INDepth - The Philippines

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The Philippines is possibly the most under-rated of tropical diving destinations. While those in search of Asian diving head for Thailand, Indonesia or even expensive Papua New Guinea, the Philippines is often overlooked. This is a mistake, because not only does this island nation (7,100 islands, if you’re counting) have an impressive range of wrecks, reefs, technical facilities and pelagics – it is cheap.

Flights from the UK to the Philippine capital of Manila typically cost about £80 more than to Bangkok, but the route is growing in popularity and prices are coming down all the time. Once you’re there, prices are very low, making it a fine place to be if you’ve time on your hands and enough dosh to keep you underwater.

Even for a ten-day or two-week holiday, the Philippines makes sense. Tour operators such as Tony Backhurst and others are waking up to its potential, but many tour operators seem to want to avoid it, possibly because of its history of social unrest and the existence of a separatist movement in the south. They are valid concerns, but crime against tourists is not a major issue and the occasional flare-ups tend to take place on the southern island of Mindanao, which is off-limits to tourists. Similarly, the southern edges of the Sulu Sea are the domain of terrorist group Abu Sayaff.

For the most part, the Philippines is a peaceful nation. Dive packages are cheap and the living is easy. It’s simply a question of choosing an area that has your kind of diving. If you want wrecks, go to Coron or Subic Bay. Photographers should go to Cebu or Bohol, adventurers should seek out Tubbataha, and big-fish fanatics have all sorts of choices.

DIVE SPOTS

Puerto Galera

Proximity to Manila has ensured success for the dive centres of Puerto Galera, renowned as one of the Philippines’ party capitals. The shallow coral gardens here have been affected by various El Niño events since the mid-Nineties, but the diving is still good enough to attract famous photographers who come to record macro life as a well as deeper coral scenes.

Puerto Galera is essentially a series of bays overlooked by verdant hills that lead into the dense interior of Mindoro Island. To get there, you take a 70-mile bus ride from Manila to the south coast of Luzon, then it’s just 14 miles by ferry. An array of dive sites is scattered around the shoreline, with others available at nearby Verde Island. Many of these are typical Indo-Pacific reefs yet there is plenty of variety, with old and new wreck sites, fast drifts and deep canyons all on offer.

Interestingly, there is also a strong culture of technical diving around Puerto Galera, especially among the British expat fraternity. Many of the sites have scope for deep exploration, and it was here that the late John Bennett carried out his record-breaking dive to 308m. Despite his subsequent death on a far shallower dive, Bennett has left a legacy of deep-water wreck exploration that endures in Puerto Galera.

Most divers will be lured by the easy lifestyle and diversity of marine species for which this area is noted. Serious photographers maintain that it has all the potential of the famous macro sites in Indonesia’s Lembeh Straits or Papua New Guinea, but with a better tourist infrastructure and lower costs.

Malapascua Island

The rare pelagic thresher shark can make occasional appearances at deep-water reefs all over the Philippines, but sightings are most common at a cleaning station at the Monad Shoals, close to Malapascua Island off the northern tip of Cebu.

Threshers are deep-water pelagic roamers, seldom seen by divers, so to have them cruising around a sea mount at safe diving depth was something completely new. Unfortunately, the sudden surge in diver numbers, followed by shark-finning fishermen, has resulted in fewer sharks seen on the station in recent years.

The good news is that the diver stampede has calmed down and that threshers still visit the sea mount to be cleaned. If you have time, Malapascua is definitely worth a visit, as the island has a good population of mandarinfish (much prized by macro photographers) as well as five shipwrecks and those elusive threshers. Check out Thresher Divers, www.threshers.com.

Bohol

This large, circular island sits next to Cebu in the central Visayas, and can be reached easily by aeroplane from Manila, or even by ferry if you happen to be on Cebu. While the southwest corner is held to offer the best diving, Bohol’s story is one of diversity. If you’re here in the dry season, it’s worth visiting the Chocolate Hills, a cute range of identically sized volcanic hills covered in vegetation that turns dark when water is scarce.

