Top-side, there is a wide range of activities; such as the Ocean Adventure theme park (dolphin shows etc), Tree-Top Jungle Adventure, Jungle Treks and a wide range of bars, restaurants and beaches. The area is nowhere near as commercialised and ‘touristy’ as other Philippines destinations like PG or Boracay. There is an hourly bus service from Manila to Subic/Olongapo, costing less than 250php each way. The journey takes approx 2.5 – 3.5 hours.
As of late, Subic Bay has one of the highest concentrations of war wrecks within sport-diving range in the world. According to the Subic Bay Historical Museum, 19 wrecks dating from the Spanish-American War to the Second World War have been identified in Subic Bay. Ironically, these wrecks have only recently been opened to recreational divers, due to the existence of a major US Navy base at Subic Bay until 1991.
Like most Philippines destinations, at Camiguin Island you’ll find the finest macro photography & marine critter diving to be had in the heart of The Coral Triangle, along with stunning nature scenes and animal encounter opportunities.
You might only have 1 or 2 weeks in a year to vacation, so why not make it the most exotic, spectacular nature experience as possible to the 3rd largest English speaking Country in the world, in “A Place Called Paradise”, all for less cost than the Carribean and far safer for tourists than any major U.S. city!
To put the Philippines marine bio-diversity & bio-density in perspective, the Philippines has 6 times more fish species and almost 10 times more species of hard & soft corals than the Caribbean!
The Philippines marine biosphere exceeds all of the Caribbean, Hawaii, Micronesia & Palau, and even the Great Barrier Reef pales in comparison to the Philippines!
Even while boasting guaranteed whale shark encounter diving in places like Leyte and large pelagic diving with the likes of thresher sharks in places like Malapascua, the Philippines truly is “The macro critter capital of the world” where countrywide you’ll encounter World Class Diving that we call “Macro Without the Muck”
Before you learn the ins and outs of scuba diving, you need to go through a series of lessons and know the proper safety protocol for various situations. Here’s how to Scuba Dive.
After entering the water you’ve established positive buoyancy on the surface. Check again your equipment to make sure everything is in place and everything has been dislodged from the entry. Establishing positive buoyancy on the surface you want to check your equipment one more time to make sure that nothing has been dislodged or lost during the entry. Switching over from your snorkel onto your regulator and ready to make a safe and easy descent at the bottom. Holding the BC hose over your head, the air escapes out of the BC, allowing you negative buoyancy. The diver descends and makes his dive. Remember to equalize ears and to constantly keep breathing.
The number 1 rule of scuba diving is to never hold your breath.
When it’s time to come out, a safe, slow ascent is always important. The diver ascents slowly, always breathing, head up, hand up, and looking up. Once on the surface, the diver will establish positive buoyancy and swithc over to his snorkel and go to his point of exit.
Masks. No matter what aquatic activity that you are going to be choosing it’s important that you need to build a sea underwater. In order to achieve this purpose, snorkelers, scuba divers, and free divers all wear a mask. A mask serves a general purpose of providing an airspace in front of our eyes so we can see underwater. The most important thing to consider when buying a mask is if it’s fit because there is nothing worse than getting water on your face all the time and taking the fun out of your dive.
Fins. The first piece of equipment that most scuba divers are gonna buy is a pair of fins. Fins provide a basic compulsion underwater so it’s important that people pick a a pair of fins that fits their body type and strength.
Snorkel. Of course, before you jump out of the water the first thing you’re gonna need is a snorkel. If you want to keep your face on the water and want to see the fish blow or snorkling or if you wanna be able to rest at the surface while scuba diving, you need to have this on your kit. There are many different types and varieties of snorkels, some are better for snorkling and some are better for scuba diving and some are preferred for free diving. So before you buy your snorkel, talk to somebody at your local dive store to help you make the best choice.
Exposure Protection. Unless you’re diving in a hot tub, diving in any type of water is going to be colder than your body temperature. Prolong exposure to cooler water is going to strip heat away from your body. Therefore scuba divers wear different types of exposure protection in order to make sure that they maintain an adequate level of comfort for the duration of their scuba diving.
