Dive Review of Atlantis Dive Resorts in
Philippines/Dumaguete

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Atlantis Dive Resorts, Feb, 2011, by David E Reubush, VA, US ( Top Contributor 66 reports with 33 Helpful votes). Report 5941.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	There are many pluses about Atlantis Dumaguete. The people (dive guides, restaurant staff, etc. etc.) are all great. They aim to please and will know your name within the first day. The food is good, not gourmet, but better than a lot of places I have been and there is always plenty of it. The rooms are comfortable, the a/c works. Again, not luxury, but more than sufficient. The price is also good for what you get. You can do up to 5 dives a day, but we generally only did 4. The diving just off and near the resort is mainly muck diving. The bottom is a dark brown sand/silt. Dumaguete is on Negros Island which has a large, dormant volcano just inland from the resort. There had been a week of rain storms the week before we got there and, as a result, the water was full of silt. Visibility was typically about 30 ft. Plus, I was diving with a group of 12 which was split into 2 groups of 6. There were a number of critters that I had never seen before (spiny tiger shrimp, tiny half inch long frog fish etc.) However, there were not huge numbers of any of them so, even with only 6, the bottom got stirred up quickly when we stopped to look at something. I would recommend that you go as a couple (and there were couples there with their own guides) and take a stick to avoid the silt problem. One day we motored about 45 minutes to Apo Island for 3 dives (2 in the morning, a BBQ lunch on the boat, and 1 after lunch). Apo has beautiful coral gardens and 60+ ft. visibility, but we didn't see anything special. Another day we motored about an hour to Siquijor Island which has about the same visibility as Apo, coral gardens, interspersed sand flats, and a lot of interesting things to see. (I saw 2 ribbon eels on each of the 3 dives.) The dive/lunch routine was the same as at Apo. For Apo and Siquijor I would recommend gloves even though they say no gloves as there are typically mild currents and lots of stinging hydroids. I got stings when I tried to two finger steady myself on dead coral to take some photos in the current. The only issue I have is with the dive operations. While the resort handles getting your tank/BC on and off the boats you have to schlep the rest of your gear from the dive shop, down the beach, and through the surf line to the boat. While the beach is brown sand there are rocks at the surf line that you have to negotiate and, at high tide, you will often have to wade through chest deep water to get to the boat ladder. There may or may not be one of the boat guys to help you with this process. If you only had to do this once a day it wouldn't be too bad, but at times you would change boats from dive to dive so, on those days, you had to bring your stuff back after each dive. Having enough boats so that you took your stuff out in the morning and it stayed on the boat all day would have been better and having a dedicated boat for your group so that you could have taken your stuff out once at the beginning of the week and only brought it back at the end would have been best.
Websites	Atlantis Dive Resorts
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Belize, Bimini, Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Curacao, Dominica, Galapagos, Indonesia, Red Sea, Roatan, Turks & Caicos, Virgin Islands
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-81°F / 27-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Stay in the vicinity of the guide, come back with 750 psi, max depth 100 ft., most dives limited to just over an hour, no gloves
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Brand new, large, well lit camera room with lots of space and both 110v and 220v outlets. Relatively large rinse tanks on shore, smallish plastic tub on most boats.

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Dive Review of Atlantis Dive Resorts in Philippines/Dumaguete

Atlantis Dive Resorts, Feb, 2011,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Atlantis Dive Resorts in
Philippines/Dumaguete