For quality diving, most head for Panglao Island to the south, connected to Bohol by a bridge and with a well-established drag of dive centres, restaurants and budget accommodation on the beach. It has excellent shore diving, but better still are nearby Balicasag and Pamalican islands. Balicasag is a marine sanctuary located six miles from Panglao, noted for all-round reef diving and some very big bumphead parrotfish. Another 15 miles to the east is Pamalican Island, which translates as ‘resting place of the mantas’. Manta encounters are not a sure thing here, but the reef is pretty and there were silvertip sharks here when a DIVE reporter last passed through. Banded sea snakes are another local speciality, as indeed they are throughout the warm water of the Visayas and Palawan.

Finally, devotees of wall diving should make the effort of visiting Cabilao. From December to June, scalloped hammerhead sharks visit the sheer walls of this beautiful white sand island, but the thermocline where they are found is extremely deep, often more than 50m. Still, the wall is spectacular, studded with hard corals and big, golden gorgonians. It’s a world-class dive, but the island is difficult to reach, located off Bohol’s remote northwest. It can be visited as a day trip or longer from Moalboal in Cebu, or from the resorts on Panglao.

Cebu

Situated in the middle of the Philippines’ Visayan Islands, Cebu is a cosmopolitan island characterised by friendly people and some easy-going beach resorts. The most famous of these is probably Moalboal in the south of the island, a pleasant mishmash of flophouses, cafés and mini-resorts that is firmly entrenched in scuba culture. Tony Backhurst Scuba Travel (www.scuba.co.uk) sends people to the Kasai Village Resort here.

The local shore diving is perfectly adequate, but the main draw is Pescador Island, a cigar-shaped coral island a mile and half offshore, which has a pleasing mixture of coral gardens and sheer walls. Watch out for some vicious titan triggerfish here.

For pelagic action, consider Sumilon Island, just off the southeast of Cebu. A long-established marine sanctuary, it is known for pelagic encounters between December and May – expect to see tuna, scalloped hammerhead sharks and eagle rays at this time. Also in this area is Apo Island – not to be confused with remote Apo Reef – where fish occur in great numbers, which is three hours by road from Cebu City. Finally, one of the most popular diving areas here is at Mactan Island, which is easy to get to from the airport: try local operator Scotty’s Dive Tours (www.divescotty.com).

Coron Bay

In a country full of surprises, Coron Bay stands out as the biggest oddity of them all. Located in north Palawan at the western extreme of the Philippine archipelago, this bay offers British-style wreck diving in some of the world’s warmest water.

On 24 September 1944, the US Navy launched a massive air strike on a Japanese supply fleet anchored in Coron Bay, sinking 24 vessels. Even today, only eight of the vessels have been discovered within the confines of the bay, while another four have been pinpointed outside the bay and 12 have yet to be found.

The known wrecks sit at a nitrox-friendly average depth of 28 to 30m, with one – the provision ship Irako – at 42m. They are all relatively intact and sit in an area largely protected from currents. It sounds like wreck-diving heaven, but the downside is that you get mediocre visibility most of the time (that’s the British bit), so expect something between 10 and 20m, with the least clarity on low-water tides. The water is extremely warm, sometimes creeping above 30ºC, but you still need a wetsuit for protection against jagged pieces of wreck.

DIVE’s technical editor Charles Hood is a big fan of Coron diving, and recommends visiting any time from November to the end of April, to avoid the rains. There are about 15 local dive operators, and you get there by flying to Coron airport from Manila. While it is possible to dive out of local resorts and the town of Coron, there is also a good liveaboard, the MV Stella Maris Explorer, which services this area and Apo Reef.

Tubbataha Reef

For reef-diving purists, this is probably the best option in the Philippines, although it can only be dived from a liveaboard. Declared a World Heritage Site in 1994, the reef lies about 100 miles southeast of Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan Island, which is the primary port for liveaboard departures during the brief season from March to June.

Composed of two major reef systems, the local speciality is wall diving, with plenty of pelagics and some extremely healthy coral. Expect to see outsized gorgonian fan corals and sponges, plenty of blacktip reef sharks and a good few manta rays at sites such as Bird Island, Amos Rock or South Face, where you surface to the sight of a lighthouse constructed on one of the few sand spits to break the surface of the water at this outpost. The liveaboard scene changes on what seems like a monthly basis, but you can try www.explorerfleet.com and look under MV Oceanic Explorer.

