Diving the Philippines, Atlantis Resort, Dumaguete, the Philippines

Atlantis Resort, Dumaguete, Negros Island, Philippines
April 23, 2006 - May 3, 2006

Atlantis has two resorts in the Philippines. One is in Puerta Galera and the other in Dumaguete. We decided to go to Atlantis Dumaguete because they have a good home reef.

To get to Atlantis, we flew from San Francisco to Hong Kong on United, then Hong Kong to Manila on Cathay Pacific. Spent what was left of the night in Manila then on to the island of Negros on Air Philippines. Upon showing our SCUBA certification card and international air ticket stub to the Air Philippines ticket agent, the weight allowance of 20 kg was increased and we did not have to pay overweight charges. Very important when you have two suitcases each; full of heavy dive and underwater photography gear.

A driver was waiting at the airport to take us to the resort, in an air-conditioned vehicle, with bottles of cold drinking water. The drive to the resort was approximately ½ hour with the driver answering our questions and pointing out items of interest.

At the resort, we were greeted with smiles by the staff, who presented us with a fresh, cold coconut with a straw in it. The resort grounds were immaculate, groomed daily by a small army of gardners to keep the landscaping healthy and beautiful. Our suite had a private patio with a view of the waterfall that fell into the fresh-water pool. The patio also had a hammock for lounging and racks for drying towels, bathing suits etc…

There were three of us, sharing a suite. Randy and I took the larger room with a king bed and Chris got the smaller room with two twin beds. The beds were foam, ours must have been brand new because it was as hard as a rock! The rooms were nicely decorated, immaculate, and our room included a mini-refridgerator (fully stocked with pay-by-the-item goodies) with a television on top of it which we promptly unplugged and put on the floor in the closet to clear up an electricity outlet and space for battery chargers.

The room was not truly adequate for two persons and those two persons underwater photography gear, but we made do, working sometimes on the floor or the bed. There also was a small desk that we used to work on the cameras, and to hold the laptop. The bathroom was…a bathroom. Chris' bathroom was an all-in-one, which meant when she took a shower she had to first put her toilet paper somewhere else where it wouldn't get soaked.

After unpacking we headed for the dive shop to find out what the routine was and then to the restaurant for our first dinner. The chef is American and was trained at one of the culinary institutes. We had full-board, which meant we ordered off the menu for breakfast, then from the board for our lunch and dinner meals. There was always the choice of at least two items for a starter (usually a scrumptious soup or salad), then three or four main courses, then the dessert of the day.

All the meals were delicious and were beautifully presented. Most of the food was in a style popular a few years ago in the states called Asian Fusion. We would especially recommend the tuna (any recipe) and the mushroom soup. Sometimes an entrée would come on top of a rice dish similar to risotto. It was VERY good. Often the food was spicy. And try the table top BBQ, we had lot's of fun cooking our BBQ, with Thomas and Connie, a couple we dove with frequently.

Some of the desserts we passed on due to caloric content on not having any room left for them, but with a little help we ate all the chocolate cake Jake made especially for Chris' birthday. The fresh fruits were wonderful. Breakfasts from the menu were good but most of the time we ate muesli with fruit, avoiding eating too heavily before diving.

And on to the diving!

The dive manager's name is Klaus. He kept the dive operation going smoothly, accommodating guest requests and making sure everyone had safe and happy diving. Once you have set up your dive gear the first day the crew takes care of it the rest of your stay there. You take care of your mask, snorkel, fins and wetsuit they take care of the rest. The guides were all local and were excellent at finding critters for our cameras. A couple of our favorites were Jenie and Ricky, but Roswell and Vernie were great also. The boat captains and crew were friendly, helpful and careful when handling our camera systems. We had no reservations when they carried them to and from the boat or when handing into or out of the water. We were quite enthusiastic when we had a good dive and the crew would get caught up in the excitement as we told them about it, and showed them the images on the camera LCD's. They liked us. When we were loudly celebrating a dive one day one of the other divers said we Americans "dive crazy." We do like to have fun. ;-)

Our favorite dive sites were the Car Wrecks, Bangka Wreck and Sahara. We dove the Bangka Wreck four times, and the Car Wrecks and Sahara three or four times (lost track). At the Bangka Wreck, there were several different kinds of ghost pipefish, plus seahorses, porcelain crabs and a Pegasus Sea Moth. Car Wrecks also had several kinds of pipefish, a cuttlefish, a mantis shrimp, and a really tiny frogfish. At Sahara we also found frogfish, some nice nudibranchs, lot's of fish and a yellow spotted eel.

