Dive Review of Atmosphere Resort & Spa in
Philippines/Dauin

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Atmosphere Resort & Spa: "Fantastic resort, great muck diving", Aug, 2022, by Don Vinh, MA, US ( Reviewer 3 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 12249.
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
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Our family of four (Mum, Dad, 16 yo daughter and 19 yo son) traveled here for small critters. We chose Dauin because it has a reputation for great muck diving and also a chance to snorkel with whale sharks in Cebu (more about that later). Direct flight from LAX to Manila was fine, and transfer to domestic terminal was easy for 30-min flight to Dumaguete. We were picked up at the airport by a minivan for a 30-min ride to Atmosphere. All in all, travel was easy. The resort: Atmosphere lives up to its name as a resort & spa. Nested amongst thick coconut groves, it is beautiful and plenty of amenities, including two warm infinity pools, a great spa, and world-class cuisine. We got a family penthouse that was huge, with two big bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living area and a lanai. It has a full kitchen but no microwave and nothing to cook with, but not a problem we had a full meal plan (breakfast, 2-course lunch, and 3-course dinner). Filtered water is provided daily for drinking, hot water for showers and downright cold a/c which made for a great night sleep (note: A/C only in the bedrooms, not the living area). Beds are comfortable and there are plenty of 220V outlets that accommodate US-style plugs. In short, top notch resort accommodation. Food: Hands down best food ever for a dive resort, comparable to a $$$ or $$$$ restaurants here in Boston. Four-page menu plus daily lunch and dinner specials, a full bar and a big collection of reasonably priced wines. We let them know beforehand that our son has multiple life-threatening allergies. They took the food allergies very seriously and assigned to us a dedicated server who checked with the chef on everything, and the chef went so far as creating special dishes and desserts that he could eat. On the last night, they made a special romantic (family!) roses-and-candlelight fresh seafood dinner for us in a breezy tree house overlooking the reef. Dive operation: Large, open air area with plenty of room. Photo room, large rinse tanks, outdoor showers, warm towel and fresh juice after each trip. Top notch and friendly staff took care of all your dive gear and tanks, before and after each dive. You don’t have to carry anything but your cameras. You can make up to five dives a day (including a night dive). Five-star PADI IDC so three of us got certified AOW during our stay. There were very few divers when we were there, so our family basically had our own boat, our own guide and our own boat driver for the entire 8 days of diving. Only complaint is that they follow strict PADI guidelines. Our two children each had night diving and deep diving experience, but they wouldn’t allow them to do those unless they got certified AOW. Diving: Fantastic muck diving around Dauin (although I was told by another guest not as abundant as Lembeh). Our DM Albert was superb with sharp eyes pointing out many different types of frogfish, shrimps, seahorses and nudibranchs. Long list of what we saw (in no particular order): Juvenile giant frogfish, very large turtles, cloakfish, sea snake, jawfish, Toby fish, flat worms, Sheep nudibranch, many types of clownfish, porcelain crab, flounder, garden eel, crinoid squat lobster, school of barracudas, large groupers, fusseliers, brken back shrimp, mating Mandarinfish (!!), flamboyant cuttlefish with eggs, painted frogfish, blue linkis starfish, rays, glass shrimp, yellow spotted anemone shrips, different types of moray eels, cockatoo flounder, lizard fish eating another fish, reef octopus, emperor fish, banded coral shrimp, leaf fish, pidete batfish, ghost pipe, spiny devil fish, trevali, mimic octopus, fire warms, flat worms, and lots of beautiful soft coral. We came here for weird things, and we saw plenty of weird critters, but we were disappointed not seeing pigmy seahorse (was told they are pretty rare around Dauin). Visibility around 30-60ft, most sites have no current, but Guinsuan South and Mainit are drift dives. One site have underwater thermal vents but also ghost nets that tragically still trap reef fish. We took away as much ghost nets as we could, but we wish cleanups would be more frequent. One day we went to Apo island, which was billed as a very beautiful underwater sanctuary preserve. Indeed, in the two dives we made, we saw many reef fish, turtles, 80-100 ft visibility, and abundant beautiful hard and soft corals. However, we didn’t see any large fish, sharks or rays. We were told that they were fished out by resort workers who turned into fishers during Covid because there was no tourist. Hopefully the large fish will come back. Cebu snorkeling with whale sharks: Like many who watched the IMAX film, I was mesmerized by the sight of huge whale sharks fed at the surface by fishers. In reality, the place was so commercialized, catering to hundreds of non-swimmer tourists in life jackets at a time, from dozens of canoes surrounding four juvenile whale sharks. People pushed and kicked each other to get a chance to touch the whale sharks (even though touching was forbidden). Time in the water was limited to 15 mins so that the next boatload of tourists could be discharged. Total chaos, total disappointment, no respect for the rules or the whale sharks. Just another way of making money, please avoid at all costs.
Websites	Atmosphere Resort & Spa
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	California, Solomon Islands, Cayman, Malaysia, Tanzania, Florida, Mexico (both coasts and Sea of Cortez), Bonaire, Red Sea, Great Barrier Reef, Chuuk, Galapagos, Massachusetts, St Lucia, Honduras, Antigua, St Kitts, Barbados
Closest Airport	Dumaguete	Getting There	Easy LAX to Manila, then on to Dumaguete (30 min flight), 30 minute minivan ride to resort.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-100 Ft/ 9-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Follow PADI guidelines: Can't go deeper than 60ft or night diving without AOW certification. By municipality rule, night dive must be completed within 1 hour of dusk. 60 mins max bottom time on all dives.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 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	[None]

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Dive Review of Atmosphere Resort & Spa in Philippines/Dauin

Atmosphere Resort & Spa: "Fantastic resort, great muck diving", Aug, 2022,

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 Atmosphere Resort & Spa in
Philippines/Dauin