3 Weeks Backpacking/Diving Trip in the Philippines

I did Moalboal (Panagsama Beach, to be exact) some years ago and it is quite a laid back hovel with not nuch going on at night other than trying to keep your beer cool in a bowl of ice. The diving was really good though, enough to keep one busy for I would say no more than 3 days. From there I would get over to Malapascua (off the top of Cebu), another laid back arena, for the balance of your trip then to Bohol if you can get there in a timely manner, could be logistially challenging though.

Thanks MarkMark! Would you skip Apo altogether?

I wouldn't skip it, depending on your schedule and how you arrange your transportation. Apo is rated as one of the 10 best. You might start there, go north to Moalboal, then finish up at Malapascua. At least that puts things in a straight line! After that you could chill out on Boracay. Wow, what a lovely trip.

Few years back my girlfriend and I dove the Visayas, more specifically, Moalboal, Apo Island, and then Bohol. We did it in about 2 and a half weeks.

It was fairly simple. Flew into Cebu, got a ride to Moalboal. From there to Apo Island, its like a bus ride, trike to the boats, boat ride across to Dumaguate, Apo Island is right off from there. From Dumaguate, took a boat to Bohol. From Bohol, took a boat back to Cebu. Was a counterclockwise type trip but it flowed nicely. Really wanted to get to Malapascua, but I really wanted to go to Apo Island, and Malpascua was really out of the way from the circuit we covered.

In terms of diving, Apo Island was amazing, clear, fresh, colorful. Moalboal has great wall diving. Bohol, specifically off of Alona Beach, had very diverse type divings and unique spots.

If you have any specific questions, just drop me a line!

Also I dove in Coron last summer, and if I remember, they was maybe on flight from there or so to Cebu. If not, backtracking back to Manila, and flying from Manila to Cebu, shouldn't cost you more then $100 total. Think my flight from Manila to Coron was about $25 bucks, and Manila to Cebu was around $50 or so.

Edited by: bootch

thank you! bootch and markmark. i think malapascua is throwing me off...but i really want to see the white sand beaches and some thresher sharks! besides the threshers, is diving in malapascua "worth it"? what parts of bohol (or islands off bohol) did you enjoy? do you also recall the average cost per tank dives with full equipment?

As for Malapascua "worth it", I heard from others it is, and would like to get there sometime myself, but the time frame I had, the route of Moalboal, Apo Island, and Bohol, seemed to fit it better. I don't regret not seeing Malapscua, because I enjoyed my time at the other places. In Bohol, I stayed on Alona Beach, and the dive shop I was at varied the dives they went to. one day went to Balicisag and the other day Pimilican, both enjoyable dives, sometimes current bit strong but nice. And I did other varied dives, one day I didnt feel like going on the 2 dive boat trip, and the DM took me to some area that had a bit of macro life and looking for seahorses. Tank dives around all those areas at the time were around $21-$30, but I believe some spots had the more you dive the cheaper, or if you have your own gear. The price I don't remember, but I know it was relatively cheap. I have spent the last 6 or so summers diving at some of the best, but yet affordable places to dive at, so Philippines was definitely one of my top choices when I started to dive in the summers around the world.

Malapascua is easily the best all round diving in the Visayan region. In 3 or 4 days yu can see Thresher Sharks, Mantas, Hammerheads, White Tips, dive a great wreck and then go all macro with pygmy seahorses, all sorts of shrimp, mandarin fish you name it. Throw in a picture postcard island and what more do you need?