Living and diving in Moalboal, Cebu

2009-06-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

Moalboal's Backpacker Lodge Open!

Directly in the heart of Panagsama Beach, Moalboal's Backpacker Lodge offers beds from 199 Pesos (about 4 US$) upwards. Contact www.moalboal-backpackerlodge.com for more info.

2009-06-04T01:15:00.000-07:00

Reef Survey at Sunken Island

The Research and Monitoring Team of Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCE) conducted a ref survey at Sunken Island (Badian, Barangay Lombok). Sunken Island is a marine reserve by municipality of Badian. Only hook and line fishing is allowed. CCE’s dive team consisted of 5 divers plus our dive instructor Dino, who was in charge of dive safety and acted as dive guide. The team conducted 2 dives to 90f / 30m and surveyed fish abundance, diversity and biomass. Aileen Maypa, the Research Coordinator, was impressed by the beauty of the dive spot. Here are the Preliminary Findings: Dominant numerically fish are fusiliers (6 species). Northern and southern side is high density of fusiliers, about 5000 on each side. Coral dominant forms are foliose and encrusting corals.

All in all a fantastic dive spot.
Pictures will follow soon.

2009-03-04T00:08:00.000-08:00

New website from Cabana

Cabana Beach Club Resort has a new website with lots of pics and some video of Panagsama Beach and Moalboal. The website gives you also a lot of info on scuba diving in Moalboal. Check it out at www.cabana-cebu.com.

2009-02-26T00:28:00.000-08:00

Whale Shark Pics

Stefan, Willi and Ingo send us the latest whale shark pictures from their dive last month. So far, not so many whale sharks this month, but March has been always a month with a lot of whale shark sightings. We keep you updated....

2008-12-30T18:01:00.000-08:00

New Years Whale Shark Encounter

It seems the whale sharks want to send us a message for the new year: We are still here, waiting for you, don't give up diving. This pictures are from Chrissie Choo who was diving with her friends on Dec. 30 and had an incredible whale shark encounter in Pescador Island. Here are some of her pics.

2008-12-26T18:26:00.000-08:00

Good old days...

Our regular visitors know our dive mastes Dome (Swiss) and Eusel (Filipino) very well. Here is a picture when Dome visited Moalboal in 1982, featuring a much younger Dome and Eusel. I marked the guys otherwise you wouldn't recognize them. The pic was taken at Chief Maui Bar, from where you had a seaview in the good old days...

2008-12-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas Whale Shark

In time for Christmas a whale shark was spotted in the morning on our house reef, just in front of Cabana Beach Club Resort. The place is often visited by whale sharks, we guess its because there is often a very big school of sardines there, accompanied by some hunting mackerels.

2008-11-28T19:46:00.000-08:00

Baby Shark in Pescador Island

Our resident white tip sharks in Pescador Island got a baby. The baby, Sharky, as he is called by our divers, is relaxing and spending the better part of the day in the shadow of a big table coral in just 5 meters of water in Pescador Island. We hope he will join mama and papa shark soon and make diving in Pescador even more exciting as it is now.

2008-11-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

Cebu Dive and Adventure Travel

After many nights worked trough the new website of our in-house travel agency, Cebu Dive & Adventure Travel, is online at www.cebu-travel.com. Offered are new tours, like awesome live-aboard diving in Truk Lagoon, shark diving at the Faju Islands and dive safaris though the archipelago of the Visayas with the new custom-build outrigger boats Royo and Goya. You will find lots of pictures and video like a cool underwater video of mantas, thresher and white tip sharks in the Malapascua section. Take a look at the site and if you have the urge to go to one of these places drop us an e-mail.

2008-11-12T00:46:00.000-08:00

Whale Shark in Moalboal - Video

Whale sharks have been cruising by Moalboal again lately. Tony Exall, a British dive instructor and underwater movie maker I met recently on a live-aboard in Tubbataha, spend 3 weeks in here in Panagsama Beach to shoot underwater videos for our website. All the videos you see on www.savedra.com has been shot in only 3 weeks, including the manta scenes (Pescador) and the whale shark (Sunken Island). Actually we got the whale shark on Tony's very last dive, we had poor weather conditions and we planned only a video shot about boat diving with Savedra Dive Center. Joe, our beautiful dive master candidate from England, gave the briefings and off we went... and was that a dive! Here is the video in case you haven’t seen it yet.

2008-10-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here is some feedback from our diver Joachim:

Hello Abraham,

Finally have received my Nitro certificate today. It was fun attending the course. Hopefully find time soon for more diving in Cebu. All the best and dive careful.

