Sipadan or Philippines?

Dear divers. I have been looking into a trip to sipadan jan/feb next year, but Im at the end of a long trip so im a little put off by cost of diving there. However, I am determined to finish the trip at with a week at a first class dive spot.

I am also travelling to the Philippines after Malaysia, so what I would like to know is (from the people who have dived both): is there anywhere in the Phills which compares to sipadan but a bit more budget traveller friendly, or am I better off sticking with sipadan? At the end of the day I have an overdraft, and the quality of diving is my number 1 priority as I want to finish my trip on a high.

Thanks in advance.

If you are going to Sipadan and the Phils I would really try to dive both!
The diving in the Philippines is amazingly diverse and can be exceptional. Where else can you have such a good chance of seeing both Whalesharks and Thresher Sharks? Good budget diving can be found at Puerto Galera, Apo Island, Alona Beach on Bohol and many many more. Where to you intend to go in the Phils?

cheers surfboy, no idea where i intend to go yet, i know nothing about the phillipines yet!

No worries, and dont forget with Sipadan you will need to contact a divecentre a bit in advance to reserve a place if you want to dive around Sipadan itself, the diving is limited to a certain number each day.

Hi middlemef:
An alternative idea: you could take a bus to Tawau and from there a ferry to Sulawesi. Visa for Indonesia available at Tawau. Diving at Tanjung Karang near Palu, a possible alternative for a budget diver. Cheap accommodation/food from the friendly locals in the village and excellent diving from the dive centre. Check our travel notes for maps and details/prices/facts. We came for three days and we stayed for four weeks.
http://konniandmatt.blogspot.com/2011/08/16-aug-15-sep-2011-tanjung-karang.html
http://konniandmatt.blogspot.com/2011/09/04-sep-05-sep-2011-lebo.html
Cheers, Matt.

I'd say that Apo Reef in the Philippines is fairly close to Sipadan in terms of the diving, plenty of bigger marine life there, and not as expensive or restricted by permits. There are several ways to dive it, the way I did it was on a 2 day liveaboard with Apo Reef Club (based near San Jose), there is also Pandan Island Resort which offers trips and Expedition Fleet liveaboards although that would probably be the most expensive option. Some dive centres in Coron also dive Apo Reef.

Malapascua is also a great option in The Philippines - Thresher Sharks in abundance and Devil and Manta Rays. But of course macro Philippines has it all. Sipadan is one Island, and obviously Mabul has world class macro also so is a gret one-stop destination. Philippines is an entire and diverse archipelago so limitless adventure available.

In The Philippines I recommend

Evolution Diving on Malapascua - as good as it gets. Very popular with independent divers rather then the massive groups. Best food around also.

Mike's Dauin Beach Resort in Dauin - friendly and laid back

Liquid Dumaguete - also good for Dauin

SubMariner in El Nido - small and personalised

All of the above are operated by owners who live and dive with their customers which is what I want. It keeps the standards very high.

For PG try LBC.

The Philippines perhaps offers a better 'cultural' experience then Sipadan. A walk around Mabul is certainly interesting to see how the locals live and the same for across the Philippines, where nearly everyone speaks some amount of English so making friends is very easy.