Scuba diving in the Philippines
| country: | Philippines |
| departures: | This trip is no longer operating |
| price: | Accommodation from $12 per person. Dives from between $15 - $20 per person per dive |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Only four metres from the beach, our dive shop is in the perfect location for you to get the most out of your diving here on the island. Paul's Diving School is the renowned professional for Apo Island Apo Island as its house reef. When it comes to the protection and conservation of our environment, we practice what we teach, eco-sensitive diving.
Put simply we become one with nature as we delve into our 'blue temple', passing on the exuberant feelings of Apo Island too you our guest. Bubbles the only evidence of our excursion to the reef, in its gratitude for our behaviour and respect of its beauty, the reef bestows welcoming memories of our holiday, captured for ever as we start our way home.
Whether you are on Apo Island as a certified diver, a student diver or a non diver we will treat you the same, we do our best to see that you enjoy your holiday.
Apo Island is a 72-hectare volcanic rock situated in the Mindanao Sea. Home to seven hundred plus people, of whom two hundred and ninety (and increasing) are children. Apo people are simple fisher folk mostly dependant on fishing and the fishing way of life for their income food and life style. Only four metres from the beach, our dive shop is in the perfect location for you to get the most out of your diving here on the island. Paul's Diving School is the renowned professional for Apo Island Apo Island as its house reef.
We dive all there is to offer on Apo Island, with six daily dives to choose from, there is sure to be a dive for you. Easy beach dives, exhilarating drift dives, sunrise dives, night dives and of course the world famous Apo Island Marine Sanctuary. Whichever dive you choose, it will be a great dive. Once you have built up a rapport with one of the guides we leave you and him to personalise your dives, bearing in mind, that safety is of our utmost concern. All dives are no-decompression dives limited to 40m.
Who likes to dive in a big group? We don't! To maximize your enjoyment we do our best to keep the groups small. Seeing that no dive site is more than 10 minutes away, we return to shore after each dive allowing you the maximum time to relax and enjoy the island way of life.
Diving, snorkeling, walking, relaxing, eating, whatever you want, we know that this is your holiday and we want it to be an unforgettable experience. This is the reality of a holiday at Liberty's Lodge on Apo Island. Positioned on a beautiful location, our picturesque lodge is crafted into the rock, in balance with the harmony of the surrounding nature. Imagine sitting high above the sea, looking out, as life goes on. Island life, generations in the making, traditions coming and going with traffic of the pump boats. From any vantage point within Liberty's, you catch glimpses of the outstanding prime stone reef, sparkling just below the surface of the sea, the most bio-diverse reef in the Philippines
The lodge employs many clever techniques to overcome the difficulties of living on a small, remote tropical island. Liberty's is a unique place, following a unique way of life. A refreshingly simple, highly effective shower system is used, the traditional 'mandy'. Naturally ventilated rooms enhance the sea breeze, ventilators aid the flow of air on days when the weather is calm. Thousands of bamboo shingles adorn the roof of the main lodge keeping at bay the zenith of the Sun's heat cool enough for a comfortable afternoon siesta.
Put simply we become one with nature as we delve into our 'blue temple', passing on the exuberant feelings of Apo Island too you our guest. Bubbles the only evidence of our excursion to the reef, in its gratitude for our behaviour and respect of its beauty, the reef bestows welcoming memories of our holiday, captured for ever as we start our way home.
Whether you are on Apo Island as a certified diver, a student diver or a non diver we will treat you the same, we do our best to see that you enjoy your holiday.
Apo Island is a 72-hectare volcanic rock situated in the Mindanao Sea. Home to seven hundred plus people, of whom two hundred and ninety (and increasing) are children. Apo people are simple fisher folk mostly dependant on fishing and the fishing way of life for their income food and life style. Only four metres from the beach, our dive shop is in the perfect location for you to get the most out of your diving here on the island. Paul's Diving School is the renowned professional for Apo Island Apo Island as its house reef.
We dive all there is to offer on Apo Island, with six daily dives to choose from, there is sure to be a dive for you. Easy beach dives, exhilarating drift dives, sunrise dives, night dives and of course the world famous Apo Island Marine Sanctuary. Whichever dive you choose, it will be a great dive. Once you have built up a rapport with one of the guides we leave you and him to personalise your dives, bearing in mind, that safety is of our utmost concern. All dives are no-decompression dives limited to 40m.Who likes to dive in a big group? We don't! To maximize your enjoyment we do our best to keep the groups small. Seeing that no dive site is more than 10 minutes away, we return to shore after each dive allowing you the maximum time to relax and enjoy the island way of life.
