Hi All. Anyone done any diving in the Palawan area? We met someone in Indonesia last year that said they had some great diving there. Specifically in El Nido

I’ve dived at El Nido. It’s OK for the Philippines (meaning pretty good compared to elsewhere) but not exceptional. It’s a beautiful area with some wonderful resorts so if you’re going there for a holiday or with non-divers it’s worthwhile. But if making a dedicated trip I’m not sure it’s worth the extra logistics compared to Anilao or Puerto Galera. However, if you can get onto a liveaboard to Tubbataha (the boats go out of Puerto Princessa) then it’s absolutely worth the detour.

On 5/18/2025 at 10:57 AM, Toque said:

Hi All. Anyone done any diving in the Palawan area? We met someone in Indonesia last year that said they had some great diving there. Specifically in El Nido

I've been a couple of times... the above water scenery is out of this world (amazing). The limestone cliffs are even more dramatic (in places) compared to what you find in Thailand.

The diving is good, but as @Troporobo mentions, I wouldn't pick it over other destinations in PH, and certainly not over many of the more famous spots in Indonesia.

The diving ranges from good to very good (during the off-season, otherwise you will have crowds). Tubbataha is world class... although several folks have dived the area in the last year and not seen any mantas or whalesharks (although the other sharks seem to still be present).

Coron has a good spread of wrecks.

Last time there I was defaulting to wide angle for the big wreck scenes. I noticed the deck of one of the wrecks was teeming with unusual nudibranchs. Next day I returned with a macro lens and all I could find was a few dragons. The others had all moved on.

Thanks for the info. some good things to discuss with the group. We are already spending a week in Puerto Galera and thinking maybe a week in Anilao and hopefully a week somewhere else. Any recommendations for Anilao resorts? I've heard that some resorts have a lot stairs to get around. We have an older couple in the group that might be a problem.

Thanks again.

On 5/20/2025 at 12:18 PM, Toque said:

Thanks for the info. some good things to discuss with the group. We are already spending a week in Puerto Galera and thinking maybe a week in Anilao and hopefully a week somewhere else. Any recommendations for Anilao resorts? I've heard that some resorts have a lot stairs to get around. We have an older couple in the group that might be a problem.

Thanks again.

Anilao is basically synonomous with stairs. Most of the resorts are built on the hillside (or just down from the hill) so they use stairs to connect their variious levels.

A few of the resorts have enough room (back from the water's edge) for most of the resort to be built closer to the shore level, so possibly easier to get around. Our favorite (by far) is Crystal Blue Dive Resort (quite a few stairs)- it's not the largest, and not the most picturesque, however they likely have some of the best (if not the best) dive crews in the region, and Mike Bartick (photo pro & mgr of the resort) is the pioneer of black water diving in the area.

Hey thanks for the response! i've been leaning in crystal blue's direction. My wife doesn't want to spend more than a week at Anilao (she's not a photographer) is there anything close that has good reef diving? I hate to waste a day traveling to a new destination.

Thanks again

There are several good sites in Anilao for reef diving. You'll just have to ask to visit those particular dive sites if that's what you're looking for.

1 hour ago, Whiskeyjack said:

There are several good sites in Anilao for reef diving. You'll just have to ask to visit those particular dive sites if that's what you're looking for.

Thanks for this informations. My wife is also not intersted to dive only muck dive she "need" also coral reefs and fishes. turtles

Is february a good period?

El Nido is good for newbies without expectations. The Philippines has so many dive areas, much better than El Nido. Moalboal, Coron, Malapascua, etc.

Thanks, thats good to know. I also like reefs too. The problem i have with other areas is that we only have 2 weeks and wasting a day or two traveling just doesn't make sense to me. Now if I had 3 weeks or month? someday.

16 hours ago, Crasoner said:

El Nido is good for newbies without expectations. The Philippines has so many dive areas, much better than El Nido. Moalboal, Coron, Malapascua, etc.

Why did say that?
Moalboal OK I was last year, not bad with the sardine, otherwise it's a "normal" destination for diving.
Coron I don't know
Malapascua Ok for the sharks and then ?

They are so many places ... so many point of interest... every divers have other..

The question is for me : What is the best dive center/guide.... that will make the difference A good guide will find and show you the Things you need to see.
Otherwise a beautifull diving place can be boring.

On 5/26/2025 at 3:29 PM, CaolIla said:

Thanks for this informations. My wife is also not intersted to dive only muck dive she "need" also coral reefs and fishes. turtles

Is february a good period?

