Hello,
My wife and I will be traveling with another couple from Hong Kong to the Philippines over Holy Week. We have chosen the Philippines due to very inexpensive and short flights and quality diving at low prices. My wife and I are already certified but our friends are not. We know that Holy Week is very busy in Indonesia, but unfortunately this is the window we have.
Right now we're planning to fly direct to Manila and transfer via local bus/ferry transport to our actual vacation spot for the week. Of course there are lots of decent dive towns within a few hours of Manila! Personal recommendations, please? Locations that are similarly affordable and quick to fly to compared to Manila will be considered as well, but our priorities are to keep our flight to four hours max and minimize connections after our initial (direct) flight.
A friend has recommended Puerto Galera - anyone been there recently? I've heard Subic Bay recommended for wrecks (but not fish), and Anilao for better fish - we prefer fish! I've also heard of Bauan, Palawan, Bohol, and Lake Taal.
We don't mind somewhat touristy areas, but we're not at all the party types, so a quiet location is very important. We'll be looking for guesthouses at the bottom of the price range, and have no need for nice hotels, ocean views, or anything expensive as far as accommodation is concerned. To put it in perspective, we learned to dive in Utila, Honduras, which is pretty... rough around the edges. And we loved it.
Thanks in advance!
Chris
PS - Cross-posted in the Indonesia branch. Apologies if you read it twice!
