3 weeks in the Philippines

[eelpout]

If you are going to Palawan  you can try the northern part. The Coron-Busuanga area. When the US forces started their push to eliminate the Japanese form the Philippines, they discovered some ships in that area and sank them.

There is a pretty good story about these ships getting discovered by US Navy planes. Navy planes were coming back form a mission and were flying over the area on tehir way back to their carriers/landing strips on a regular basis. Some pilots noticed over time that some of the silands in the area were moving. So they were sent on a mission to figure out what was going on. They discovered the moving islands were ships that were camoflaged as islands. The US Navy sank most of them . The Japanese salvaged most of the material from the sunken ships.

These wrecks were just discovered by divers in the mid 80's. I got to dive them in 1993. I spent a week on a live aboard boat parked in the area and doves 8 different wrecks. What was amazing about that year was I was in Truk Lagoon 3 weeks later. The difference between the wrecks was the Japanes in Truk did not have much time to slavage anything of their ships. By the time the US Navy was in the Philippines the Japanes were desperate and could not afford to lose any material.

Just south of the Coron area, is the El Nido resort area. El Nido has 3 resorts in the are and they are all pretty good. Just make sure that you chek their facilities and pick the one that fits your style. In the 80's the proimarily catered to the Japanese. They now cater to the Chinese, Korean and local Filipino divers. If you are used  to Caribbean resorts, some of their faclites may be too rustic for you. That doesn't mean they don't have nice posh resorts. The do have Amman Pulo which is rated one of the best island resorts in the world. Very expensive.

If you are going to Palawan, try to hook up with a live aboard that can take you to the Tubataha area. It is one of the best dive sites in that country. The jumping off point for the live aboard boats is at Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan.

If this is the first time to travel to that country, the diving is great, the food is delicious, the beer (San Miguel) is tasty, the people are welcoming, if you get to see it, the Night Life is great too.

All this from a diver  who was born and raised there,
Jim Campos

PS. A local will get local prices, a "Kano" will think he is getting local prices because he is made to believe that he is getting the local prices. Been there done that.