Another dive we liked was a shallow dive in the seagrass off Dauin. There were lot's of critters in the seagrass. Seahorses in several colors, pipefish of different kinds, frogfish, sea moths, nudibranchs and more. A dive that we really like when the current wasn't blasting through was DuCoMi Pier. There are actually two piers, one smaller than the other, and both covered in brightly colored soft corals. Hiding around the corals were frogfish, nudibranchs, and many fish.

We did take the day trip to Apo Island and really enjoyed it. The island is a reserve and the reefs were quite healthy. There we shot wide-angle images of the reefs, the wall, turtles, each other. Sometimes we get a little carried away, having too much fun, taking pictures of each other. When you take the day trip to Apo Island an excellent lunch is packed for you and on the ride to the island you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the island of Negros, and the view of Apo Island getting closer and closer. After eating lunch we went on shore to purchase Apo Island t-shirts and sarongs from the local villagers. Then after the last dive a sleepy group of divers head back to the resort and dinner. We only did Apo Island one day but many divers went back several times.

Although there were dives we enjoyed, there were limited dives sites that you don't have to pay extra for, and by the end of nine days of diving we had become tired of the limitation. We were a little disappointed in the lack of good dive sites and limited available photo subjects. If we had to do it over again, we would spread our trip between two resorts, making Atlantis our final stop before coming home. We heard that there are some areas of really fantastic diving where the accomodations are not as nice as Atlantis. It might be nice to go to one of those resorts first then on to Atlantis to relax and enjoy the resorts amenities.

In summary, we had a good time and may go back someday...during a multi-location diving tour of the Philippines.

I hope you enjoy our images. If you have any questions please email me at kathymm@hotmail.com