Diving, snorkeling, walking, relaxing, eating, whatever you want, we know that this is your holiday and we want it to be an unforgettable experience. This is the reality of a holiday at Liberty's Lodge on Apo Island. Positioned on a beautiful location, our picturesque lodge is crafted into the rock, in balance with the harmony of the surrounding nature. Imagine sitting high above the sea, looking out, as life goes on. Island life, generations in the making, traditions coming and going with traffic of the pump boats. From any vantage point within Liberty's, you catch glimpses of the outstanding prime stone reef, sparkling just below the surface of the sea, the most bio-diverse reef in the Philippines
The lodge employs many clever techniques to overcome the difficulties of living on a small, remote tropical island. Liberty's is a unique place, following a unique way of life. A refreshingly simple, highly effective shower system is used, the traditional 'mandy'. Naturally ventilated rooms enhance the sea breeze, ventilators aid the flow of air on days when the weather is calm. Thousands of bamboo shingles adorn the roof of the main lodge keeping at bay the zenith of the Sun's heat cool enough for a comfortable afternoon siesta.
Dive Pakages
We offer a full range of Dive Courses from PADI Open water (7 dives, that's between 6-7 hours diving! costs from $295) up to Dive Master (cost between $650 - $795) and most courses in between. Including; Multilevel Diving, Drift Diving, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Aware Coral Reef, Underwater Naturalist, and Aware Fish ID, all $110. Underwater Photography, Underwater Navigator and Night Diving at $150. Deep Diver and Search and Recovery $190.
We offer a full range of Dive Courses from PADI Open water (7 dives, that's between 6-7 hours diving! costs from $295) up to Dive Master (cost between $650 - $795) and most courses in between. Including; Multilevel Diving, Drift Diving, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Aware Coral Reef, Underwater Naturalist, and Aware Fish ID, all $110. Underwater Photography, Underwater Navigator and Night Diving at $150. Deep Diver and Search and Recovery $190.
How to find us Apo Island is an easy island to get to, whichever way you choose to reach us you have to come through Dumaguete City, the provincial capital of Negros Oriental, and travel 25km to the jump off point at Malatapay Market
If we know you are coming the boat of your choice waiting for you, either the adventure ride on a traditional pump boat, the one that ourselves and our two young daughters use weekly or a big out rigger boat, which has to be booked in advance. The easiest way to arrive at Malatapay and Apo Island is to avail our transfer service, from Dumaguete.
how this holiday makes a difference
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By staying at Liberty's Lodge, you will in effect become part of our effort to conserve the island's culture, nature and future. Liberty's Lodge plays an important part in the upkeep of Apo Island's environment and education of its children. This is only possible by maintaining the status quo with the local community. The culture and the natural resources need to be balanced if this rugged little island is to remain in the near prime stone condition that it is today.
Reef cleaning The cleaning of a reef is an on going process. We help with the 'maintenance' of the reef, helping to extract some of the man made obstacles that effect the longevity of the the reefs inhabitants. A potential problem with crown of thorns (Acanthaster planci) is being halted, this year our team has taken out over 2500 of them. Our extraction method of this strangely beautiful yet highly unpleasant coral-eating invertebrate is as safe as we can make it. We use a very simple method using old sacks and re-enforcement bars, simple but highly effective. Once on dry land they are buried in pits above the high tide mark, where they quickly decompose. Educational and scholarship programs For the past two years we have been running educational scholarships for 10 children from Apo. As a result a pilot organization; Apo Kids for Apo Island's Future (A.K.A.F) was started in 2002. The kids from A.K.A.F are required each week to collect and segregate garbage into non bio-degradable and biodegradable collection areas. We are in the process of building a recycling area behind Liberty's. A class room is being built, at the resort to facilitate educational workshops that will be dedicated into educating the people of Apo Island and the people from visiting communities on how to protect, for what is after all their own environment.  Clean and green competitionsSince we started our business, we have held, clean and green competitions. An independent judge from outside of Apo is invited at Christmas, Fiesta or on other suitable occasions. Judging is simple a walk around the village is enough to choose the cleanest and the greenest house. The head of the household is presented directly with his prize; a gas burner, complete with a large gas bottle. The prize, being beneficial to the islands uplands, this is where most fuel for cooking is taken from. Waste In Liberty's Lodge, we do our best to cut back on the waste that we use, minimizing it directly at the source when purchasing of lodge supplies. We do not encourage the burning of garbage, when we find paper, leaves and biodegradable items they are composted in our composing pit. It is hoped that by this example that the people will stop burning what is a potentially valuable source of nourishment; good for the nutrient deficient soil here on Apo. Once the garbage has been segregated, it is taken, with the help of the children and the fishermen of the Bantay Dagat, off Apo Island in the Barangay boat. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |