August in Cebu vicinity

Given my work limitations as to holidays, and the fact that I have always wanted to visit the Philippines, I have been pleasantly surprised to see that the Cebu area (Moalboal and Malapascua, in particular) advertise that July and August can be great conditions (flights in mid August drop in price dramatically...perhaps Typhoons are why????). Does anyone know whether I am once again courting disaster (earthquakes, tsunamis, civil war, and hurricanes have interfered with either travel plans or conditions in my diving history!!! Luckily I have managed to avoid injury and only had to cancel once). As well, any locale/resort recommendations are appreciated. I generally shoot macro, but a shark or two never hurt anyone. Advice appreciated. I can always go in March instead, but nitrogen/nudibranch deprivation will be severe by then. The Caribbean just doesn't beckon....

Cheers,

Marli

I have no idea about Cebu in August but I thought your sentence below was a funny pun, whether intended or not.

I generally shoot macro, but a shark or two never hurt anyone.

If my meteorological knowledge doesn't fail me, typhoons are cyclones gone wild and that's more prevalent during the rainy season, which is I believe June-Oct in the philippines. Having said that, I believe Cebu is outside the serious typhoon belt, but it does happen. It's usually the northen islands like Luzon that get hit worst.

Philippines is also in the Pacific ring of fire, so a little earth shaking is par for course and can happen anytime.

You can search the forum for destinations. I like Balicasag/Bohol, Moalboal was the hot place for awhile and Malapascua is a perennial favorite for threshers.

Been in the Visayas in august, the area is prone to get a typhoon or large amounts of rain/wind in this period. My 3 weeks stay didn't fail on making it happen, we had 3 days of serious raining on Alona (Panglao) although there was only one day short of diving and two days where we could only go to sheleterd area (not the best ones...)

- Moalboal is a very safe bet it is extremely rare that the dives are canceled due to weather, maybe one day every two years.

- I believe the southern you go the safer you are in terms of weather, Dumaguete might also be quite sheltered.

- I already wrote about Alona/Balicasag/Cabilao area,

- The most impacted area would be Malapascua which is out in the open sea north of Cebu. When you attend those early morning thresher dives on a small bangka sailing on 3m swells you sometimes wonder why you're into diving and not into more comfortable activities like knitting wool (have to say, that day the engine immediately took fire after they cut the anchor rope because it was stuck in the coral, more than 60m deep, we drifted for one hour before the captain found a way to restart the engine... you know the saying about things going wrong...).

Thanks for the info, everyone.

I have decided on the Sea of Cortez....also prone to hurricanes in August/September...it will be so much easier to go where I want once I am retired!

Cheers,

Marli