Dive Review of Mantangale Alibuag Dive Resort. in
Philippines/Northern Mindanao

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Mantangale Alibuag Dive Resort.: "Great Diving Again In the Philippines", Jun, 2022, by John Crossley, FL, US ( Sr. Contributor 28 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 11978.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	It was great to get back in the water again after missing two whole years. The Philippines is open again for tourism although some safety precautions are in place. We arrived in late May and had to show a negative COVID test result and a vaccination record. Shopping malls and office areas required masks. OK.....I can live with that a little while longer. My first diving since August 2019 was at the Mantangale Dive Resort about 100 KM north of our retirement home in Cagayan de Oro. This part of Mindanao is not a terrorism risk that the U.S. Travel Advisories make it look like. I've seen no problems in this area in 15 years. Mantangale features one of the very best flowery soft coral dives in Asia. Its named Medina Springs (aka Paradiso). Imagine a huge bowl 40 or more yards in diameter that begins at about 60 feet and drops down to 104 feet. All along the sides of the bowl are red, pink, purple, and yellow soft corals in huge bunches. Great location for wide angle photos. Nextdoor is "Aquarium" that features some more beautiful soft corals but add some macro-critter possibilities along the partly sandy bottom at 65 feet. One dive, closest to the resort is a fish magnet of a pinnacle that rises from 100 plus feet to about 70 feet. Other dive sites feature lots of macro critters such as ghost pipe fish, coral crabs, wire coral shrimps, mantis shrimps, porcelain crabs, etc. Resort owner/manager Dodong Uy typically is the dive guide and he is excellent at spotting macro critters. Some day-long dive trips they go out to Camiguin Island or other sites for wall dives, a giant clam site and an undrwater "sunken cemetary." The main dive boat is a traditional philippine panga style boat that is comfortable and can handle 12 dives. It has a marine head, camera rinse tanks, and bottled drinking water. Usually I've had fewer than four other divers on board. The crew is extreemly helpful in with dive gear, cameras, etc. Each two or three tank dive trip includes free nitrox and lunch. The resort's menu is quite varied and tasty. Breakfast is included with each night of accomodations. The accomodations are mostly duplex style cotteges that are pretty basic but clean and comfortable with great AC and hot water showers. Overall, the Mantangale Dive Resort is well worth several days or a week added to a Philippines itinerary. The prices for diving, accomodtions and food are very reasonable compared to most of the "big name" resorts.
Websites	Mantangale Alibuag Dive Resort.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Fiji, Truck, Yap, Palau, Bali, Lembeh, Hawaii, Florida, Red Sea, Soloman Islands, PNG, Caymans, Bonaire, BVI, Philippines and others
Closest Airport	Cagayan de Oro	Getting There	Fly to Manila or Cebu and connect to Cagayan de Oro on Cebu Pacific Airlines. Resort can arrange ground transfers
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	83-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	40-100 Ft/ 12-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Resaonable: Stay Within No-Deco limits.[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Rinse Bucket in boat and at Dive Shop. Dive crew welps carry cameras to boat.

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Dive Review of Mantangale Alibuag Dive Resort. in Philippines/Northern Mindanao

Mantangale Alibuag Dive Resort.: "Great Diving Again In the Philippines", Jun, 2022,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Mantangale Alibuag Dive Resort. in
Philippines/Northern Mindanao