Manila Travel Forum

Hi,

I am wondering a few things, As I have posted, I want top sopend a good day at Ocean Park in Subic to swim with whales and maybe dolphins. Besides hireing a car and driver, can anyone please help me out with bus times depating manila eg manila in the am and subic to manila at night? And a rough idea of the price? Victory web site didn;t really tell me alot as i have no idea where subic is on it.

Other option is to stay overnight if there are no late buses back or if i run out of time and not get ot see the lion cubs at the zoo..?

Does anyone know what times the swims and shows are for all animals at Ocean Park? Have tried emailing them with no response.

Cheers,

Vicki

Personally, I think it is best to go to & around Subic Bay Freeport Zone (where Ocean Adventure and Zoobic are) by private or rented car from Manila. However, to satisfy your questions/concerns about the bus schedules, I have this to say:

1) If your hotel is in Manila, I suggest you take a Victory Liner bus to Olongapo City either at the Sampaloc Terminal or Pasay City terminal. One-way bus fare is P201 if from Sampaloc, and P211 if from Pasay. From Sampaloc, buses leave for Olongapo as early as 5am, and from Pasay City, the first trip is 4am. Buses leave every 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the number of passengers (especially on peak season).

For more info, go to this link: http://www.victoryliner.com and click on the terminal from which you prefer to take the bus (it depends really on proximity from your hotel). You might also find useful this link: http://www.ph_commute.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-commute-to-subic-olongapo.html


2) From Olongapo City, take a YELLLOW jeep going to NORTH to go to the gate of Subic Bay Freeport Zone. I think the fare is still a flat rate of P8.50. Prepare exact change for less hassle.

3) From the gate, hail a taxi going to Ocean Adventure. I suggest you go there first. Entrance Fee is P450 which includes your access to the Discovery Aquarium, and the show by the sea lions. Whale/dolphin swim encounter is P3,750 while beach encounter with them is P2,500. To double check prices, call them (more effective than waiting for an email reply or website inquiry):

Subic Contact No. 63-47-252-9000
Manila Contact No. 63-02-706-3344 to 46


4) After Ocean Adventure show & animal encounter, you can request their staff or security guard to hail a taxi for you going to Zoobic. At Zoobic, entrance fee is P499/pax and tours are every 15 minutes. Extra charge of P200 for the chicken that will be used to lure and feed the tiger. It will last about 2 hours. Again, after your Zoobic stint, you can hail a taxi going back to the gate, then take a jeep back to Olongapo terminal. You can wait for buses (coming from Baguio) going back to Manila.

There's so much to see & do in Subic Freeport Zone. Are you sure you just want to see those 2 places? Anyway, I hope you have a good time :)

Hi,

Thank you for your email. I am only in Manila for a short stay, arrive on a friday and depart the monday, Ocean park is my main thing to do in Subic, not sure what else there is! The zoo feeding dosen;t interest me but if you can get big Tiger photos with them posed then that does.

Yes, you can have your picture taken while feeding the tiger cub. I'm not sure if they allow oictures taken with the adult tiger; might be more difficult to handle. Just a tip, let them use you camera (see my Subic Travel Guide Tourist Trap) because last month when my daughter had their picture taken, it was so blurry. Their camera lens must be dirty or defective already.

By the way, in case you'd like to reconsider hiring a car, I can recommend a family friend who is trustworthy. I seldom recommend my personal choices for car rental lest I be accused of advertising, but my protective maternal nature is concerned about your safety considering you're a lone traveler in a new place. For Manila-Subic-Manila, his car rental is only P2,500 per day plus diesel expenses (about P1,500) and toll fee (approximately P 800 back & forth). You'll just take care of the driver's food during the travel. I'll email you his contact no. if you are interested.

Okay, I am not going until Late November so will get a clearer idea closer but i don know that my trip to subic would be on a saturday or sunday...

This might be digressing from the subject but if you're interested in animal encounter, specifically with whales, may I suggest that you also consider Butanding (whaleshark) encounter in Donsol, Sorsogon. Whalewatching season is from November to May.

Here's a link to its webpage: http://tourism.albay.gov.ph/whale_sharks.html

If you're arriving on Friday morning, you can catch a mid-day flight to Legaspi (55mins from Manila). Take a van to Donsol (1 hour travel) and register at the tourism office for a Saturday morning schedule. Butanding encounter is around 4 hours and you can have the afternoon to do other activities within the area (firefly trip, falls, etc.). Taking the mid-day flight back to Manila on Sunday will give you time to also explore Legaspi in the morning (Mayon Volcano, Cagsawa Ruins, etc.).

Buses going to Subic take Victory Liner (Aircon and Ordinary ), they have a terminal in Monumento just below the LRT Monumento station. As early as 5am they have a trip going to Olongapo up to 11pm daily. Buses depart every 30 minutes you can take the IBA, Olongapo and or Sta Cruz Zambales trips and tell the ticketing officer that your destination is Olongapo City fare is less than 300 pesos.

Olongapo City is the Drop off point to Subic. From Victory Liner walk across the main road or national highway ang wait for a Yellow Jeeps board the jeep just minimum fare and tell the driver to drop you off in Subic Gate. From Subic gate there are Taxis and or shuttle's who can take you anywhere inside Subic Compound.

Again this is public way of going to subic, it is sill best to go there if you have your own ride. Places to visit are a bit far from each other.


Places to visit, Ocean park, Duty free shops, tree top adventure, zoobic safari, beach. If Maps are available in National Bookstore for Subic.

Accomodations in Subic is not a problem there are a lot of hotels to choose from average prices are 1,500-3,000 a night.

Cheers!
-moymoy

excellent advice above.
a car for a whole day for less than 5000pesos sound like a good deal to me especially if ur short on time.
getting buses will be time consuming getting to station, then waiting for bus, then bus will take a bit longer too.

i never went to ocean park as i decided to wait for the real thing- in donsol where u swim with them in the wild- well worth the hassle of getting there in my opinion. but there are dolpins at ocean park too so i'm sure it will be great fun.

http://www.philippinesexotic.com/