u/O2Dive

Tyler, hey….nothing comes with free popcorn. Popcorn and homes have nothing to do with each other. “Your new home doesn’t come with free popcorn!”

What? Huh? WTF does that mean?

It’s a terrible ad. Please for the love of all that is holy, get a new ad

From a frequent AirBnB user. I respect your place, I treat it like my own, I give you WIDE latitude with all your exaggerations and doctored photos.

You owe me the basics: shampoo&conditioner (at least starter bottles), toilet paper, salt/pepper, coffee/tea, drinkable water (exceptions for the REALLY remote places). Come on! I can often stay cheaper at a hotel nearby. Your place isn’t THAT unique.

I hadn’t seen any meaty reviews of this resort before booking but just left after a week with them.

Bottom line: we had great diving and a very comfortable stay. Recommend them!

**Kokay’s Madlito Resort and Dive Shop**

Mid-August 2026: 6 people (5 divers, 1 non-diver) for 5 Nights

One “diver” started as a non-diver and got trained on OW/AOW/EAN

Another one went from OW to AOW/EAN

The other 3 just dove for pretty fish.

Pre-trip booking/communication: One of my only complaints - sort of. Getting responses from webforms and email was slow and inconsistent. However, this is because Malapascua is still recovering from a typhoon and earthquakes last year (and a smaller earthquake last month!). So “island power” is still intermittent and thus the internet connectivity is also intermittent. So I get it and it’s not something the resort can control.
(They have their own generators so no worries about your A/C)

When we switched to WhatsApp it got a lot easier because cell coverage is decent on the island. (I had 5G most days and LTE the others)

Pickup/Transfer: They had a driver meet us in Cebu and drive us 3.5-4hrs North to Port Maya. There we got aboard a boat to make the 30-60min crossing to the island. The pier is right next to the resort. Easy, comfy. Take meds if you get motion sickness.
All the bags were handled, I wasn’t allowed to help.

Rooms:
Clean, comfortable and functional. They are not fancy so don’t expect western hotel standards. But we enjoyed our room and everyone wanted to hang out there, so it was great. We had a very spacious room with kitchenette and patio. Clean drinking water is provided, the AC works. The bed was firm - it’s a 3”mattress on a hard base - ours was wooden, the other rooms had concrete. I loved it because I like extra firm bedding. Sheets were crisp, clean and cool. I slept pretty well as did my wife.

Restaurant and Bar:
Extensive menu of all kinds. They obviously have to cater to many different cultural tastes - so there was pasta to schnitzel to pad thai to American and pizza and of course, local Filipino dishes too. Our group was both adventurous and picky. We sampled a good portion of the menu and no one had a bad experience. It was all tasty and no one got sick.
Service:
excellent…but reset your expectations. You are not in a busy American diner. They don’t care about turning over tables. The pace is VERY leisurely. Drinks come out fairly quickly then you chat and catch up on diving stories. The food took about 20-40min to come out and often one dish at a time. So just kick back, have another RedHorse and chill the fuck out. You’re on island time.

The bar is fun. They have a couple fun traditions- smash your shot glass on the bar or get handcuffed (and spanked) or Ring the Bell, buy the house a round and get your name in the wall (and a T-shirt). They can’t make a bloody mary correctly but everything else is delicious.

The fruit is the best you will ever eat. Period. Hands down. End of discussion. The mangoes are heaven sent, the watermelon perfect, the pineapple will rival sex.

\~N.B.: ask for their house hot sauce. They make it and it’s delicious- flavorful and fiery!! Made from the local chilis that pack a outsized punch.

Diving:
We had a great time!
It’s full service. You’re still expected to make sure you have all the stuff you need, they don’t have extras of stuff on the dive boats, so run your checklist and make sure your shit is there. But they will get it too and from the boat. If you are diving multiple days, it will live on the boat for the week.

Our personal DM was fun and a great spotter - Shoutout to JK!
I felt like they took safety precautions seriously.
The instructors were patient, thorough and knowledgeable. Our students felt like they really got good practice and instruction before moving forward in the training. (Tonny and Christine!)
The boat crews were competent and friendly. We had one empty tank loaded for a second dive but otherwise it was great.

