[barbara30]

Hi could anyone recommend the best places to go snorkelling we are trying to decide on some holidays for the coming year and want to go snorkelling, too some great beach places with a laid back attitude and fab hotels.

Thanks

Barbara

[Designholiday]

Maldives to splash out? or Cebu if on a budget?

[barbara30]

Thanks for that, where abouts in Cebu would you recommend? we whre in Cebu in october but it wasn't great for snokelling where we where, Maldives is amazing but we where looking for something a bit closer or even just different.

[PhilE]

We're planning to try Cebu for a long weekend before Xmas (up the coast a bit from the main resorts at a place called The Alegre). There's supposed to be some OK snorkelling there and better if you take boat trips further north. Have heard that Malapascua island (far north of Cebu) is very good but accommodation is a bit more basic if that matters to you.

Note, Malapascua literally means 'bad christmas' so if anyone is superstitious you might want to pick a different time to visit

Will let you know how it is if we make it there next weekend...

[borneo1dergirl]

Hi Barbara, if you're interested , have a look at this website http://www.sabahtravelguide.com to give you some ideas. The prices for tour packages and accommodations are also quite reasonable on this web.

For accommodation, if you're looking into 5 star hotels, main ones are Shangri-La Tg Aru Resort, Rasa Ria Resort, Nexus, Sutera Harbour Resort. You can always google for the hotel web.

Cheers.

[barbara30]

It was actually the Alegre beach we went to in October and we had a great time. I would recommend a torch for nighttime. They do provide one with your room key but they are not much good and there are lots of steps.

[PhilE]

Thanks for the tip Barbara and great to hear you enjoyed Alegre - we had a similar issue in Tanzania earlier this year and a Sony Ericsson camera phone 'flash light' came in very handy.

I can recommend Zanzibar for snorkelling - clearly not very easy to get to from HK (though I think Air Kenya are doing some flights to Nairobi now) but great combined with a safari and definitely different.

Other areas we've been considering have included Koh Samui and Bali which are 4-5 hour flights away.

I find this site very useful for reviewing hotels and you can post questions on their forums relating to each resort - some locals or other tourists may then reply with recommendations:

http://www.tripadvisor.com

[PhilE]

Just to wrap up this thread from a Cebu/ Alegre perspective.

We had a great time at the Alegre last weekend - it really has a beautiful setting and is quite good value too. The snorkelling was OK on the house reef (my expectations had been set pretty low by this thread). It gets a bit shallow to swim comfortably at low tide.

We also took a day trip to 2 islands North East of the hotel and found the 2nd one (basically a sand bar + a few palm trees) was very good - lots of different coral and a good variety of fish. We met an experienced diver who was pretty happy with the same sites and we saw dolphins from the boat several times.

Although not the best for snorkelling, the Alegre and the area around it in Cebu appear to be hard to beat in terms of getting to a beach quickly from HK, getting away from it all (the Alegre is small and had about 20% occupancy when we were there) whilst having enough options to keep you busy for a few days (great pool, huge grounds, good beach, cheap but good quality drinks and food, house reef, PADI centre etc). The trip was 9000 HKD for 2 people with Cathay Holidays for 3 nights B&B but felt like a full 4 day break due to the flight timings. Hotel would rate as a good 4 star against our experiences in Europe. Recommended.