Dive Review of Atmosphere Resort & Spa in
Philippines/Negros Orientale

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Atmosphere Resort & Spa: "4 years later and even better than before", Jun, 2023, by Steven Moore, CT, US ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 7 Helpful votes). Report 12562 has 1 Helpful vote.
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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	Our first visit to Atmosphere Resorts & Spa was in 2019. We were incredibly impressed with the resort and loved the diving (including the only PADI frogfish certification program in the world) that we booked a return trip for May of 2020. And then COVID. So we postponed our follow up trip for May, 2021. But The Philippines was still closed due to COVID, so we ultimately just cancelled the whole thing. Then, in January 2023, we had other plans fall through so we looked back to Atmosphere and ultimately booked a 2-week stay in The Philippines. The owners and staff of Atmosphere were not idle during the extended shutdown. They were planning a significant expansion back in 2019 and by the time we arrived in June, we were able to benefit from the extremely positive changes. First, they built a new open-air, but fully covered, restaurant. The kitchen area is fully visible, both from chairs/stools located at a long counter and from all of the tables across the floor. The menu is very diverse with both local options and international choices, but we usually selected from the daily “specials” board they presented at the start of each meal. We never had to duplicate a selection twice – although we did return to a couple of favorite items because they were just so flavorful and fresh. The rating here gives 5 stars, but only because we couldn’t give more. The second major upgrade since 2019 was the addition of 8 private “pool bungalows”. Each of these very large rooms (95 meters squared/1,022 square feet) came with a huge bedroom/sitting area, an immense “outdoor” bathroom with shower/toilet/sink, and its own, private fresh-water pool measuring almost 20 square meters/215 sq. ft. The photos on the Atmosphere website give an accurate picture of these accommodations. Finally, the resort added a second full-sized swimming pool, this one only for adults. This is a very kid-friendly resort, so setting aside an area just for adults was welcome. With lots of lounging area around the pools (and a very convenient pool-side bar that served limited food), the center of the resort is a very comfortable and convenient area for spending non-dive time. One element that has not changed is the extraordinary staff. Every person we saw, encountered or interacted with was wonderful. They all knew our names within the first day and several of them remembered us from our previous trip, 4 years ago. All of them worked hard to make us feel like family. Except we didn’t have to help with the work. But the primary reason to go is the diving. One of Atmosphere’s primary draws is that, within a 30-minute boat ride, you can experience widely different kinds of underwater landscapes. Muck diving, boulder/rubble strewn plains, colorful and well-populated reefs and some very healthy walls all are available within that short boat ride. You can choose how much current you want to encounter, as well, as some of the sites are very protected and others are more open. Also, if you want to invest the time and extra cost, Atmosphere offers a day-long trip to nearby Apo Island. Most of our dives on this trip were in muck or rubble. The resort allows for up to 5 dives per day. We had a private guide, Richard, who impressed us every day with his ability to spot animals that we would have swum over without noticing. He was amazing. When we went, Super Typhoon “Betty” was churning in place off the northeast corner of The Philippines. That produced some hearty waves and caused the Philippine Coast Guard to shut down boat travel (and therefore, diving) around several islands. Atmosphere was not affected at all, however, according to the dive team and our experience. The resort and the dive sites are located on/around Negros, a large island that is toward the middle of a cluster of large islands (Cebu, Bohol, Leyte) and well protected from anything besides a pretty direct hit. Diving was wonderful throughout our entire stay. As mentioned, the dive sites are varied. We began our first morning at Secret Corner, one of the northernmost sites. It has rubble, some muck and a wonderful abundance of life. My notes for the dive included “mimic octopus, algae octopus, scorpionfish, small cuttlefish, lots of pipefish, many nudis, several mantis shrimp” and a bucket list creature: my first Blue Ring Octopus. It graciously posed for both still photos and some video. The nearby San Miguel site continued the celebration with ghost pipefish, nudis, various species of shrimp (mainly tiny) and several types of frogfish. The afternoon dive at Marina Point included many turtles (some very large), unusual types of anemones, moray eels of several species and one unforgettable moving urchin with some tiny shrimp along for the ride. Again, the conditions were great for photo and video. The dives continued throughout the week with similar results. There were no disappointments. Over the rest of the week, we saw numerous blue-spot rays, octopus, frogfish, eels (some very large), plus some things we didn’t expect. On one dive at The Pier, we saw a large deposit of cuttlefish eggs – but no cuttlefish. We saw so many ghost pipefish (including ornate pipefish), that they began to disappear from our notes – too many to notice. The night dive off of the house reef was spectacular, with numerous lobsters, turtles, sea snakes, nudis, etc. Who knew that sea snakes not only would be attracted to your dive light, but also would follow them off to the side if you just pointed them away from you? Our last dive was at Masaplod North, a gently descending bottom with sea grasses, rubble at the bottom and extensive sea life. At the end of the dive – my wife’s 300th dive, by the way – we were able to take a photo of her floating directing above a turtle that was bigger than she is. Back on land, we prepared for our (sad) last night. We arranged for a special event, a private wine tasting with the resident sommelier, Edy. On our first visit in 2019, he was just starting the Atmosphere Resort focus on wine. We did a tasting with him then, but it was nothing like the 9-wine extravaganza he prepared for us this time. (He remembered our first visit.) Ed has studied and studied over the past 4 years, so the wine cellar has a wonderful selection of South African, Australian, New Zealand, and European wines available with dinner. And he LOVES to share his interest with guests. If you go to Atmosphere, a tasting with Edy is a must. After the tasting, we prepared to head back to the restaurant for dinner – but Edy had arranged a final surprise without our knowledge. He led us to the other side of the resort (a 2-minute walk) and up the stairs to a treehouse. The staff had brought flower petals to line the stairs and then prepared a heart-shaped ring around the table where we got to enjoy the wonderful food in a romantic setting, listening to the waves on the beach below us. Truly a fabulous way to end our visit. The bottom line is this: Atmosphere Resort and Spa is one of the finest destinations we have ever visited. Twice. We already have begun planning our return there, something we typically don’t do. There are so many places still on our desired destination list that we try not to go to a single place more than once. But we are eagerly looking forward to our third trip to Atmosphere sometime in the next year. Between the 5-star accommodations, the 5-star dining, the 5-star staff and the 5-star diving, we have not found another place that surpasses it. Everywhere we go, we compare to Atmosphere.
Websites	Atmosphere Resort & Spa [same]
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	US, Fiji (x2), Papua New Guinea, Indonesia (x6) including Komodo/Raja Ampat/Lembeh/Wakatobi, Caribbean, Alaska
Closest Airport	Dumaguete	Getting There	Non-stop JFK to Manila, then a domestic flight to Dumaguete, followed by a 45-minute van ride to the resort. Much better experience on this trip thanks to improved operations in Manila.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	80-87°F / 27-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-75 Ft/ 6-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	We dove with our own guide, Richard, and customized the dives to our profiles and preferences.
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	Atmosphere has a dedicated camera room right beside the gear room. We didn't use it at all because we could take our cameras, battery chargers, etc., back to our room and download our photos/videos there. The camera room has individual spaces for all photographers with plenty of electrical outlets and workspace.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Atmosphere Resort & Spa in Philippines/Negros Orientale

Atmosphere Resort & Spa: "4 years later and even better than before", Jun, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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/Negros Orientale