Dive Review of New Wave Divers Boracay/Nigi Nigi Too--station 1 in
Philippines/Bocarcay, Philippines

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New Wave Divers Boracay/Nigi Nigi Too--station 1: "Boracay refresher course and dives.", Dec, 2016, by Robert L Short, CO, US ( Sr. Reviewer 10 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 9538.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Another trip to the Philippines but its been about a year since I last dove. While in Boracay I decided to dive again and picked a dive shop just down from the resort I was staying in--Nigi Nigi Too Resort on Station 1. New Wave Divers came highly recommended on Trip Advisor and being within walking distance from my resort it was a logical choice. I went to the dive shop the night before and talked with them and arranged the refresher course for the next morning with one dive included--$70 us dollars. The shop is very small right on the beach--no pool for training--all training is conducted in the clear water right in front of the resort. My instructor was an American gal from Boston who had been traveling all over SE Asia working in various dive shops. No text book instruction--right to the water and performed some basic OW drills and off we went to dive--not much instruction for $70 but I felt ok doing the dive. Had to walk about 250 yards down the beach with all your equipment (except tank) to get on the large banka boat shared with other dive shops. Tanks were already on the boat and prefilled. Rental equipment was good and dove with a 3mm shorty wet suit which wasn't needed at all--water was about 29 or 30 degrees C. The dive site was 5 minutes from the shop and we only went to about 15 meters which was ok for me for a refresher dive--not much to see-- a little coral and lots of small critters and fish. Had my instructor as my dedicated guide and she was good at checking on me and pointing out things. 45 minute dive, easy climb back onto the boat with stairs--entry was giant stride off the boat. No current and visibility wasn't the greatest--maybe 30 feet. So many boats in the water from various tours and activities and they kept the water stirred up a bit and we were pretty close to the sandy shore. I scheduled another dive with them the next day to try a different site. Same procedure--walk 250 yards down the shore in wetsuit and BC to get on the boat--this time I had a different guide--a young woman from Italy who never said one word to me from start to finish. She was more interested in texting on her phone while on the boat--dive brief was pretty much stay close to me. Had one other diver with us and we dove a little further out this time on a large up cropping mound. Went to about 20 meters, visibility was a little better and more critters too. Saw a couple of turtles this dive, more coral, much better dive than the first one--guide checked on us occasionally but she kept a pretty slow pace since I had brought my camera this time and slowed them up with taking pics and video--oh well. First time using my Olympus TG-3 for diving and not just snorkeling. Camera is only rated to 15 meters deep and it will let you know when you get close to 15 meters and start screaming at you when you get to 15 meters--a big orange triangle appears on your view screen to tell you that you're to deep. What the heck--kept going deeper--all the way to 20 meters deep and it kept on working flashing the triangle the whole time. Some nice pics and videos of turtle and checked the camera when I got up top and it was still dry as a bone--thank goodness. No rinse bucket for cameras just for masks so had to wait till I got back to the dive shop to rinse it. Boracay is a good place for divers to learn to dive--many and I mean many dive shops along the beach--this was my fourth time to Boracay and sadly my last. Its turned into a mini Cancun--way to many people and hawkers trying to sell you something--its to bad--its one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen and worth it for a least one visit if you can arrange it. There are other dive sites rated for only more experienced divers also. Be sure to pick your dive operator well--walk up and down the beach in the morning and watch them loading boats--I saw some cattle boats you wouldn't believe--not enough room on the boat to change your mind! It seems a lot of shops there cater to the Discover SCUBA crowd--many first time divers--mostly Koreans it seems as the majority of tourists there are from that country. But I got what I came for--a refresher course and getting myself back in the water--would I return there just to dive? Nope but for new divers I think it is a great place to learn and dive. The hotel we stayed at Nigi Nigi Too was very nice--right on the beach with a balcony overlooking the ocean--free breakfast included for about $70 a night. There are three sections on the beach--Stations 1 thru 3. 1 and 3 are your more subdued areas--Station 2 is the busy area with loud music each night and lots of people walking up and down the beach. Also the D'Mall is located there with most of your shopping and a lot of restaurants. The airport there is very close to the pier where you need to pay to catch a boat over to the island and a mini van to your hotel. You can buy packages that include all fares for transfers at the airport if you fly into Kalibo which includes the 90 minute van ride to Boracay, all your fees at the pier and the boat ride over and van to your hotel for about 500 pesos or about $10 US for one way. You can buy a round trip also. The pier to the island is a very hectic place--you go thru a security screening like at the airport but it goes very fast and then you are taken out to the pier and get on one of the many boats going back and forth. A little cheaper coming back because you don't need to pay the port fee again or environmental fee either if I remember right.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Utah, California, Akumal Mexico, Cozumel, Philippines
Closest Airport	Catalan	Getting There	there are two different ways to get to Boracay--Fly into the airport at Catalan right next to the island--they just expanded the runway to allow full size jets to land there now or fly into Kalibo and take a 90 minute transfer to Boracay--much cheaper to fly to Kalibo but that may be changing with bigger jets flying now to Catalan.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	28-29°C / 82-84°F	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of New Wave Divers Boracay/Nigi Nigi Too--station 1 in Philippines/Bocarcay, Philippines

New Wave Divers Boracay/Nigi Nigi Too--station 1: "Boracay refresher course and dives.", Dec, 2016,

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 New Wave Divers Boracay/Nigi Nigi Too--station 1 in
Philippines/Bocarcay, Philippines