Sipaway Island

[Gi]

I like the idea I get to post the 1st topic here. hehehe. But this is not just kulit, ha. Serious, to!

I am frequenting San Carlos, Negros Occ these past months. And Sipaway Island is just a stone throw away. According to the map, there are dive sites here. Funny thing is it's so hard to find a dive resort here. Seems like nobody knows about it. Parang its one big secret! Anyway, after much investigation, I finally found one resort brochure from one of the many estalishments I went to.

As far as I know, there's only one dive resort - Whispering Palms Island Resort (hirap makita, whispering kasi, eh!). Sipaway Divers is the dive shop. They have a house reef. there's about 20 dive sites near or within 10-20 minutes boat ride from the dive shop.

Their rate are as follows:
Php 1300.00 / day dive (inclusive of boat, tank, weights, dive guide)
Php 1500.00 / night dive
Php 650.00 / day gear rental

They are not that flexible with the price. No dive package either. I had the impression when I was talking to the owner on the phone, parang ayaw magpa-dive . Not very friendly... hmmm.

The hotel resort rate is Php 1300.00 / day twin sharing. So its cheaper if you stay in San Carlos and just take the pump boat to Sipaway which only takes about 10 minutes. There are 2 dive schedule / day - 9 am and 1 pm.

I have yet to try diving there. I will let you know how it is soon. For contacts see information below:

Sipaway Divers Philippines
Christian Kalischo
www.sipaway-divers.com
www.whispering-palms.com
063 09157867639 - owner

063 09166516159 - reception

Have you heard anything about the place and the island?

Gi

[Gi]

After much indecision (bora or sipaway, bora or sipaway...) , I finally went to Whispering Palms in Sipaway Island. The island is sleepy but the people are very friendly and are not tourist-mongers (it will help if you try not to act like one! ).

How to get to Whispering Palms:
1. At San Carlos, take tricycle to pantalan (P7.00) (10-15 mins depending on traffic).
2. Take pump boat (P12.00) (10 min). Pag naiwanan ka, you can pakyaw the boat for P150.00.
3. Take motorcycle (P15.00) (10 min).

Sipaway island is sandwiched between San Carlos Negros Occ and Cebu City. The Refugio Pass and the Tannon Strait passes through and shapes this 7 km stretch of land. The Sipaway Divers dive center is a charming dive resort facing Cebu at the Tannon Stait side. Most of the good dive sites (16 out of 20) are on this side and is 10-20 min boat ride.

The resort did not dissapoint (ganda! ;D). Contrary to my 1st impression, the owner and staff are friendly naman pala . Most of the guests are German. There's not a lot of guests so booking is not a problem. They try hard to speak english for my benefit. But if you're going to spend the night there, make sure you bring a good book or your laptop with you (may wifi) para pag naubusan ka ng english may gagawin ka pa to kill the hours...

On the dive resort, lets use Planet Dive as point of comparison. It being (NOTE: this is only my opinion and is limited to my own personal experience):
Resort / Facility - 3 stars
Dive equipment (completeness, maintainance) - 3 stars
Package - 4 stars
Service - 4 stars

Whispering Palms / Sipaway Divers would be:
Resort / Facility - 5 stars
Dive equipment (completeness, maintainance) - 5 stars
Package - 3 stars
Service - 5 stars

I was only able to do 1 dive in the afternoon (tanghali na kasing gumising, eh). All in all its 1,700.00 (1 boat dive, all equipments rented - full suit, BC, reg, etc). It was a friendly dive. Good for OW. No current. Sloping reef. I saw several kinds of nudibranchs, 1sting ray, jacks, shrimps, morray eels, ribbon eels, lion fish, stone fish, trumphet fish, blue tangs, anthias, lavander fishes, light blue fishes, etc.

Lets use Sombrero Batoc as a point of comparison. It being 5 stars (perfect score ) in terms of coral cover and marine life (NOTE: this is only my opinion and is limited to my own personal experience):

Sipaway Divers Site 1
Coral cover - 2 stars
Marine life - 3 stars (the extra star is for diversity)

Its evident that there is over-fishing and wrong fishing practices judging from the state of the reefs . So, if you're for color, this will be disappointing. But its really the thrill of the unfamiliar that will make you want to dive some more (hehehe). So I guess, this is not the end of this saga . Until my next dive...

Sayonara,
Gi

[erwin]

Hey Gi,

Nice report but what did you see underwater? Inquiring minds need to know.

[Gi]

Sorry, i was not able to finish my novel the 1st time (hehehe). I modified it. I hope this will satisfy your inquiring mind, sensei (bwahahaha).