Whispering Palms Island Resort Kundenbewertungen & Reiseberichte

You reach the dive center via a 300 m paved road through some mangroves which sometimes is flooded on high tide. Paperwork procedures briefing etc went smoothly but some people sometimes need to tell long stories of their dive trips yawn. Did a check dive on the house reef where a rope leads you on a round trip with some toys, pyramid, old car, horse trailer, cross. Aladin showed 34 C so I went only with a Scubapro rash guard overall.

Tresher shark sightings were reported even here now so we tried our luck early this morning. It´s not like in Malapascua where you kneel in 35 m in some stage like area and look out over the edge of the reef into the dark blue without moving. Here you swim along a deeper wall and look for the big stuff. One animal showed in the greyish dark beneath us, too far and dark for the go pro to get a satisfying picture. 2 reef dives followed, 30 C in 20 m, vis 15 m, a lovely reef but not much fish around. I enjoyed the variety of coral and color, hard and soft ones plus sponges.

Whispering Palms is a huge place with beach, mangroves, massage, swimming pool etc. A lovely surprise was the menu which offers a wide and mouthwatering mixture of dishes, no surprise there as the manager now was a former chef. Meals main course 350 – 700 pesos, salad soup starters 250 – 350 peso, happy hour pina colada 90 p.

Alans Place East, poor vis 5 – 10 m in 6 m slowly getting better, temp dropped to 28 brrr. Lovely reef, lots of new coral growth everywhere. Philippines seem slowly to understand the need for protection of the reef. Friends join a 3 month reef survey totally free of charge here. We all agree and miss turtles and moray eels.

San Juan Gamai, 8:30 start for the first time we went north of the island. Briefing promised a wall down to 30 m with a special nudi only seen here “tree nudi”.My girlfriend who I had send some pictures complained “where are the fish”, as I so far had send coral sponges gorgonian etc. So this time I concentrated on fish and there were quite a few smaller ones around. Found a small cuttle fish, some nudis of a size my eyes are capable to spot, a salbe of 10 cm which I removed from kicking fins. Melina my buddy, guide, instructor, marine biologist did a great job with the group, checking air when she felt we reached around 100 bar, warned of approaching deco, tried blowing rings with me under the boat at the end of the dive. Often she asked and invited us to prolong our dive over the 60 min when a nice coral garden was underneath the Bangka. Vis deep 5 m on the reef 15 m. They could not start the diesel, had to call boat 2 to tow us back to the resort. So the early start at 8:30 brought us back around 3 p m

Sipaway Canyon Best dive so far to the north again. A wall reached down to 31 m. Entrance were two huge gorgonian between which we swam down into a canyon. Vis got foggy deeper than 15 m around 10 m it was amazing. Fish life around us and a paradise for the makro lovers, lots of nudis, small crabs, tiny shrimps, ghost pipe fish were waiting to be found. Definitely nothing for my eyes but I enjoyed the pictures of my buddies later on. During surface break they offered tea coffee and some biscuits, everybody told stories of former adventures. 2 days already we had reached 34 C, no clouds, you had to be careful with the sun on your skin, some got badly burned.

Camote east south, wouh the first really excellent dive. On descend we hit a magnificent boulder with all the components the Philippines are famous for, hard and soft coral, sponges hundreds of small fish around, a picture postcard motive. Later a bunch of squids around us and 5 big yellowish trevally chasing fusiliers, a fantastic picture. 2 small moray eels, 1 lion fish, 3 puffer, 1 parrot, some trigger and 1 rather shy oriental sweetlip rounded this up. I mean the behavior of the few fish shows clearly, there is hunting pressure from man. Normally you find sweetlips in a bunch floating in the current and allowing you real close.

Campolabo, 2 times we did a 75 min muck dive there which I don´t need and don´t enjoy at all, I´m just not interested in that stuff. I compare this to a dive in a gravel lake at home. I do enjoy a colorful reef scenery, fish life, blue water dives but this not at all. Even when a guide and buddy point out specials like tiny crabs, nudis, cuttlefish shrimp, no thank you. Lucky for me 2 buddies shared this sentiment. The Bangka is ideal for entry and exit, giant stride in, a not too steep stairway going up into the boat. The boat crew is awesome, before you even move one guy already pulls up the tank for you to better get into, he guides you carefully to the entry, same when you come back to make sure you reach your place safely with full gear. Already on the stairway they grab your fins and accompany you up.

The transfer to Moalboal was planned as dive trip on a Bangka. Coast guard however insisted on some extra paper which 1 day prior to departure our dive center couldn´t provide. So it was 1.5 h ferry, and 2.5 h cab ride to reach our 2 nd stop, too much of a transfer for me. I wonder if they ever had tried that dive transfer before.

Cebu Fun Divers Moalboal

Talisay Wall, I just love wall dives, the steep drop is tempting to go a bit further than planned, the sight deep into the dark water, the chance of big stuff cruising by, blue water dives away from the wall. A small school of barracuda on entry. A red frog fish waiting for the makro enthusiasts, 100 razor fish swimming vertical or horizontal right before my eyes, a banded snake is slowly worming it´s way up the reef, A truly pleasant and lovely introduction in the sites here, already on 1 dive more fish than on Whispering Palms.

Sardines 1000 of them building columns, canyons, scattering out again, I lose my buddy in a cloud of them, an amazing experience. One would expect to find predators cruising through with mouth wide open for an easy meal and full stomach. Nothing of that happens, a wonder what keeps them here all those years. Rumor has it, the hotels + restaurants pour there sewage unfiltered and uncleaned straight into the ocean?! The sardines feed on that, the reef wall looks like it could be true.

Most sites are only 5 min away. Looc a recommendation from Renè the owner offers a wall with big patches of pastel colored soft coral in all shades. 10 min straight out you will see a small island “Pescadore” and all of us crave to try this as we only have 2 dive days here. We opted to go there for our last dive here. Vis changed between 5 – 20 m, again a wall sloped down to around 40 m. Last dive means for many of us, lose your buoyancy and get a big number into your log as farewell. Well I dropped down to 36 m, the guide was banging on his tank. Fish all around us even some better sized ones, mackerel and trevally on the edge of the reef. A school of these fish which most times approach you with mouth wide open and gills spread wide. I can´t stop giggling when I see these guys. A lot of overhangs crevices and small cavern invite my macro fans to spend their time, I kick onwards and practice blowing rings under the Bangka. The guide points into the blue, a turtle is swimming away, the only one for me here. A wall with yellow soft coral around the ascend line. My last day I accompanied the divers to the end of the island and snorkeled all the way back. Jelly fish near the surface was a bit disturbing and ruining this adventure.

Altogether I got what I aimed for, relaxed diving in warm water. So Philippines or Indonesia might be future destinations for me. On our last day my Aladin quit it´s job on me showing micro bubbles level 0, this stayed frozen on the display, no chance to delete or confirm it , have to bring it to maintenance.