Scuba Regulator. This is perhaps the most specialized and important gear for scuba diving. Scuba regulator consists of the first stage and the second stage. The purpose of a scuba regulator is to take high pressure air from the cylinder to ambient pressure into the diver’s mouth.
Diver Computer. Diver computers are advantageous because they take the guesswork out of your scuba diving, follow your exact profiles while you’re underwater, and give you the maximized bomb time that you have.
Buoyancy Control Device. The BCD allows the diver to control their buoyancy underwater therefore maintaining neutrality and not ascending and descending in uncontrolled breaks.
Scuba Cylinder. Scuba cyclinder comes in many different sizes and shapes to suit your diving conditions.
Coron is not only famous for its diving but it also has a sunken fleet of World War Two-era Japanese warships. To get there, you need to have an entrance pass, which can be purchased for about PHP2000/USD5 from most travel agencies in the town of Coron. Flying to Puerto Princesa takes only 45 minutes from Manila. Then you can take a boat trip to Coron. Journey time is about 12 hours.
Here are some Coron diving pictures from my trip. Fantastic looking wrecks here! Possible whaleshark sightings though. But the wrecks are fun and safe to swim through. Didn’t dive Barracuda Lake, but snorkeling and swimming was relaxing. Twin Lagoon gave us a glimpse of the thermocline… very interesting to swim through. Loved the relaxed atmosphere.
Cold water and calm tides make diving in Romblon the perfect paradise to swim and snorkel while you’re in the mood to laze about in the sun. The water temperature are warmest June to September, and visibility ranges from 5 to 75 feet. Cresta De Galo Island is only a short boat trip from Sibuyan Island in the Romblon Province, Philippines. This 5-hectare unmoved islet is surrounded by beautiful corral reefs.
The beach is rich with different species of marine life which is an ideal place for swimming and scuba diving. You can swim with the Dolphins, Rays, Lobster and a whole list of fish.
Just 3 hours south of Manila, Coco Beach Resort is a summertime paradise on the shimmering waters of Puerto Galera. White sandy beach, nets for beach volleyball and a well-kept beach house are just few of the things you can enjoy when you’re ready to stretch your legs at the spot. Also the food is delicious, you should try the giant shrimp barbecued in garlic sauce – it’s my favorite. Affordable pricing too. But what interest me most is the beautiful diving spot in the area.
The shoreline there is called Small LaLaguna and is just fine for swimming. The ferries that run from Batangas Pier to Sabang Beach are about 8 dollars USD or 8700 KRW.
Here are 3 important tips to remember when you want to go Snorkeling. Statistically speaking, more people won’t try Scuba because they had a bad snorkeling experience. It’s not your fault. Since it’s important to have a good experience, you have to have a good snorkeling experience to even wanna try scuba diving A good experience in snorkeling is based on three factors:
Proper fitting mask
Comfortable pair of fins/ snorkel
Good Sea conditions
Now one thing is, when I’m not wearing my mask, I wanna wear it around my neck. Because if you wear it the mask happens to be on your forehead like this:
A wave come along and take your mask off your face and then what happens next is that it would sink straight to the bottom and then you will have lost your mask and the money that you paid for it. Because now you have no mask to go underwater to try to find it. So two things: 1. Hold it around your neck, and if that’s uncomfortable for you, then you wear it just like a headband on your head so that when a wave comes by it typically will not get knocked off your face.
Second thing, to properly don your equipment, take your mask and take all the water out, put anti-defog in it to clear your snorkel you must pretend that your in the watermelon seed spitting contest then blow into the snorkel with as much as breath as you can.
And then the third element is to have a proper kick. A lot of people like to bycicle with their fins. This is an inefficient use of your fins and not only that it will make you wind it so you’ll be out of breath and not have a good time especially in the water. So the proper kick is actually the scissors kick. It’s basically straight legs with slightly bend knees and flex your ankle at the bottom of the down stroke.
