Diving in Apo Island

Fed up with small stuffs on the sand? Miss colorful corals and plenty of tropical fish? It's not a problem. Aside from muck dive, many divers also go for boat dive in Apo Island depart from Dauin Coast.

I joined Apo Island diving day trip on my third day in Dumaguete. We departed from Liquid Dumaguete at 8AM. On the way going to Apo Island, we saw some dolphins cruising ahead of our boat. It's kind of additional surprise for us. It takes around 40 minutes to reach the island by pumpboat.

We had three dives in Apo Island. It's shame that I forgot to record the specific names of the dive site. Anyway, they are all near the "Rock" which is in front of the small village on the eastern side of the island. Apart from divers, many tourists go there for snorkeling.

The sea bed is covered by healthy corals, and the divers are surrounded by fish. The colorful scenery here is totally different from Dauin Coast. Like I mentioned before, go diving in Apo Island if you miss corals and fish.

  

We had a simple lunch on the boat after the second dive. This meal fee is included in their day trip package.

Aside from beautiful corals and fish, divers can see Jackfish ball on the east side of the island. We didn't dive there because it's drift dive and there were some beginner divers on the boat. If you are an experienced diver and want to see the school of Jackfish, why not try it!

Dive with Liquid Dumaguete

When I planned the trip to Dumaguete, I found some diving shop on the internet. One of them, Liquid Dumaguete, replied my email very fast and gave me most understandable information. Honestly, it's really my weakness in terms of choosing a resort or diving shop, so I booked the room with them without a second thought.

Location:

Like most of the diving shops there, Liquid Dumaguete is located in a town named Dauin. It takes 30 minutes by car traveling from the airport in Dumaguete City. For more traveling information, please click here.

Their dive center and accommodation are in the same area. There is no modern decoration but full of ocean and tropical feeling. (Of course it's in tropical. I mean some resorts are decorated too much and made into western styles.)

Accommodation:

They only provide fan rooms that may makes some people think it's too hot to sleep in a room in the Philippines without an air-conditioner. However, for example, I traveled to there in August which it's one of the hottest months in the Philippines. I even felt a little cold when I used the fan during night time because I stayed in a beach front cottage. They offered a promo price in August which was P1,450 per night. What a good deal!! Besides, there is a balcony in each cottage.

Diving:

Maybe because they only have few rooms, I didn't see too many short-term  customers, instead, I met some dive master trainees and instructor candidates there. The price is P1,400 per dive or P1,200 per dive if you do more than 6 dives. It excludes equipment rental, day trip boat ride, sanctuary fee, camera fee, night dive, etc. For more information of the prices, please check their website. In my case, I spent P15,900 for ten dives including 3 dives in Apo Island, 2 night dives in Dauin Coast and bringing my camera every time.

Dining:

It's not really convenient to go out from the shop and have meals, so I had all the meals in the restaurant of the shop during that four days. Aside from some fix menu, they provide "family dinner" which is offering different dishes every day. The customers have to sign up for it in the afternoon and have the meal together at 7pm. It includes 3 courses which are appetizer, main dish, and dessert. It's a good experience to have dinner with the people who have the same interest and share each others' diving journeys and experiences.

( I forgot to take some pictures of the food )

Conclusion:

If you are looking for a shop in Dumaguete only for diving, Liquid Dumaguete will be a nice choice.

Eat、Sleep、Dive!!

How to travel from Cebu to Dumaguete

How to travel from Cebu to Dumaguete?

Departure

When I was planning my trip to Dumaguete, I found out there are three common ways traveling from Cebu City to Dumaguete:

1. Go to Cebu South Bus Terminal and take the bus heading for Bato which departs every 30 minutes. Take off at Li-loan Port and take hourly ferry to Sibulan Port in  Dumaguete.

2. Go to Cebu City Pier and take ferry to Tagbilaran Port in Bohol. From there transfer another ferry going to Dumaguete.

Both options cost less than P500 for one way but take more than 5 hours to reach the destination. Because my holiday was short, I decided to go for the third and easiest way. I took Cebu Pacific flight from Cebu to Dumaguete which cost me P1,815 because I was able to get the promo ticket at that time.

The plane is a small propeller aircraft. The departure time is 10:20am, and the flight time is 40 minutes. It starts to descend just few minutes after reaching the flight attitude. In other words, the passengers don't have the chance to loosen the seat belts.

Like many domestic airports here in the Philippines, this one is small and simple. I hadn't been to Dumaguete, so I booked a van transportation from the diving shop(P700 one way). The driver were already in front of the arrival gate while I was waiting for my luggage. Actually, most of the popular diving sites are not near Dumaguete City, instead, a town named Dauin where most of the diving shops located in. It's 30 minutes away from the airport by car.

Return:

Go to Sibulan Port --> Buy Ferry Ticket --> Take Ferry --> Take Bus --> Cebu South Bus Terminal  

Because I had planned to dive one more time in the morning of travelling back to Cebu, I had no chance to fly back. I returned to Cebu by the boat and the bus like I mentioned above.

I asked the shop to book a van for me going to Sibulan Port( P800 one way); it takes around 40 minutes. There is one ticketing counter for the "pumpbaot" and another is for the "fastcraft". I took the fastcraft which departs hourly and costs P62. The sea was calm although the weather turned to cloudy on that day.

The ferry arrived at Li-loan Port in Cebu around 30 minutes after the departure. The buses of CERES LINER were waiting there for the passengers. The ticketing personnel guided me to one of the buses, so I realized the number in the back of my ferry ticket was the order of the buses. I was a little surprised that this connective transportation is such well-organized so the passengers don't need to rush to the buses for getting the seats. The bus I took was fully-occupied at the port, so the driver didn't stop too many times to pick up the passengers beside the road. Moreover, there was only a little traffic jam when we were close to the city, so we only traveled for around three and half hours to South Bus Terminal.

I feel like it's the same distance travelling to Dumaguete with Malapascua from Cebu City. I had known this place too late, otherwise I could go to Malapascua when I miss Thresher Shark and travel to Dumaguete if I miss small stuffs. (Sounds like I have holidays very often.)