Neil Bauman Posted July 7, 2017 Posted July 7, 2017 I plan to arrive in the Philippines in late October for a six month visit to explore the possibility of making it my retirement home. My wish list: Near access to diving (major tourist areas not necessary) Good coffee Cheep furnished apartment (cheeper apt. more diving) Outside of the large metropolitan areas. I prefer to live and learn amongst the local population but close proximity to the expat community is preferred. I don't plan on being a tourist but do expect to search out a few places. Other than diving, my wish list is very flexible and open to your suggestions. Have you any thoughts on where I should get started? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratefuled Posted July 7, 2017 Posted July 7, 2017 Try Tripadvisorr.com, Things to do in the Philippines Something for everyone. Have fun, enjoy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Support Popular Post Old55 Posted July 7, 2017 Forum Support Popular Post Posted July 7, 2017 Welcome Neil. Moalboal Cebu Island has good diving some expats living there too. It's three hours more or less from Cebu City. I would think living nearby could be inexpensive. Google "Apo" island world class diving!! The area near it will be very much like Moalboal. Bantayan Island off the north end of Cebu is very very nice IMO. Some diving but cheap some expats and the best pizza in Philippines IMO. Sogod Bay Southern Leyte. Great diving many dive sites amazing wall dives. Fairly large expat community spread out all along the bay. Rural but very nice IMO. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Dave Hounddriver Posted July 8, 2017 Popular Post Posted July 8, 2017 1 hour ago, Old55 said: Google "Apo" island world class diving!! The area near it will be very much like Moalboal. Agreed, but Zamboangita would be the place to stay if you want to dive there. Its the small town on the mainland where you catch the ferry to Apo island so unless you are diving 24/7 you would want to live in or near Zamboangita. You are among the locals but you can get decent, cheap "western style" food and coffee at the Dream Cafe and you are just a half hour bus ride into Dumaguete. There are lots of places to stay while you look for a rental house but you definitely need to be "boots on the ground" to find a place you want to stay long term. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Snowy79 Posted July 8, 2017 Popular Post Posted July 8, 2017 If you're single and want to get used to the Philippines before meeting a girl and losing all your money I'd definitely go for Sabang in Puerto Galera. There's 52 dive schools here and some of the best diving in the World. Reasonably cheap furnished accommodation and most of the night life is spread over 200m. You can also get a sea plane direct to the likes of Manila (25 mins), Boracay (45 mins) and a few other places. I'm living here at the moment and there's a great ex pat community, a lot of whom have been introduced to partners through other ex pats partners. I've been to Moalboal and wasn't that impressed. It's a bit out in the sticks. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hounddriver Posted July 8, 2017 Posted July 8, 2017 25 minutes ago, Snowy79 said: It's a bit out in the sticks. The place I mentioned, Zamboangita, is also out in the sticks so the member surely needs to decide in advance if he wants to live urban or rural. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpearl Posted July 8, 2017 Posted July 8, 2017 8 hours ago, Neil Bauman said: I plan to arrive in the Philippines in late October for a six month visit to explore the possibility of making it my retirement home. My wish list: Near access to diving (major tourist areas not necessary) Good coffee Cheep furnished apartment (cheeper apt. more diving) Outside of the large metropolitan areas. I prefer to live and learn amongst the local population but close proximity to the expat community is preferred. I don't plan on being a tourist but do expect to search out a few places. Other than diving, my wish list is very flexible and open to your suggestions. Have you any thoughts on where I should get started? Welcome Neil, Not a diver myself, only snorkel. Not sure if you have been to the Phills before, if not expat sites such as these and our best friend google hold many answers if you do the hard yards. All places/areas here are special and unique for travellers as well as those that choose to live/retire in what they, me too consider our piece of paradise for our given reasons. Good coffee I have found only comes in/with trendy tourist regions and then it can be hit and miss, a business that we have considered as well as surf schools and accommodation for the,,,,, yes tourist trade, time will tell. Enjoy your time where ever you choose to visit, I am sure you will appreciate very much but as said research is a prerequisite no different to travels to other destinations around the world. Welcome to the Philippines. Cheers, Steve. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post earthdome Posted July 8, 2017 Popular Post Posted July 8, 2017 Regarding coffee, you find a great deal of instant coffee, especially in the lowlands. You can find good coffee in tourist area's and in some mountain area's which grow coffee and have an established coffee culture. Best way to assure you have access to good coffee is to bring along a french press and buy a kettle you can heat water in on a burner. If you like fresh ground from whole bean bring a manual coffee grinder. You can find real coffee in whole bean or ground at some wet markets and grocery stores. Then even if there is a brown out (black out in western terms) you can still make good coffee. I love coffee and was very pleased to find that my wife's family who live in the mountains always seemed to have fresh brewed coffee in a big thermos, mostly from beans grown on their own land. 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Bauman Posted July 8, 2017 Author Posted July 8, 2017 Thanks for all the quick informative responses. There's a large Philippine population here in Saskatoon. The ones I've talked to so far all have very diverse ideas as well. I guess I'll sort out what I can from this end and "boots on the ground" when I get there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogo51 Posted July 8, 2017 Posted July 8, 2017 You are so sceptical Snowy, but mostly correct. If you think they are like that in Philippines, come to Thailand, where they have made it an art form! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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