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Hi! Has anyone stayed at the Monarch Sands? What is the distance/travel time from the airport? Could you recommend an outfit that can arrange transpo/ snorkelling at Apo Island? Thanks.
its out of the way a bit. Will take an hour or two to get the airport and in my view overpriced
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I am writing this a mere few miles from Apo and visited it there last Friday so the information is pretty fresh. I haven't even had time to construct my tips yet but this will give me the impetus hopefully! I am sitting here having a beer with a few expats who have lived here for a long time and the consensus is as follows. The resort is run by an American and his wife and is said to be nice but from personal knowledge it is a quiet sort of a place which may or may not be what you want. It is down near Tambobo Bay. Travel time very much depends on traffic in central Dumaguete, especially the junction at Robinson's. You are probably looking at about 40km. and it will realistically take you about an hour, as the last part of the journey is off the Highway on not the best roads. The resort may pick you up. If not, taxis are expensive from the airport. The resort will undoubtedly be able to arrange a trip to Apo (they all do) although you can probably arrange it cheaper if you do it yourself, especially if you bring your own gear. You can get a "public" boat in the morning costing 200 pesos per person which returns mid afternoon. If you hire your own pumpboat, a small boat is 2000 pesos and good for four people, the larger one is 3000 and can take eight passengers. I believe there are a few places that will hire you gear on the island, I know of one that definitely does. Where the boat drops you off, turn left and walk along the shore. You may have to wade if the tide is in. After about 100 yards you come to a small little track through the rocks and a few metres on is the resort. They have their own diveshop and I know they hire gear but I am not sure of the price. Unfortunately, I had a foot injury and couldn't get fins on so I only went for a swim but the amount of stuff I saw suggests to me that it is a prime place for the activity. Hope this assists, fergy.
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Thanks for the detailed information. If you are planning a trip to the Philippines, let me know if I can be of any assistance.
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thanks! someone suggested bahura resort, which looks closer to the city.
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looks much better. We were not satisfied at m sands. just a basic bungalow which for 1500 was taking the ***. Also had a thundering great rat living in the roof. The owner a bit money grubber as well.
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