Dive Review of Magic Ocean in
Philippines/Anda Bohol

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Magic Ocean: "Magic Ocean Resort, Bohol Philippines is very nice", Nov, 2022, by Greg Oppenhuizen, MI, US ( Reviewer 4 reports). Report 12189.
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	I have previously been to Magic Island Resort in Moalboal, Cebu Philippines. I went to Magic Ocean Resort because I had a great experience at Magic Island. Both resorts are owned by a Dutch expat who spends time between both resorts. So, the guy that owns the place is actually at the resort. This isn’t a corporate resort run by absent owners. I think that matters. The resort has 16 bungalows. It’s not big. I was there at the end of the rainy season and it was rainy. In fact, in the last week of October we had a tropical storm go through and I lost a dive day. The water was a warm 85°. The visibility was OK at maybe 35 feet, at the most. Spending time at Magic Ocean felt a bit like going to ‘Cheers’; it is a place where everyone knows your name. It was a friendly, cordial, familial atmosphere. I was alone, single occupancy and my room was very nice, by dive resort standards. I had a desk where I was able to do all my camera work. There were six cubicles for cameras in the dive shop area, but I felt better having my camera in my room. It was a short, easy walk from the dip tank to my room. I had three meals a day which included soft drinks, like juice. Evening dinner was family style where you got to know the other guests at the resort. Breakfast and lunch were off the menu and dinner was posted on the board. The food was very good. The dive operation was just off the beach and the outrigger boats picked you up from the end of a long jetty (pier) into the rather shallow water. The house reef was very nice with a mandarin dive at about 50 feet. The dive guides were first rate at finding and showing you everything. The only downside was that there were only 3 scheduled dives each day: 8:30, 10:30, 2:00. The sun sets around 5:30PM and sunrise is around 5:30 AM. A guide will accompany you on a late afternoon dive or a night dive, if you arrange that; which is easy to do. I’m sure you could easily do a 6:00 – 6:30 AM dive too, if you wanted to. For three dives, I averaged 250 – 300 exposures on my camera. All I took was macro. The diving is predominantly small wall dives with nice coral areas on top in the shallows. We did a little muck diving when the waves kicked up. I would recommend Magic Ocean for nice walls and great macro. The walls are as nice as Apo Island and frankly, there are more fish than you are going to find at Apo since that place has been fished out. As a counterpoint, on my trip I spent a week at Magic Ocean and paid significantly less than the following week at Atlantis in Dauin (Dumaguete) Negros. I was nickeled and dimed at Atlantis, the dives were more restrictive, I ‘had’ to wear gloves, the guides didn’t see much and most didn’t know what to do when they did. At Atlantis, I did half the exposures per day on my camera diving more dives(4). I think that says it all. Magic Ocean Resort is a slam dunk. I would recommend that you get there before everybody else discovers how good it is and you can’t get in.
Websites	Magic Ocean [same]
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Multiple locations in the Carribean, Atlantic, North, Central, South American Pacific, Indian Ocean Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Hawaii, Malaysia and Great Lakes.
Closest Airport	Cebu/Bohol	Getting There	I flew Delta to Seoul/Incheon, then did Korean Airlines to Cebu. Both Incheon and Cebu are very nice, modern, large airports. Both are easy to navigate as an English only speaking American traveler. Cebu/Mactan airport has been greatly enlarged and updated in the late 2000-teens. You can fly from Cebu to Bohol on a 737 or equivalent Airbus (not a little,itty-bitty plane)
Dive Conditions
Weather	rainy	Seas
Water Temp	85-°F / 29-°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-40 Ft/ 9-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	None. There were NO stated restrictions and nobody I dove with abused their freedom. I was treated like an adult, as were all the other divers. I wore gloves and used a metal dive pointer.
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	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	This is a place for macro photography. Having said that, the top of the wall on most dives had nice coral and small fish activity. You could spend your time on top of the wall on an appropriate dive and get some good Pacific wide angle, small fish in the coral activity. While the muck may have some things that you won't see on a wall, it goes the other way too. There are things you will see on a wall that aren't in the muck.

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Dive Review of Magic Ocean in Philippines/Anda Bohol

Magic Ocean: "Magic Ocean Resort, Bohol Philippines is very nice", Nov, 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 Magic Ocean in
Philippines/Anda Bohol