Dive Review of Philippines Aggressor II in
Philippines/Best of the Visayas

Other Philippines reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Philippines Aggressor II: "Crowded divesites", Dec, 2024, by Deedra R Mansfield, CO, US ( Reviewer 4 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 13286 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I had high expectations about this trip, maybe too high. There were a lot of variables so I will list the PROS and then the CONS. I can’t say enough good things about the crew. They were amazing! The crew was there helping us remove wetsuits, rinsed and hung everything afterward. This is a big deal for me (being only 5’3”), I can’t reach the hang bars for the wetsuits without climbing up on the bench. After every dive, there were warm hand towels and smoothies on the dinghy for our ride back to the boat. Also, our chef created wonderful meals! The diving was a mixed bag. We had two dives with the thresher sharks. This site is a cleaning station used by the threshers – the sharks are curious and made many close passes. No stobes allowed. Our dive guide had a sixth sense and was able to find frog fish on nearly every site. We saw cuttlefish, lots of turtles, nudis, dragon sea moth, banded sea snakes (many), squid, bamboo shark, sea horses. Only saw one reef shark (no mantas) during the 8 days of diving. In my opinion, we did too much cruising and not enough diving. There are only four dives per day (three day dives and one night dive). However, many of the night dives were omitted because we were in-route, cruising to the next location. Many of the sites contained vibrant, healthy soft and hard corals. But several of the places we dove were disappointing - covered in sand with mucky bad vis. The Philippines Aggressor I and II were both running the exact same itineraries during our trip. Exactly the same – same dive sites and same timing, which lead to crowded dive sites. To make things worse, many of the sites we visited were at or near resort towns. So, not only were we diving with groups from the Aggressor I, we were also sharing the same sites with many local dive operators. The worst dive, in my opinion, was the whale shark encounter at Oslob. It might have been an okay dive, minus the 20 million snorkelers at the surface. The place was like a petting zoo. The whale shark feeding is staged and unnatural. Knowing its clientele, the Aggressor should not be taking divers to this whale shark circus. Big thumbs down. A couple comments about the Aggressor II. It is a beautiful, spacious new boat. There were, however, several issues all the divers had complaints about. The mattresses! Hard as rocks (I’m not exaggerating). It was like sleeping on a piece of plywood with a sheet on top. In my experience, many divers enjoy relaxing on the upper sun deck between dives. The lounge chairs supplied by the Aggressor II are in a fixed, non-adjustable laydown position. Some of the guests trying to prop themselves up to a comfortable position, resorted to bringing their bed pillows to the lounge chairs. All things considered, I will visit the Philippines again but not on the Aggressor II.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Cocos, Galapagos, Papua, Indonesia, Palau, Bonaire, Belize, Socorro, Philippines, all over the Caribbean.
Closest Airport	Cebu	Getting There	Long but easy flight connections from LAX to Cebu via Taipei.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, no currents
Water Temp	84-85°F / 29-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	- Ft/ - M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	60 minutes
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 623 dive reviews of Philippines and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

All Philippines Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Philippines
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Want to assemble your own collection of Philippines reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.17 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Philippines Aggressor II in Philippines/Best of the Visayas

Philippines Aggressor II: "Crowded divesites", Dec, 2024,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Philippines Aggressor II in
Philippines/Best of the Visayas