Philippines: Atlantis Resort Dumaguete
Atlantis Dive Resort
Underwater Safaris
March 10th-19th, 2016
Total Dives: 26 Dive Time: 21 Hours 51 minutes
The dive resort was very nice, very friendly staff and crew. Good food and comfortable rooms. Dive sites, with the exception of Apo Island were at maximum about 15 minutes from the resort, Apo was 45 minutes.
The diving while there is muck diving. The bottom is made up of a loose mixture of sand and silt, not as bad as the quarry as the sand helps weigh it down but contact with the bottom means sinking into the silt and decreased visibility. Very good for macro photography; seahorses, nudibranchs, cuttlefish and frogfish were common during most of the day dives. At night there were a variety of lionfish as well as different types of scorpionfish. While not large expanses of coral, there are several smaller coral heads that provided cover and areas for smaller fish and invertebrates.
The most notable being the flamboyant cuttlefish and blue-ribbon eels that were seen on multiple sites. Blue ring octopus also are common during different times of the year.
Apo Island had some of the healthiest and most diverse reefs that I had experienced, currently out ranking even Australia. Visibility on Apo was much better than off of the resort. Not as much macro life while on the island, but the corals make up for it, and there is still plenty of nudibranchs and smaller things to see. The far side of the island had very strong currents, much stronger than those in Cancun, or Cozumel.
The larger dive boats were comfortable and had lots of room to walk around and set up gear, while the boats that were used for our night dive, or when there were less people going out, were smaller and more crowded but they worked for the time spent on them. Either way, when you got back onto the boat you removed all your gear in the water and it was handed up to the crew so there was no hard exits wearing a full set of gear and weights.
There are "unlimited" boat dives, the boats would normally return to shore between dives. That way individuals who chose not to do both of the morning or afternoon dives did not have to wait on the boat while the others did their dives. Most days had up to five dives each day with the exception of Apo days which only had four due to the longer boat rides in the morning. The crew and dive guides would carry all equipment to and from the boat and assemble all of your gear while you ate or were relaxing. During the stay the water temperature was between 80*-84*F with Apo Island being slightly cooler. Due to the number of dives that were done on the trip a 5mm suit would be encouraged for those who get cold on dives.
I would return to the resort, ideally during blue ring season, but regardless of the time of the year would have a great trip again.
Bahura North
69’ for 46 minutes
81°F
Car Wrecks
78’ for 44 minutes
81°F
Dauin N*
62’ for 49 minutes & 64’ for 44 minutes
81°F
Dauin Sur
60’ for 50 minutes
81°F
Ginama-An (Man Made)
64’ for 50 minutes
81°F
House Reef
63’ for 55 minutes & 58’ for 47 minutes & 53’ for 47 minutes
81°F
Mandarin Point
46’ for 60 minutes
81°F
Punta
65’ for 54 minutes & 75’ for 59 minutes
81°F
Sahara North
64’ for 47 minutes
81°F
Sahara Sur
66’ for 47 minutes
81°F
San Miguel N°
58’ for 52 minutes 60’ for 57 minutes
81°F
Talisay Point
43’ for 51 minutes 75’ for 56 minutes
81°F
VIP House Reef
50’ for 45 minutes
81°F
Apo Island
A small island 30 kilometers south of the main island of Dumaguete, Apo Island is a marine reserve that is protected by the National Integrated Protected Area Act since 1982. There are now over 650 different documented species of fish, and over 400 of the 450 species of corals found throughout the Philippines. The Wild Reef exhibit at the Shedd Aquarium opened in 2003 and is based on the sanctuary.
Chapel Point
71’ for 44 minutes
81°F
Coconut Point
68’ for 39 minutes
81°F
Katipanan
64’ for 59 minutes & 68’ for 54 minutes
81°F
Rock West
67’ for 55 minutes & 65’ for 47 minutes
81°F
