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BEST DIVING LOCATIONS
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Nearest to Manila is Subic Bay with seven wrecks, Anilao, outside Batangas with 36 dive sites in Balayan Bay and around Sombrero
and Maricaban Islands and Puerto Galera, Mindoro with many sites and overnight excursions to wreck sites further from the
coastline.
Subic Bay can be reached by bus in 3 hours leaving every hour from their Monumento or Pasay City EDSA
stations.
Anilao can be reached also by a 3 hour bus to Batangas from BLTB Bus lines on EDSA in Pasay City,( next
door to the Victory Liner Bus station) and from Batangas by a 20 minute jeepney ride.
Puerto Galera, Mindoro have
ferries leaving Batangas Pier several times daily; we usually recommend leaving Manila by 7:30AM to get there in time for
the midday ferry.
Best Diving in the Visayas
The region of all the Islands between Luzon and Mindanao are referred to as the Visayas with
their own dialect. Cebu is the dominant iisland with Cebu City being the second largest city in the Philippines with most
transportation choices.
BORACAY ISLAND- My favorite dive site is Buruanga,30 minutes by banca, off the very tip of
the "mainland", Panay Island where a deep wall drops-off from about 18m to about 45m, combined with a shallow coral wall.
Among the abundance of underwater life are gorgonian fans, large garoupas, rays, sweetlips, and tunas. Occasionally you can
see sharks and barracudas too if you are lucky. For a whole list of Dive Sites go to: http://www.whitetip.com/boracay.htm#boracaysites
Often experienced divers do not regard the Boracay dive sites as world class but after visiting
other better diving locations in the Philippines come back because Boracay offers the BEST ALL AROUND HOLIDAY activities.
North Pandan Island off the west coast of Mindoro Island ranks high on any island lover's
list with scuba diving being its main attraction. Being small and a little out of the way has helped preserve it from
group tourists and development. To get there click on: http://www.pandan.com/Howto.html Its many dive locations can ve viewed at: http://www.pandan.com/Divesites.html. Dive excursions to Apo Reef between Mindoro Island and Palawan can be organized easily from the Pandan Island Resort.
Dumaguete on the southeast coast of Negros Island with the Sumilon Marine Sanctuary,
12Km to the northeast off the southern tip of Cebu Island offer divers magnificent coral gardens and drop-offs with abundant
marine life like Sea snakes, turtles, sting rays, mantas, barracudas, garoupa, schools of jacks and even whale sharks. Apo
Island is also near, 35 minutes by outrigger to south of Dumaguete City with walls and coral mounds that attract pelagic fish
which attract black-tip and whitetip sharks.
MOALBOAL, a 2 hour and a half bus ride from Cebu City on the west coast.
PESCADOR ISLAND, 20 minutes by banca offers some of the finest diving in Moalboal. Whale sharks have been spotted in open
waters on the south and to the northeast, at 33 to 40 meters on the edge of the reef groups of hammerhead sharks gather. A
500 millimeter long Spanish Dancer [Hexabrancha nudibranch] was captured on film by photographer Bob Yin. Two great dives
are the Pescador Cathedral, an undersea formation resembling a giant funnel which drops to 115 feet and the Lionfish Cave
on the northern edge of the reef was so named as it is the best place to spot lionfish and scorpionfish.
Other dive
sites are Bas Diot with underwater caves at around 24+ meters, Sa-avedra with giant sea fans and gorgonians which jut out
from the reef wall, Tapanan with its undersea cliffs and coral arches and Tongo Point. MoalBoal because of the many dive shops
and more remote location has a reputation for being among the lowest budget places to go diving.
Panglao's Alona Beach,
the photo to the right, is near Tagbiliran, the capital of Bohol Island province. The nearest, good diving sites can be found
off of Balicasag Island 4 kilometers southwest of Duljo Point off Panglao Reef surrounded by a narrow reef shelf, 30 to 165
feet wide, 15-25 feet deep. You can dive deeper just over the ends where you can find an underwater cliff with a 90 degree
wall with depths beyond 250 feet on the north and northwest face of the reef. There's a large number of Jacks, barracudas,
and mackerels.
Also overnight dive trips to Apo Island very close (5Km ) to the southeastern coast of Negros Island
can be organized
 
Palawan includes 1000 islands and many good diving destinations. Coron bay in northern Palawan's Busanga for the best wreck
diving. Scenic El Nido on the northwest coast of the main island, first opened as an exclusive 5 star Japanese resort area
but now has many low budget accomodations, spend hours in a hammock between dives in Port Barton to the south and great dive
packages to the Tubbataha Reef where Jacque Cousteau's research vessel, Calypso explored from the capital and main port of
entry, Puerto Princesa.
HOW TO GET IN PALAWAN FROM MANILA
Daily flights from the Manila PAL terminal and domestic
airport fly on Air Philippines.
Philippine airline daily flight
Rates One way - P. 2,153 Round trip
P. 3,831
Flight Schedule Dep. MNL. 11:50 AM. Dep. Puerto Princesa 2:00 pm.Daily flight Air Philippines
Rates One way P. 2,053 Round trip P. 3,651
Flight Schedule Dep. MNL. 10:00 AM. Dep. Puerto Princesa City
12:00 Noon Also on a standby basis you can fly on Soriano Airlines at their private terminal near the domestic airport to
El Nido and Coron 4 times a week.
Please double check Departure time and prices subject to change without notice
Shipping
lines
WG&A Super ferry (schedule & rates )
MNL- Departure Friday 7:00 PM. Arrival Puerto Princesa
,Saturday 8:30 PM.
Puerto Princesa Departure Sunday 9:00 AM.Arrival MNL. Monday 11:00 AM
Fare
all with meals
economy,non-aicon PhP 600
Tourist class Aircon Php 920
Business class
PhP 975 4 Passengers p/room
Cabin PhP 1,200 4 Passengers p/room
State room PhP 2,640 2 Passengers p/room
Suite room PhP 2,880 2 Passengers p/room
Ticket outlet in MANILA
Fastpack global express Ding
Velayo sport center Domestic road Pasay city TEL 833 6581 or 551 6314
You can also purchase you ticket directly at the
pier.
Negros Navigation (schedule & rates )
Dep. MNL. Thursday 12:00 noon Arrival Puerto
Princesa Friday 12:00 noon
Dep. Puerto Princesa Friday 7:00 PM. Arrival in MNL. Saturday 5:00PM.
Fare All with meals
Economy non-aircon PhP 720
Tatami aircon PhP 860
Tourist PhP
920
Business class PhP 980 4 Passengers p/room
Admiral cabin PhP 1,240 p/ passenger sharing 2 passengers
Suite room PhP 1,440 for the room maximum of 4 passengers
Ticket outlet in MANILA
Mother Ignacia
street Malate Manila Tel. 536 0371 up to 75
Ocean Research - Lost Treasures of the Seven Seas
Ocean Research Group - Pascal's Website on new shipwreck
discoveries and expeditions around the world, underwater archaeology and sunken treasures.
Travel by Ship to Coron Busuanga Island, Palawan
DIVESITES PHILIPPINES
DIVE PUERTO GALERA, MINDORO ISLAND
DIVING DUMAGUETE
Scuba Diving MOALBOAL, CEBU
Boracay Diving
DiveGurus Philippines
Scuba Spots - Dive Shop Ratings
ANILAO - DIVE SITES
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