Myself and my boyf are travelling to the Philippines for 5 weeks March/April and would love some advice on our itinery.
We are AOW divers and plan to do plenty of diving. We enjoy the beach, but can't really sit still for too long so like other activities to occupy us. We plan to stay 4/5 nights at the following places (but not necessarily in this order):
Apo Island (Liberty's)
Siquijor Island (Coral Cay resort)
Camiguin Island (Caves Dive Resort)
Bohol (Nuts Huts)
Padre Burgos - Southern Leyte (Sogod Bay Scuba Resort)
Malapascua Island (Exotic dive & Beach Resort)
How easy is it to get from island to island? The travel guide tells you how to get to each island from Cebu/Manila but doesn't offer advice for getting from one island to another. Logisticlly speaking we don't want to backtrack to Cebu each time we want to get to a different island.
In your opinion is this too much in too short a space of time?
malapascua island dive with dive link its half the prices as the resorts and the same diving also the dms are locals which keps the money on theisland same diving
as far as transportation goes malapasqua is not linked with any other island except cebu ..... so you are going to have to back track for that one - don't know about the others. Malapascua is worth it though, for its amazing thresher encounters, mantas and great macro stuff!
Theres a town on Luzon island called Donsol, where there's amazing snorkelling with whalesharks most of the year (I can't remember the season offhand). They are right off the coast and there's loads of them - in a half day boat tour we swam with 12-15 of them, really nice. No diving alowed, but think about it.... I know its off your route, but thought I'd throw that in there anyway! Obviously, Sogod bay is also famous for whalesharks, but I believe Donsol is unique for the concentration. (BTW, do NOT use the diveshop in Donsol - the diving is mediocre, and they ripped us off!).
As for Camiguin Island, you can either reach it from Cebu City or Cagayan de Oro City. SEAir operates weekly from Cebu to Mambajao, Camiguin. There is also a ferry from Cebu to Camiguin but not often. Most pass by Cagayan de Oro instead which has frequent flights and ferry trips from Cebu, Manila and even Bohol (Tagbilaran or Jagna). You can then take a bus to Balingoan wharf (1 hours ride) and a ferry to Benoni, Camiguin (1.5 hours). Ferry leaves every hour starting 7am and last trip is 4pm. Check link below for Cagayan de Oro City info including how to get to Camiguin.
You can access apo island and Siquijor ,only thru going to dumaguete where connections are easier to get.Also from dumaguete you can get to easy connection to Bohol ,and to Camaguin island through the ferry Shuttle service from dumaguete to Cagayan de Oro,from a place off cagayan de oro you can catch a ferry to camaguin,this route seem a bit circuitous but an alternative not back tracking to Cebu. Going to malapascua you have to back track to Cebu.Or another route is you can travel inland from dumaguete about 4 to 5 hours journey To San Carlos due north .From San Carlos city, you can get connection on a ferry heading Toledo Cebu but you'll miss hitting the city buzz.From Toledo,you can continue your journey to Maya north of cebu where you get connecting boat to Malapascua.To break the long journey you can laze for a day in San carlos or this atoll island off San carlos which has some snorkeling or even some diving.With regards to leyto,either you have to back track to Cebu the catch a boat to leyte or fly to Manila from dumaguete then fly to leyte.
With regards to #1 suggestion of donsol,that's long way and out again of the visayas islands itinerary. to get there one will have to fly to Manila for sure and get another connecting flight to legaspi,then land route to Donsol. Underwater place of whale sharks but perhaps not the right time to visit .If interested you can check this out.
There used to be a direct ferry service from Cagayan de Oro to Camiguin but was stopped a decade ago. You have to take a bus going to Balingoan town to catch the Camiguin bound ferry.
well, you are missing out the best dive site-- coron and apo reef --with all those places you mentioned -- its worth the effort to mission it to coron -
apo and corn are great but tabatha better would you not agree but on a 5 week stint packing all that in would be a bit hard !!!
in the south of the or bandit land there are also many many undeswcoverd places i bet just wish we all had more time hay !!!!
if u don't want to backtrack to cebu everytime u go to this islands u mentioned so........u must go first....
from manila (arrival) to cagayan de oro for camiguin, then to leyte, then to bohol, then to dumaguete for siquijor and apo then to cebu for malapascua...
or from cebu (arrival) malapascua, leyte, bohol, camiguin via cagayan de oro, dumaguete for siquijor and apo
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