Subic Bay

The closest quality dive sites to Manila are the newly discovered wreck dives of Subic Bay. Much remains to be discovered in this corner of Luzon Island, which was originally a naval base for the occupying Spaniards in 1885. It subsequently became the biggest US naval base in the Far East before being designated as a new tourism zone in 1991.

There are five wrecks of note, although, as with Coron Bay, visibility is relatively limited (most dive operators quote a range of 5–15m visibility). The El Capitan freighter wreck is the most fun, with resident schools of glassfish and plenty of light streaming down from various holes in the structure. Then there is the USS New York, which lies at a depth of 27m with two sets of formidable gun turrets. Decommissioned in 1931, the USS New York was scuppered by the Americans to prevent her 17-inch guns from falling into Japanese hands.

Whale sharks

While big pelagics can theoretically be seen at any of the offshore sites, the Philippines has its own whale-shark aggregation close to the mouth of the Donsol River in southern Luzon. Whale sharks are butchered for their meat and fins in the Philippines, but since 1998, local leaders and fishermen in Donsol town have been involved in an ecotourism scheme which has protected the giant sharks.

The aggregation occurs from January to May, when fishermen take snorkellers out to see the sharks and snorkel with them. With up to 40 whale shark sightings per day, it can be one of the most productive aggregations in the world.

Few tour operators offer organised trips to Donsol. We came across one at www.philippine-travel.co.uk. If you fly in via Manila, you can get closer to Donsol by catching an internal flight to Legaspi City. It would be quite easy to combine a whale-shark trip with an onward flight to the island of Cebu, which has good, varied reef diving.

THE SEASONS

While there is good weather year-round, air temperatures average a sweltering 30ºC and there is a dry season from November to May. Expect some rainfall from June to October, but enjoy it too, because watching lightning dart across an island five miles across a bay is an experience to savour. Water temperatures range between 26–30ºC, making 3mm wetsuits the best choice.

TOPSIDE ATTRACTIONS

On Palawan, the St Paul Subterranean National Park is worth visiting, with its eerie underground river, while on South Luzon the still active Mayon volcano at Legaspi is one of the country’s most beautiful sites. If you’re staying near Moalboal in Cebu, there is a waterfall a few miles out of town, and mountain biking is popular. For the most part, though, the Philippines is about taking it easy, island-style.

GETTING THERE

The major gateway airport is in the rather grim capital, Manila, where you may have to overnight before catching an internal flight to your destination. Luggage limits are a non-negotiable 20kg. A typical return flight from London to Manila costs about £450, although there are always bargains to be had. Internal flights are relatively economical, so island hopping is an affordable option.

WHAT TO PACK

The usual tropical clothes range, including lightweight, long trousers for the evenings, sunglasses and a hat for the day, T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops. There’s little need for formal clothes. See your GP about anti-malaria pills and inoculations a month before you plan to travel. Take dollars and credit cards – the Philippine currency is the peso – there were 97 pesos to the UK pound at the time of writing.

DIVE SAYS...

If we had two weeks to explore the Philippines, we’d devise our own itinerary, mixing a nice, easy resort holiday in Bohol or Cebu with a liveaboard trip to Tubbataha, or maybe have a try for the elusive thresher sharks. Or then again, we might try to fit in the wrecks of Coron Bay with a trip to snorkel with whale sharks in southern Luzon. But then, how do we fit in a week of macro photography or a mixed-gas course in Puerto Galera? Evidently, there’s more than enough to keep any diver occupied in the Philippines, and flights aside, the costs are low. With a little planning, you can have a truly great holiday there.

NEED TO KNOW:

flight time > Ten to 12 hours
time difference from UK > Eight hours ahead
Currency > Philippine peso
exchange rate > £1 = 97 Ps

Summer Water temperature > 26–30ºC
Average visibility > At Tubbataha, Apo Reef, Bohol and Southern Cebu 30m-plus, while at Boron bay and subic bay 5–15m


TOUR OPERATORS

Tony Backhurst
Scuba Travel
0800 0728221
www.scuba.co.uk

Explorers Dive
0845 6447090
www.explorers.co.uk

Snooba Travel
0870 1620767
www.snooba.com

Scotty’s Dive Centre Inc
00 63 32 2310288
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www.divescotty.com

Thresher Shark Divers
00 63 927 6123359
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www.thresherdivers.com