⌛ Malatapay boat rental for APO island - AWFUL experience!!!!

I was in a group of students going to Apo island for a class field trip. There were about 50 of us... I just don't want anybody to experience what we have experienced when we negotiated for a boat going to Apo. To all of you who want to go to Apo island, please take my advice of renting a boat from a resort. coz it will cost a lot cheaper and comfortable than renting in malatapay. DONT EVER GO TO MALATAPAY!!!!

 

so what did you pay for 50 people... do they have enough boats there, unless you get stuffed on this tiny little thingys.

 

i went to apo from there, they only have small boats there don't they? how did u get 50 on one? but saying that how do u get a family on a motorbike, i'd have asked a year ago lol

 

they have also medium sized banka but it is usually used for dive-groups, there are also a few bigger from Apo Island available to pick up groups

 

When 50 people show up at once without prior arrangements of course they will ask top dollar. Even from locals. They know you wouldn't cancel after traveling All the way with 50 people to Malatapay. Just common sense. A lot of us here are in the diving industry and deal with them and each other all the time. Perhaps next time you might consider asking someone on the forum. You would be surprised how some of us here for a long time are experts on evading the skintax! Sorry to hear that your trip didn't go well

 

So what happened?

i agree with bikerdave, you should have popped on the forum here and asked about boat rentals before venturing out there, especially with a group of 50.

I have always had good experiences with the Malatapay guys, the first time we went(out of many while living close by) we took the time to get to know the main guy there, so on consequtive trips we would text him and he always sorted us out well.

They have (had???) set prices on the boat over and we never had any issues with prices crossing over there.

 

You should have sent someone to scout for prices ahead of time. My experience with them has been worry-free and they were very friendly.