UNDERWATER	Atlantis Resort, Dumaguete, Negros Island, Philippines April 23, 2006 - May 3, 2006 Atlantis has two resorts in the Philippines. One is in Puerta Galera and the other in Dumaguete. We decided to go to Atlantis Dumaguete because they have a good home reef. To get to Atlantis, we flew from San Francisco to Hong Kong on United, then Hong Kong to Manila on Cathay Pacific. Spent what was left of the night in Manila then on to the island of Negros on Air Philippines. Upon showing our SCUBA certification card and international air ticket stub to the Air Philippines ticket agent, the weight allowance of 20 kg was increased and we did not have to pay overweight charges. Very important when you have two suitcases each; full of heavy dive and underwater photography gear. A driver was waiting at the airport to take us to the resort, in an air-conditioned vehicle, with bottles of cold drinking water. The drive to the resort was approximately ½ hour with the driver answering our questions and pointing out items of interest. At the resort, we were greeted with smiles by the staff, who presented us with a fresh, cold coconut with a straw in it. The resort grounds were immaculate, groomed daily by a small army of gardners to keep the landscaping healthy and beautiful. Our suite had a private patio with a view of the waterfall that fell into the fresh-water pool. The patio also had a hammock for lounging and racks for drying towels, bathing suits etc… There were three of us, sharing a suite. Randy and I took the larger room with a king bed and Chris got the smaller room with two twin beds. The beds were foam, ours must have been brand new because it was as hard as a rock! The rooms were nicely decorated, immaculate, and our room included a mini-refridgerator (fully stocked with pay-by-the-item goodies) with a television on top of it which we promptly unplugged and put on the floor in the closet to clear up an electricity outlet and space for battery chargers. The room was not truly adequate for two persons and those two persons underwater photography gear, but we made do, working sometimes on the floor or the bed. There also was a small desk that we used to work on the cameras, and to hold the laptop. The bathroom was…a bathroom. Chris' bathroom was an all-in-one, which meant when she took a shower she had to first put her toilet paper somewhere else where it wouldn't get soaked. After unpacking we headed for the dive shop to find out what the routine was and then to the restaurant for our first dinner. The chef is American and was trained at one of the culinary institutes. We had full-board, which meant we ordered off the menu for breakfast, then from the board for our lunch and dinner meals. There was always the choice of at least two items for a starter (usually a scrumptious soup or salad), then three or four main courses, then the dessert of the day. All the meals were delicious and were beautifully presented. Most of the food was in a style popular a few years ago in the states called Asian Fusion. We would especially recommend the tuna (any recipe) and the mushroom soup. Sometimes an entrée would come on top of a rice dish similar to risotto. It was VERY good. Often the food was spicy. And try the table top BBQ, we had lot's of fun cooking our BBQ, with Thomas and Connie, a couple we dove with frequently. Some of the desserts we passed on due to caloric content on not having any room left for them, but with a little help we ate all the chocolate cake Jake made especially for Chris' birthday. The fresh fruits were wonderful. Breakfasts from the menu were good but most of the time we ate muesli with fruit, avoiding eating too heavily before diving. And on to the diving! The dive manager's name is Klaus. He kept the dive operation going smoothly, accommodating guest requests and making sure everyone had safe and happy diving. Once you have set up your dive gear the first day the crew takes care of it the rest of your stay there. You take care of your mask, snorkel, fins and wetsuit they take care of the rest. The guides were all local and were excellent at finding critters for our cameras. A couple of our favorites were Jenie and Ricky, but Roswell and Vernie were great also. The boat captains and crew were friendly, helpful and careful when handling our camera systems. We had no reservations when they carried them to and from the boat or when handing into or out of the water. We were quite enthusiastic when we had a good dive and the crew would get caught up in the excitement as we told them about it, and showed them the images on the camera LCD's. They liked us. When we were loudly celebrating a dive one day one of the other divers said we Americans "dive crazy." We do like to have fun. ;-) Our favorite dive sites were the Car Wrecks, Bangka Wreck and Sahara. We dove the Bangka Wreck four times, and the Car Wrecks and Sahara three or four times (lost track). At the Bangka Wreck, there were several different kinds of ghost pipefish, plus seahorses, porcelain crabs and a Pegasus Sea Moth. Car Wrecks also had several kinds of pipefish, a cuttlefish, a mantis shrimp, and a really tiny frogfish. At Sahara we also found frogfish, some nice nudibranchs, lot's of fish and a yellow spotted eel. Another dive we liked was a shallow dive in the seagrass off Dauin. There were lot's of critters in the seagrass. Seahorses in several colors, pipefish of different kinds, frogfish, sea moths, nudibranchs and more. A dive that we really like when the current wasn't blasting through was DuCoMi Pier. There are actually two piers, one smaller than the other, and both covered in brightly colored soft corals. Hiding around the corals were frogfish, nudibranchs, and many fish. We did take the day trip to Apo Island and really enjoyed it. The island is a reserve and the reefs were quite healthy. There we shot wide-angle images of the reefs, the wall, turtles, each other. Sometimes we get a little carried away, having too much fun, taking pictures of each other. When you take the day trip to Apo Island an excellent lunch is packed for you and on the ride to the island you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the island of Negros, and the view of Apo Island getting closer and closer. After eating lunch we went on shore to purchase Apo Island t-shirts and sarongs from the local villagers. Then after the last dive a sleepy group of divers head back to the resort and dinner. We only did Apo Island one day but many divers went back several times. Although there were dives we enjoyed, there were limited dives sites that you don't have to pay extra for, and by the end of nine days of diving we had become tired of the limitation. We were a little disappointed in the lack of good dive sites and limited available photo subjects. If we had to do it over again, we would spread our trip between two resorts, making Atlantis our final stop before coming home. We heard that there are some areas of really fantastic diving where the accomodations are not as nice as Atlantis. It might be nice to go to one of those resorts first then on to Atlantis to relax and enjoy the resorts amenities. In summary, we had a good time and may go back someday...during a multi-location diving tour of the Philippines. I hope you enjoy our images. If you have any questions please email me at kathymm@hotmail.com
BACK TO DIVERMAIDEN
MANILA A statue in one of the many small parks in downtown Manila (Makati). The jeepney's in Manila were fun! The road from downtown to the airport.
ATLANTIS RESORT The resort is beautifully landscaped and maintained. A few of the smiling faces of the staff. The whole village would help with the early morning fishing, from the oldest to the youngest. Sunrise from the beach. The Kathrin Express, one of the comfortable boats we dove off of! At Apo Island in my Dive Goddess suit. On to the underwater photography!