A prime hotel booking website listed two tourist spots in the Philippines -- Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro and Anilao, Batangas -- in its top “hottest diving destinations in Asia Pacific.”
Agoda.com, Asia's leading hotel booking site, said the two travel destinations join dive spots in Ko Lanta in Thailand, Whitsunday Islands and Lizard Island in Australia, Bora Bora in French Polynesia, Bali and Lombok in Indonesia, Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, and Maldives.
In a statement, Agoda.com recommended the Atlantis Dive Resort in Puerto Galera and Eagle Point Resort in Anilao.
The hotel website also quoted dive journalist Chris Mitchell, who noted the abundance of dive sites in the Asia Pacific region.
“Many of the world’s best dive sites are located in Southeast Asia,” Mitchell was quoted as saying. “There are an endless number of sites for all levels of divers. Bali’s amazing Menjangan Island, the plethora of rare marine life along the coastline of Anilao, Philippines, and the Maldives where you can be in your resort an hour after touchdown and diving the next morning, are some of my favorites.”
Last year, Puerto Galera and the Tubbataha Reef in southeast of Palawan were included in CNN Travel’s list of best dive sites in the world.
Benedict Reyes, president of the Philippine Association on Underwater Activities and board member of the Asian Underwater Federation, earlier noted how the country “is already being regarded by many foreign divers as the ‘center of center’ of diving in the world.”
He also sees the Philippines as Asia’s scuba diving capital, citing the country’s several unexplored dive sites.--Source: ABS-CBN News
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| A diver swims beside corals in Puerto Galera, Mindoro |
Agoda.com, Asia's leading hotel booking site, said the two travel destinations join dive spots in Ko Lanta in Thailand, Whitsunday Islands and Lizard Island in Australia, Bora Bora in French Polynesia, Bali and Lombok in Indonesia, Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, and Maldives.
In a statement, Agoda.com recommended the Atlantis Dive Resort in Puerto Galera and Eagle Point Resort in Anilao.
The hotel website also quoted dive journalist Chris Mitchell, who noted the abundance of dive sites in the Asia Pacific region.
“Many of the world’s best dive sites are located in Southeast Asia,” Mitchell was quoted as saying. “There are an endless number of sites for all levels of divers. Bali’s amazing Menjangan Island, the plethora of rare marine life along the coastline of Anilao, Philippines, and the Maldives where you can be in your resort an hour after touchdown and diving the next morning, are some of my favorites.”
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| Divers line up in a diving hub in Puerto Galera |
Last year, Puerto Galera and the Tubbataha Reef in southeast of Palawan were included in CNN Travel’s list of best dive sites in the world.
Benedict Reyes, president of the Philippine Association on Underwater Activities and board member of the Asian Underwater Federation, earlier noted how the country “is already being regarded by many foreign divers as the ‘center of center’ of diving in the world.”
He also sees the Philippines as Asia’s scuba diving capital, citing the country’s several unexplored dive sites.--Source: ABS-CBN News