Cheers! :)

Best regards

Joachim

2008-10-24T00:20:00.000-07:00

Precious Dive Equipment

We used the last couple of weeks and renovated the dive shop. Loads of new quality dive equipmen t is also for sale, thanks to a nice deal we cut with Scuba World Philippines. They provided us also with a mannequin called “Viagra”, which we proudly display in our dive shop.

According to our secretaries it was a good idea to lock her in the glass cabinet, because sometimes they see some of our male divers passing the cabinet, hunched over, hissing something like “my precioussssss”….

2008-09-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

SPLASH FOR TRASH!

On our International Cleanup Day last September 20th we gave free dives for everyboady who wanted to help us cleaning our reefs. The weather was a little bit stormy but that just incresed the fun we all had. Hope some of you guys join the next time.

2008-08-22T20:52:00.001-07:00

DIVERS ALERT NETWORK SEMINAR IN CEBU

The Philippine Commission on Sport Scuba Diving (PCSSD) in Cebu hosted a Seminar by John Lippman, Executive Director of Divers Alert Network, South East Pacific (DAN). John gave us an overview over marine life injuries and reviewed recent scientific research in hyperbaric medicine. Other dive medicine topics related to the Philippines were also discussed.

2008-06-29T23:30:00.001-07:00

Hi guys,

Our dive instructor Abraham was awarded a Certificate for Excellence from PADI. They received the following statement from one of Abe's students:

Certificate of Recognition for Excellence
Awarded to Abraham Borg # 17567 for outstanding customer service and professionalism in PADI scuba instruction as acknowledged below: "PADI should know how lucky it is to have an instructor like Abraham Borg on board. Forget his super qualifications, Abraham is patient, kind and instills loads of confidence in his students. With Abraham, a diver couldn't feel any more cared and safer. Abraham really cares so much about his students and is one of the best instructors, if not the best that I have come across in my lifetime. Thank you to PADI for providing such a high level of instruction and to Abraham for his unwavering patience and care."

2008-06-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

Tubbataha Liveaboard

Did a trip to Tubbataha on of the liveaboards of Expedition Fleet. Awesome diving! Eat, dive and sleep is all you do on these trips. Here is some video footage my friend Tony from TLX underwater videography did for me. You will see more video and details Tubbataha trips soon on our website www.savedra.com
.

2008-06-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

Whale sharks, whale sharks, whale sharks...

Over the last couple months we got really lots and lots of whale sharks in Moalboal. Many of our divers can tell a story or two about these encounters of the big kind. There are for example our friends and guests Diana and Joern whi dive with since so many years. This time they stayed about 10 days with us. It just happened that both of their birthdays were within these 10 days, and it just happened that on Diana's birthday a whale shark passed by and on Joern's birthday a couple of days later, another one. Joern is also the one providing these beautiful pictures and videos from these 2 dives.

2008-03-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

We've got a wonderful e-mail from our avid diver Valeria, who was diving with us last year, which we want to share with you:

Dear guys....

i miss you so much that i cannot explaine....
My crazy feeling for you....
My best part of my life was been there with everyone...
every day i think of you..
i remember each your fantastic smile...and each sunset...

i was very happy with you...
every day of my life was full of color...magic...
I know ...you are special and everyone go there and spend time with you can think the same...
Only one word .....thank you!

2007-12-31T18:09:00.000-08:00

Properties and Lots for Sale in Moalboal, Cebu

Over the years we had a lot of our divers coming back to us again and again.

Some of them purchased properties and settled down here in Moalboal.

So if you are interested in a decent property, drop us an e-mail and we get you in touch with trustworthy people who sell lots with a clean title and who will help you with the paper work.

2007-12-31T17:37:00.000-08:00

New Year Dive - Some of us must live under water, right?

Traditionally, some of our divers cross over into the New Year under water.

Shortly before midnight our Swiss instructor Uli gathered the willing flock and descended at the house reef. They emptied several bottles of champagne at midnight.

We think that Rachel took a little bit too much, as you can see her mask filled up with some fluid we think is champagne...

We wish all scuba divers and friends of Moalboal a happy new year, and let us know if you want to join us next year.

Your Savedra Team

2007-12-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

Savedra offers now PADI Assistant Instructor Courses

After the latest IDC update with PADI Course Director Mario Tapales our Master Instructor and "Tecki" Abraham Borg conducts now PADI Assistant Instructor courses in our dive center.

The PADI Assistant Instructor Course is part of the Instructor Development Course (IDC) which comprises of two parts.

Part 1 Assistant Instructor

The Assistant Instructor course is a minimum of three days. It introduces you to the teaching techniques for skill and knowledge development. The course concentrates on duties and programs Assistant Instructors may conduct independently. On successful completion of the Assistant Instructor course candidates can move on to obtain training to become Open water Scuba Instructors.

