Indonesia and the Phillipines

I'm going backpacking and diving for aa couple of months this winter and I need some advice...

We'll be in the Phillipines from about the end of january to the end of february...

The places we've planned to go to is...

Coron -

Puerto Galera (Sabang) -

Malapascua -

Apo Reef -

We'll stay about a week at each destination. Is there any other places you recommend? Heard loads of good thing about Tubbatha but it's only liveaboard diving(?) but our budget doesn't allow two liveaboards (Komodo)...

What about Boracay? Is it better or worse than the above mentioned?

Inodesia is planned for 5 weeks in late february and march...

Places to visit...

Sulawesi - Lembeh and Bunaken

Flores - Labuan Bajo/Komodo

Bali-

CAn you get on a liveaboard to Komodo at the time of the year or do we have to settle for landbased diving from Labuan? Thought about Alor as well, have heard loads of good stuff about the diving there...but is it easy to get to? Expensive diving there? Other places to consider? All suggestions are more than welcome?

Any suggestions about Indo and the Phillipines are welcome? Need all the advice I can get

For PI, consider Balicasag (which imo is as nice as Apo Reef) and Bohol (in the same area. Boracay is beautiful beaches but diving is not as good as the others. Great spa!

Jan/Feb is not the season to do Tubbataha. Malapascua is known for the thresher sharks but the site is pretty crowded and a glimpse is usually the best you get.

March is also not the best time to do Komodo as you get the weather which bring up the chop. I don't usually encourage people to use the day trip boats from Labuan Bajo. It takes 2+ hrs to get to the park and then you're forced to dive the marquée sites no matter what conditions it is... which can be dangerous because the current in KNP is strong and has all sorts of downdrafts and gyres. I would urge you to consider doing your liveaboard in Raja Empat instead. It's harder to get to but the flora and fauna surpasses Komodo except pelagics. There are at least 2 resorts (Kri and Sorido, beware that they do not dive in the day on Sat being 7thday Adventists). They are both run by a guy who was one of the pioneers in the area for scuba. I've only been to Kri but seen Sorido and it is much nicer than Kri amenities-wise.. I believe there is a 3rd resort, Misool Eco Resort, which may be open by then. Run by a guy who has worked many years in the area and in Indo.

Alor is very nice and it's a one stop flight from Bali. There are 2 ops running in Alor, Alor Divers and Dive Alor. Dive Alor has been there for about 10 years at least and run by an Ozzie father and son team. Alor Divers is run by a euro couple, and Gilles worked in Sulawesi with Froggie Divers. They are newer to Alor.

Another place to consider is Ambon, which is "in season" then. There are liveaboards operating there(eg. Archipelago) and also 1 dive ops, Maluku Divers.

Hope that's enough info to drive you nuts.

bursprak, I hope that you love Malapascua as much as we did! Fantastic place. A Thresher sighting was the highlight, but there is surprisingly good diving to be found there as well. Exotic was a nice resort to stay at. I was expecting very little when I went there and was very, very pleasantly surprised.

On the other hand I didn't like Alona Beach at all (Bohol/Balicasag area). With hindsight the diving was good enough (although not spectacular), but the place just didn't have a great feel to it.

It's all subjective though. One man's apple is another man's pear if you get my drift. I'm sure you'll have a great time!

Cheers, Simon

Visited the Philippines for three weeks in March this year and had a fantastic time. Manilla is great for shopping, and well worth a couple of days at the end of your trip. We dived three main areas, Sogod Bay in Southern Leyte, Puerto Galera and Subic Bay. There are articles on each destination on my website - www.nigelmarshphotography.com.

Sogod Bay was brilliant and very cheap - this is also one of the best places to see whale sharks in the Philippines in clear water, and you will be in the country at the right time. Also great diving on walls and reefs with plenty of critters. Also a lovely part of the country that doesn't see a lot of tourist.

Puerto Galera was fantastic for critters, camera was working overtime on subject after subject. For a place to stay I would recommend Big La Laguna Beach, the beach has clean white sand and clear water, Sabang Beach has grey sand and is very over crowded.

The wrecks of Subic Bay are interesting, but the visibility is usual poor. While Subic Bay is also a bit dirty and sleeze. We enjoyed the diving, but limited our time here.

Hope this helps, and have a great trip.

Regards

Nigel

Sogod Bay was brilliant and very cheap - this is also one of the best places to see whale sharks in the Philippines in clear water, and you will be in the country at the right time. Also great diving on walls and reefs with plenty of critters. Also a lovely part of the country that doesn't see a lot of tourist.

 

Puerto Galera was fantastic for critters, camera was working overtime on subject after subject. For a place to stay

Let me second the recommendation for Sogod bay I stayed at Peters dive resort. www.whaleofadive.com Peter has a few of my pics up on his website. You are really out on the sitcks but they treat you well and the scuba is out of this world. The face time the divemaster Thomas gets you with the whale sharks is something which would not be believed if I told it all Suffice it to say that I have over 40GB of raw files from the D200 containing whale sharks!!! This is serious Yahoo diving. Peter and his wife are really nice people. The divemaster is very good. The diving is out of this world. The dive boat is good.