Please Note: This is not the latest information on this area. These are archived pages for reference only. The current Aquaquest Pacific Travel Pages are here: |
The New Aquaquest Pacific Travel Dumaguete, Philippines Dive Trip Specials.
UPDATE on our September trip: 12 Guam Divers smiled all the time and had a great time. This picture is a "slight" example of what they did! Seemore below.
Why Dumaguete? If you're a photographer or videographer you'll be smiling all the time. I call diving at Dumaguete "Critter Every Minute" dives. See what our group took pictures of: Dona Bushong Sue Heiter Toyoko Kang
Every picture you see here ws taken in Dumagete. |
Our Standard Dumaguete Package
Dumaguete Dream Package
Day 1: afternoon arrival
Day 2: 3 boat dives Apo Reef
Day 3: 3 boat dives
Day 4: 3 boat dives Apo Reef
Day 5: 2 boat dives
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, soft drinks, coffee, tea
all airport to resort transfers
free wifi at hotel
Day 1: afternooon arrival, dinner
Day 2: 3 boat dives*
Day 3: 3 boat dives Apo Reef
Day 4: 2 boat dives, night dive
Day 5: 3 boat dives Apo Reef
Day 6: 3 boat dives
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, soft drinks, coffee, tea
all airport to resort transfers
free wifi
*Optional Mandarinfish or Night dive*Please inquire for Continental and Philippine airlines airfare. The total airfare can be less than $500. Create your own package: Add on amore days and diving Includes room and breakfasst, lunch, dinner.
Want another resort option? How aout the Atlantis Resort Dumaguete? 7 nights accommodation in a deluxe room (double occupancy/twin share), all meals at Toko's Restaurant (breakfast drinks, drinks, Italian and specialty coffees are included), coffee, tea and filtered water are available from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. 2 days trips to Apo Island or similar, unlimited internet access, unlimited scheduled boat diving (between 8:00 am to 6:00 pm including night diving. Ask us for our special Atlantis pricing.
OPTION 4: Pete's Special Trip. April 1-8th, 2012 Easter Trip
Pete, former owner of MDA, is their travel consultant. He specializes in taking small groups to some unique destinations. Pete is also the producer of the Diver Below TV series. He's been to Dumaguete 4 tmies in the past 3 years
Includes: Everything above on the Dream Diving Package. Also included is a pre trip photo clinic and a special video for everyone on the trip. An example of this is right here: http://vimeo.com/21789051 This special trip will be limited to 12 divers. The special trip price: $745ea*.
WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED: Airfare, hotel in Manila, Manila airport transfers, airport taxes. Airfare should be approx $600, or you can use your miles on CO. We use Philippines Airlines to Dumaguete. We can give you a quote on this.
Book any trip with MDA, airfare or not, and get a special MDA Travel 25% OFF coupon. This is good for a one time purchase of any retail item you need for the trip except training materials, and existing packages.
More reasons to go: After "Big Animal diving in Palau", which I think everyone should experience, if I were to pick ONE destination outside of Micronesia that had the best of the following options it would be Dumaguete. I've been there twice and the diving is great!
There are some very close seconds, but consider these:
1. Ease of getting there. Fly to Manila the night before, overnight, and then take an hour flight to Dumaguete and a 30 min van ride. We'll be diving that afternoon!
NOTE: You can also go by Philippine Airlines the same morning, but the flights don't connect until the afternoon, so you won't be able to dive the same afternoon.
2. Wide diversity of macro and little critters that are easy to photograph. You will NEVER see half of these critters anywhere in Micronesia. Everything pictured below we saw on the last trips. Yes, that IS a mimic octopus on the left.
3. Shallow diving for max bottom time. Most of the divesites are between 5-60 ft (2-20m). We never got deeper than 90 ft/30m on any dives.
4. Some really nice coral reefs. Most of the sites have a brown volcanic sand bottom (home to all the little stuff) and are surrounded by pocket reefs of corals. Apo reef is a 45 minute boat ride and is all coral walls, drop offs, and marine life. Superb.
5. Water conditions: 3+ mim suits in Nov-March, 1-2mm the rest of the year.
Take a look at more videos on Dumaguete here and you'll see what I mean. http://vimeo.com/album/209860/page:1 There are more on the 2nd page.
Where will we be staying: Mike's Dauin Beach Resort. UPDATE: I cannot stress how much our group liked this resort. I'll be posting a short video of it but take a look at these photo's I took to give you a true idea of the resort. We prefer smaller places that don't cater to large numbers of divers each day. We tend to get more personalized services at the smaller resorts.
PLEASE NOTE THE PRICING: All prices are calculated on whether or not the US dollar exchange rate varies, and they can fluctuate a little.
VALID DATES: *All special packages are valid between October 15, 2011 to April 1, 2012. Bookings are subject to availability of rooms. Upgrades to deluxe rooms are optional.
MIN # OF DIVERS: These special package prices are based on 2 divers to book at the same time, share a room, and participate in the activities together.
SINGLE OCCUPANCY? If you want a room to yourself you'll have to pay a single supplemental room charge
DOES A DEPOSIT HOLD A SPACE: Yes, and I hate to be pushy about this, but that's the only way you'll be officially on any trip. These are locked in 2011 prices and if they are paid in full by December 29th you won't have to pay any price adjustments. If you're serious about going we need a $100 deposit as soon as possible.. You can leave your deposit at the MDA travel desk or call us at 472-6321-4.
WHEN DO YOU PAY? No payment is required until your reservations are confirmed. All confirmed reservations must be paid as soon as possible (this means very quickly) -or- at least 45 days prior to your departure date if it's NOT booked over a holiday.
These trips must be completed prior to April 1, 2012.
CANCELLATIONS/REFUNDS: These are very special prices that our dive and hotels partners have committed to. Due to internatinal bank transfer time limitationst here are no refunds within 30 days of your departure unless emergency, medical, or legal circumstances prevent you from going. The criteria for this would be military leave cancellatinons, deployments, and medical emergencies. In such cases we will need documentation to verify the cancellation. In all cases MDA will retain $75 for administrative costs. We are also not rresponsible for any penalties imposed by airline cancellations. These are outopf our control.
Can you extend your dates for this trip? Yes. the rates are below the packages above.
Are there any extra fees not included: Yes.
Marine Sanctuary fees: Because we travel to different islands and each has it's own fees, ranging from $3-$7 per day, sanctuary fees are not included.
Airport and transfer fees: Each airport in the Philippines has it's own departure tax. Usually it's between 30-50P (42.95P to the US dollar as I write this). The Manila domestic airport has a 200P departure tax when we go to Dumaguete, and the departure tax is 750P when we leave Manila to come back to Guam. Overall figure about 1,000P ($23-24) to cover these taxes.
Nitrox: If you want nitrox the additional fee per tank is 250PHP (about $5.00). You'll pay them directly for this. Here's a tip: If you want nitrox I'd recommend you use it on the last dive of the day. The dives are moderate to shallow depths and you'll get the full advantage of nitrox on the last dives.
What flights do you need to book? Call or email us.
How much extra money to bring? Lots of travel tips are here..
How do you get on the trip?Call us at 472-6321-4, or send us an email at islands@mdaguam.com.