Option #1: March 23-29th, 2012

OPTION 1: Pete's Special Bohol Trip. Mar 23-29, 2012

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.  "If you are a videographer or photographer you'll love this place" This trip will be limited to 12 divers. Includes: Everything below on the  5Night 6 Day 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.

 

Option #2:  Any two, any time. Let us know when you could go. 

Why Bohol?  Whether you're looking for your first Philippines trip, or want to continue filling your PI logbook, Bohol has some of the most beautiful and interesting reefs in the Philippines.

1. Ease of getting there. Leave Guam the evening before , dive the next afternoon! You'll go to Manila the night before, overnight, and in the morning take an 1:20 min flight south direct to Bohol. Then a short van ride, check in at the resort, have lunch, and you'll be diving that afternoon!

NOTE: You can also go by Philippine Airlines the same morning, but the connecting flight is so close I don't think we can make it.

2. Shallow diving for max bottom time.  Most of the divesites are between 5-80 ft (2-26m).  We never got deeper than 90 ft/30m on any dives.

3. Some really beautiful coral reefs. Most of the sites that we'll dive on are the same reefs that the liveaboard boats visit. Drop-offs, caverns, gently sloping walls, and large upper reef flats. Balicasag island (pictured) alone has over 6 divesite all around it:  There is no way we'll see all the attrations on this trip! Read about the dive sites here.

3. Wide diversity of macro and little critters that are easy to photograph.  in addition there is a very large school of barrcudas and jacks at somew of the dive sites.  Bring your camera for sure.

  4. Water conditions very similar to Guam. For the time we'll be going, a 1-2mm suit is perfect.

 THIS TRIP INCLUDES:

5 Nights and 6 days at the Seaquest Resort & Dive Center.  This is the same resort you'll see in the videos and we enjoyed it very much.

Deluxe rooms with a/c, breakfast every day, 11 nitrox boat dives spread over 4 days, including at least one 3 tank trip to Balacasag Island.  Sanctuary fees. Transfers from and back to the Tagbiliran (Bohol) airport, free WiFi service at the resort. A special video or dvd that I create for the group*.  I've also built in one more full day for optional dives, or land tours that we'll organize there   (*)Not available on option #2.

Note: Each day we visit a different island to dive at. This time of the year they occassionally see large whales and whale sharks near the islands.  If this happens we WILL make every effort to see them. Absolutely.

 

Land Tours: This is one of the few destinations that offer some really interesting side trips that can be done on the optional day to "off gas" from the diving. Take a look at the videos and you'll see what I mean.

 

WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED: Lunch, Dinner, Airfare, hotel in Manila (see below), Manila airport transfers, airport taxes, optional land tours.  Airfare and the Manila hotel should be under $600.

Why no airfares? Because a lot of us use miles or have a relationship with a travel agent, like MDA. I recommend that you let MDA book these flights and the CO Holidays package which includes your Heritqge hotel room in Manila on the 23rd.  They have the same information on the flights, what class to book you in, and will only add a small serive charge for this.

The basic schedule:  Arrival Day: 1 or 2 dives in the afternoon.  Day 2-4 3 boat dives daily.  Day 5 Optional day to dive or land tours. Day 6 departure.

Video to Your Website by VideoLightBox.com v1.11m

Take a look at our instant play tv show trip to Bohol and you'll see what I mean. There are five of these that will show you the resort, diving, and some of the land tours  Note: On the first trip we had to take a ferry from Cebu.  On this trip we fly directly to Bohol from Manila.

HOW WE GET THERE:

On almost all trips we leave the night before on Continental and stay at the Heritage Hotel in Manila. This allows us to leave on the morning domestic flights on Philippine airlines.

DOES A DEPOSIT HOLD A SPACE: Yes, and we hate to be pushy about this, but that's the only way you'll be officially on the trip. If you're serious about going we'll need a $200 deposit after we get confirmation that rooms are availabile, and the final payment at least 45 days before the trip.  You can leave your deposit at the MDA travel desk or you can call it in to 472-6321 - 4. They will accept any major credit cards for this or if you're paying by check make it out to MDA. 

CANCELLATIONS/REFUNDS:  These are very special prices that our dive and hotels partners have committed to.  There are no refunds within 30 days of your departure unless very extenuating 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 out pf our control.

Can you extend your dates for this trip?  Yes. Let us know how many more days you want to stay there.  I

Are there any extra fees not included: Yes...but not much.

Marine Sanctuary fee: We've included the normal sanctuary fees but if we go to an island that's not normally on the list there will be a fee for this.  It's usually notmuch.

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 Bohol, 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.

 

What flights is Pete's Special trip based upon?  To get to dive on the first day you've got to be on the first second flight below.

March 23   Continental flight CO183 departs Guam 7:05pm

Note: For the Philippine airlines flights Book yourself n the Fiesta Saver class, not the Fiesta Deal. The Fiedta Deal class is very restrictive.  MDA can take care of this for you.

Mar 24: Philippine Airlines, MNL--TAG   flight PR 0175 departs 8:50am 

Mar 29: Philippine Airlines TAG-MNL     flight PR 0178  departs 16:55pm

March 29:  Continental flight CO184 departs Manila 10:55pm

How much extra money to bring? Lots of travel tips are here.

How do you get on the trip? Send me an email at islands@mdaguam.com.