to have a trip disrupted by forces out of your control so I did the best I could when the LPS system showed no signs of moving over the next week and moved north. I was glad I did as I would have been pretty grumpy just sitting around not diving for the rest of my trip.

 

[cephalopod2]

Thank you all for sharing your experience and knowledge.

@Centrals when you say Mar-early Jun is the best time, do you mean for weather or for life underwater? I would love to know when the best time is for UW wildlife (excluding whale sharks - I am more interested in macro).

 

[Centrals]

Thank you all for sharing your experience and knowledge.

@Centrals when you say Mar-early Jun is the best time, do you mean for weather or for life underwater? I would love to know when the best time is for UW wildlife (excluding whale sharks - I am more interested in macro).

1. Weather.
2. Macro is less affected by weather except the frontal attack of a typhoon.

 

[Mucksavage]

Anyone know how sightings are this year of whale sharks?

 

[Tippytoes12]

We saw two in the second week of December and a couple said that they had a very long time with two others two days before.

 

[wannadive64]

Good source of information at Whale Sharks - up-to-date information from Sogod Bay, Southern Leyte, Philippines.