Feb is great for visibility but has the coldest water temps in Anilao of the year. It gets down to around 23-24 Celsius, up to you t determine if that is too cold or not ^_^

22 hours ago, CaolIla said:

Why did say that?
Moalboal OK I was last year, not bad with the sardine, otherwise it's a "normal" destination for diving.
Coron I don't know
Malapascua Ok for the sharks and then ?

They are so many places ... so many point of interest... every divers have other..

The question is for me : What is the best dive center/guide.... that will make the difference A good guide will find and show you the Things you need to see.
Otherwise a beautifull diving place can be boring.

I agree Moalboal is just "okay" these days. It's gone downhill after the typhoon in 2019 destroyed several good dive spots.

Coron is only interesting if you like wreck diving in my opinion.

Malapascua has the sharks, but also great macro diving at Gato Island for example, which has good walls as well.

Bohol would be another place to consider, balicasag and pamilacan island are quite nice for reef diving and are day trips.

1 hour ago, Whiskeyjack said:

Bohol would be another place to consider, balicasag and pamilacan island are quite nice for reef diving and are day trips.

Yes Bohol... Anda in the south east. :)

1 hour ago, Whiskeyjack said:

Feb is great for visibility but has the coldest water temps in Anilao of the year. It gets down to around 23-24 Celsius, up to you t determine if that is too cold or not ^_^

Not to cold, the only problem is that we need to take other wetsuite (or dry ? ;) ) with us.

Probably Cold = more species and quantity underwater. Right?

Hi all,

interesting thread. Wanna just throw in some of my experience. Dived a lot worlwide in the last +30 years. Philippines first 1999. Last time 2023 for 2 month/ approx. 100 dives. From my point of view Phillipines is still a good spot to visit and very reasonable. Hard to say were to go. Depends on your personal choice, what you wanna see, time oft he year….. Big stuff and coral wall is not really a thing, but still exist if you heading for example to Palawan/Tubbataha, Apo reef....

What I did 2024 :

1.       Anilao (mostly Macro)

2.       Busuanga (we`ve been north to see the Dugongs, dived El Nido and the wrecks already 2002)

3.       Palawan/Tubbataha

4.       South Leyte/Sogod Bay (famous for Whale Sharks, but we did`nt do that, but there is also some good reef/macro diving)

5.       Anda Bohol (little disappointing, lots of broken coral and bleaching, but some o.K. walls + turtles)

6.       Dauin/Negros, still  a very very good macro spot

7.       Malapascua, The new spot fort the Treshers is amazing. I`ve dived the old spot Monad 2 times in early 2000. Completely different know. Depth arround +/- 15m it looks like the Treshers fly arround everywhere. Malapascua is also still a good macro spot + Mandarin.

To see right stuff on place always „go with the locals“. Attached a few pictures all shot in Phillipines 2023. Nothing special just picked a few I found in short time to give you an idea of the diversity you might find.

Br Markus

4 hours ago, Muellema said:

Anda Bohol (little disappointing, lots of broken coral and bleaching, but some o.K. walls + turtles)

???? stange I was in 2022 (short after a hurican) and end of 2024 I can remember broken coral but bleaching, perhaps a little.

Yes nice walls and a lot of turtles

On 5/28/2025 at 1:16 PM, CaolIla said:

Not to cold, the only problem is that we need to take other wetsuite (or dry ? ;) ) with us.

Probably Cold = more species and quantity underwater. Right?

I find the number of creatures to be similar but to be fair I'm always shooting macro in Anilao. I dive in a sharkskin all year (maybe 2mm equivalent), but I run warm.

3 hours ago, Whiskeyjack said:

I find the number of creatures to be similar but to be fair I'm always shooting macro in Anilao. I dive in a sharkskin all year (maybe 2mm equivalent), but I run warm.

question witch month ?beetween 23 and 30 °C there is a little difference.

I allway dive with a rashguard when the water T° is 26 or more under 26 i need to take a 3 mm or more but I speak form situation where the T° is under 10 °C

These are all approximate and subject to seasonal variation but here’s a rough guide. December to early March is the cooler season, around high 20s ambient and around 24-26 in the water, with best visibility. April to June gets much warmer, mid 30s ambient and +/- 28 in the water, OK visibility. July to November is the wet season, often rainy with less visibility and the chance of a trip-ruining big tropical storm. Your mileage may vary.

Edited June 3Jun 3 by Troporobo
Typo

18 hours ago, CaolIla said:

question witch month ?beetween 23 and 30 °C there is a little difference.

I allway dive with a rashguard when the water T° is 26 or more under 26 i need to take a 3 mm or more but I speak form situation where the T° is under 10 °C

I wear the same 2mm all year. I don't need it when the water is 28-30 degrees but wear it for protection from jellyfish and the sun. I run warm so I never need a 3mm or 5mm diving in the tropics.