The Filipino dive boats are all large wooden outrigger power canoes. They mostly comfortable. For a 3-tank dive it’s fine. We got coffee, tea and water. They gave us hot wet washcloths which was a new and surprising thing. It was quite nice. Fresh water shower via a garden watering can. There were no fresh water tanks on board for cameras. Diver recovery is done via inboard ladders on either side amidship underneath the outrigger structure. This is great in calm seas but got dicey in swells. I know there’s no good way to recover in rough seas but bobbing like a cork while having the outrigger slamming into the sea right above your head was nerve-wracking. (This isn’t a Kokay thing- everyone has the same kind of boat - on the island and down south where I dove the week before. It’s just the Filipino dive boat)

12L and 15L Air or EAN32 is available, just specify ahead of time.

A side note about Malapascua Island:
It was devastated by back-to-back disasters last year: a typhoon and then an earthquake. It is not a manicured Hilton resort. (And I prefer it the way it is not some over commercialized version).
It is still a very rural Filipino fishing village turned tourist destination. You’re not going to find pristine infrastructure and disney-esque restaurants or resorts. They’re comfortable and nice but this isn’t the place for you if you can’t actually travel. (If you’re a high maintenance tourist, go elsewhere please) There’s still a lot of debris around that is slowly clearing out. Rebuilding is happening. The people are friendly and the scenery is great.

Cons: For us, staying on the leeward side of the island was a little hot and muggy. They have fans in outdoor areas but it just didn’t compare to the 15-20kph sea breeze on the other side. If I went back, I might try on the other side. We ate over there a couple times and it was blissful- shady, breeze and pleasant.

Costs:

Here’s our breakdown: (assume totals are all-inclusive for 6people or 5divers as is applicable and for 5nights)

Rooms:
Standard x 5 nights = 18,000 ($293)
Standard x5 night = 18,000
Deluxe x 5 nights =21,000 ($341)

Total for 6 people for 5 nights : 57,000 ($928)

Food/Drink total: 27,698 ($452)

Dive Training:
SSI OW: 19,000 ($310)
SSI AOW: 15,000 ($245)
SSI EAN dry : 10,000 ($162) wet:12,000 ($195)

Roundtrip transfer from/to Cebu(van and boat): 3750pp ($61)

All pp/day:
Marine Park Fee: 400 ($6.51)
Trip to Kimud/Monad shoals; 700 ($11.40)
Useless Iranian War Fuel Surcharge: 1000 ($16.50)
Night Dive 500 ($8.15)
Full equipment rental: 1000 ($16.50)
Dive computer: 500 ($8.15)

Tips/Gratuities
Diving 500/tank \~ approx 27,000 ($440)
Food/Drink (10+%)= 3000 ($48)
Housekeeping = 300/day/room = 4500 ($73)
There are a few other tips here and there for bags or the shuttle boat but didn’t add up to much. I don’t remember the exact numbers. Maybe 2000ish

**Total for the entire trip (at this resort/dive shop):**

**total: 6 people x 5nights + 4 days of diving (11dives) + 4 certifications:**

**338,190php \~ $5510 USD**

Those of y’all who got a new paint job (whole vehicle). How much did it cost?

I am well aware that many, many factors go into it. AI and Google searches give me ranges from $1000-$15000…that’s not super helpful.

Edit: I have appointments to get estimates …I am aware that’s the best way to know how much it costs. I want to have a general idea of whether the estimates fall into general market values.

My BC, an older SeaQuest black diamond, has mesh bottoms on the pockets. I have had a couple holes in the underside mesh that have gotten together over the years and unionized to make sure I can’t use the pockets.

I’m not very skilled at sewing. What methods do you use to repair these holes but still retain the drainage?

I like the functionality of printing from the iOS app. However, it seems that if I forget to wake up the printer screen and acknowledge the “printing finished - ok” popup, the printer refuses to move forward. Bed has been cleaned of the last print, etc. it’s just that in-person single tap that is holding it up. Is there any setting to turn that off?