2007-11-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

We got an amazing e-mail from our PADI Dive Master Candidate Akio which we want to share with you guys:

Dear, Karl, Dino and all my friends in Savedra Dive Center,

I am very sorry not to write for a long time since returning home.

I was very busy for many things that had been waiting for me during my absence in Japan.

Here, it is a complete Autumn now, and the winter is approaching just there.

I did cut and trimming trees in my small garden and cultivated beans, green onions, ginger roots etc, in the countryside.

Thank you very much for supporting me during my long stay in September and October.

Thanks to your steady supports and warm advices, I finally could become a DiveMaster and also could be a member of you.

I am very much happy and proud that I could conquer and pass all the ordeals, such as 60 dives with other guests, training assistant, stamina training and even the interview with a medical doctor.

Now, I could remember your (Karl's) words on e-mail before leaving Japan.

You said that Savedra would offer me the very rigorous and strict training and that after the success of the training you would be sure that I would be a real DiveMaster.

Now, thanks to Dino, I am confident that I have become a REAL DiveMaster with his kind and serious instruction and his very tough training.

I did write the story of these 4 week's severe training and delivered by e-mail to many friends of mine, not only diving friends but also old friends of my high school, university and company.

And I got many many many replies from them.

They mostly say; that they are much surprised at my energy, spirits and efforts, that they are much envious of my life, that I am a superman they can never imitate, that I am passing the ideal human life and that they thanked me for providing them with living energy, etc.

Dear, Karl, Dino and all my friends,
I am sure that I will come to Moalboal again, maybe in February and it would be much appreciated if I could join you and assist you. I also would like to bring some friends of mine with me sooner or later.

Lindy and Dino, thank you very much for everything during my stay.

Hermann and Bhiebs, thank you very much for many things including extension proceedure of my visa.

Please let me ask you the same proceedure again.

Raquel, thank you for all arrangements at everytime.

Jaymi, I will mail the pictures soon please wait for a while.

Now thank you very much again, everybody.

akio (^:^(

2007-10-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

Whale Shark Mania!

Guys, the whale shark are back. BIG time! Our dive instructor Tommi has 2 PADI Open Water Students, Michael and Christian, and dives the house reef all the time. Here is the Log Book entries of the dive students:

Oct. 2, 2007: Open Water Dive 1 (this is the very first Open Water dive in the course): Whale Shark

Oct. 3, 2007: Open Water Dive 2: Whale Shark

Oct. 4, 2007: Open Water Dive 4: Whale Shark

So these students saw in 3 out of their 4 certification dives whale sharks. Right now we have a giant school of sardines at our house reef and hey are spawning. We assume this keeps the whale shark around for a while. Our certified divers are not going boat diving anymore, everybody is just diving the house reef. And, I guess, Michael and Christian, our PADI Open Water Students, are spoiled for life...

2007-09-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

Thresher Sharks in Moalboal

Our Japanese business partner Noriaki Hashizume (www.savedra.jp) is just passing by for a short visit from Japan. He has his Tech Gear still with us and jumps every day in the water for a deep dive. And nearly on every dive he encounters tresher sharks. This is a trend we observe already since a couple of month. More and more often we have encounters with treshers. Nori had up to 4 threshers on Sunday, Sept. 23 and yesterday, Sept. 24, a big tresher shark in Pescador Island. In Pescador we have usually white ship sharks, the appearance of threshers is new to us. It seems that laws in Philippines against illegal fishing methods are improving and the proof of it is just on our house reef. Only set back is they are really deep. like 60m/200f or deeper. One reason more to learn tech diving...
Unfortunately Nori didn't bring his camera. We post some pics taken before from our friends at artifishal.com.

2007-05-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

Project AWARE’s Dive For Earth Day

Each year during the week of Earth Day, 22^nd April, thousands of people across the globe make a difference for the underwater environment while having fun and getting wet to celebrate Dive For Earth Day. We joined the global effort to make a difference this April. We organized in partnership with Project AWARE a Beach and Underwater Cleanup. Divers, snorkelers, their families and friends helped us to make a difference for our local dive sites.

Here is more info on the Earth Day and Project AWARE:

Earth Day began on 22 April 1970 to raise the status of environment issues to the global stage. On the 30^th anniversary of Earth Day in 2000, Project AWARE began to help organize dive volunteers and put aquatic issues on the Earth Day map. Since that time thousands of divers and water enthusiasts in more than 115 countries of the world have helped protect underwater environments and educate local communities each April.

Project AWARE Foundation is the dive industry’s leading nonprofit environmental organization working in partnership with divers and water enthusiasts to conserve underwater environments through education, advocacy and action.

For more information about Project AWARE conservation initiatives visit www.projectaware.org.