South Philippines

HI guys,

Has anybody tried southern philippines, Leyte.. i'm trying to get some information on the diving there? is it worth to go? heard rumours of whale shark in the bay, so anybody has got a report on this? Wat is thies place famous for?

Hey Imp, try the Philippine Paradise Divers subforum on scubaboard.com

We where there 2 years ago and quit disappointed since we didn't sow any whale shark, the dives where OK but nothing special that worth to go there.

On the other hand see this thread, its looks worth enough

I've been in the phil. for quite some time and I think you can seldom spot a whale shark in Leyte. However, you can spot a lot of whale sharks in Donsol, Sorsogon, Philippines from November - May. I went there last year and they won't allow people to scuba dive with the whale sharks but instead snorkel with the gentle giants. Whales sharks are afraid of the oxygen bubbles, so you can see more of them when your snorkeling quietly. They measure between 18 to 35 feet in length and weigh about 20 tons. Donsol is known as "the whale shark capital of the world".

for more info,

http://www.sorsogontourism.com/whale_shark...ction_guide.htm

With regards to the Philippine dive spots, the best place to go is to Tubataha, Palawan (manta rays, turtles, sharks, colorful corals and fishes), second is Apo island - is a marine sanctuary (jackfish, turtles, thresher sharks, corals, barracudas), and interesting dive spots in Cebu, which is close to mactan island (wreck dive, sting rays, colorful fishes, tuna, etc...) , malapascua island (thresher sharks, sea snakes), Pecador island (rich in corals and colorful fishes), Bohol island ( dolphins and many more).

Cebu is a divers haven...

Kevin, I think you might want to check on the threshers at Apo Island. They fished it out for me to shoot since I spend 3 days in the sun trying to catch them breaching. Yup all 3 of them including the bigger adult. Pity, we pay a marine park fee but that's not much on the island.

As for Donsol and the Butanding(whaleshark), you get real close to them but the viz is crappy so for photogs it may not be the best place to shoot them. Leyte whaleshark sightings are more random but the viz is a little clearer.

My personal chart for the Philippines is:

Critters/Muck

1. Anilao/Batangas

2. Dumaguette/Negros Occidental

3. Mindanao

Reef/Coral Fishy:

1. Balicasag/Bohol tie

2. Pescador/Tubbataha tie

Wrecks:

Palawan

Malapascua is on the verge of losing their thresher shark population with the bombing of monad shoal. It's a pity since it was one of the best areas in the world for thresher sharks. The pelagic dives in the Philippines and Indonesia are suffering due to overfishing. So few places and seriously nothing like the big schools of other places.

You just can't beat the Philippines for the quality of diving vs. costs, in my opinion. If you're thinking of heading there, I suggest the diving around the Visayas, or for Whale Sharks the best place to go is Donsol.

Here's my photo gallery from the PI.