Dive Review of Atlantis Dive Resorts in
Philippines/Puerto Galera

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Atlantis Dive Resorts, Apr, 2013, by David E Reubush, VA, US ( Top Contributor 68 reports with 35 Helpful votes). Report 6959 has 1 Helpful vote.
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	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my second trip to Atlantis Puerto Galera. The diving was about what I remembered. Reasonably healthy reefs with a reasonable number of tropical fish and a couple of good muck sites. Unfortunately, the dive operation has gone down hill in the 2 years since I was there last. My general impression is that the divemasters have gotten lazy. They offer 5 dives a day and, because of that, cut off the dives at 50 minutes. I was diving with a group that only wanted to do 4 dives a day. Under that set of circumstances the dives should have been lengthened automatically. It took badgering the divemaster to get him to stay down even 60 minutes. The map in the dive shop shows over 30 dive sites as being available. The divemasters have a handful that they keep going to. When they were going to take me to the same 2 dive sites for the third day in a row I finally said that I had had enough and I was not going. The divemaster finally relented and took us to different sites. On night dives the divemaster constantly wanted to take us out early so he could go home early. We had a couple of night dives where, for half or more of the dive, the day creatures had gone home and the night creatures had not come out. Again, we had to refuse to go out early to get a real night dive. I really enjoyed the 2 muck sites we got taken to - ghost pipefish, wonderpus, flamboyant cuttlefish, etc. etc. The last time I was there there was at least one other good muck site that I wanted to go back to. The divemaster swore that the site did not exist. I think the real problem was that it was further away from the resort than the 2 they were currently using and, as a result, it took more time. The divemasters also have a problem with currents. While they try to avoid currents, with the exception of a couple of sites where currents are a given, they don't have a plan B when they arrive at a site and the current is ripping. They just go ahead and dump you into the current. A couple of dives during the week had to be aborted because the currents were too strong. Lastly, there is a "mandarin site" that they take you to instead of a night dive. The site is very small, there are very few mandarin fish, and there are divers from lots of resorts trying to crowd into a very small area. I gave up after about 3 minutes and my buddy and I wandered off to see what else we could see - not much. The dive is not worth doing. I'll also comment on the weather. The first time I was there in February. In February the water was 5 mm wetsuit chilly, but the visibility was generally great and we only had 1 dive with any current at all. This time, in April, the visibility was down everywhere, the water started out at 85 degrees, but early in the week a cold current came through that dropped it to 80 degrees initially and it never warmed up past 82 degrees. Plus, there were currents of varying strength on a lot of the dives. I wouldn't recommend April. The resort part of the operation was totally the opposite of the dive operation. The staff in the restaurant knew your name almost immediately and were great. The food was good and there was plenty of it. The room I had, as a single, was plenty roomy. There was plenty of hot water for the shower. The A/C worked just fine. I had a conversation with the resort manager while I was waiting for my ride back to Manila. He said that he would speak to the dive manager and get the issues fixed. I have no reason to doubt him. He appeared anxious to fix whatever was broken.
Websites	Atlantis Dive Resorts
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Belize, Bimini, Bonaire, Caymans, Curacao, Galapagos, Indonesia (Wakatobi, Raja Ampat, Komodo, Lembeh), Philippines, Red Sea, Southern Bahamas, St. Thomas, Turks & Caicos
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	80-85°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Time limit 50 to 60 minutes, stay with the dive master
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Great camera room with plenty of space, 2 dedicated rinse tanks for cameras on-shore, unfortunately they didn't keep both of them full. On the small dive boats the cameras just sat in the bottom, but boat driver was careful.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Atlantis Dive Resorts in Philippines/Puerto Galera

Atlantis Dive Resorts, Apr, 2013,

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/Puerto Galera