Philippines Trip Report

[Colin]

I had the opportunity to travel to the Philippines and dive with the Atlantis resorts in Puerto Galera and Dumaguete this past September. Both resorts are owned by the same group, and have many things in common.

To get the the PG (Puerto Galera) property, one usually flies into Manila, where you are met by a representative of the resort. The transfer to the airport required an approximately two hour van ride, then a 40 minute crossing by boat to get to the Sabang Beach area where the resort is located. The van transfer will stop halfway for rest room and refreshment stops, as there aren't any facilities either at the boat launch or on the boat itself. The traffic in Manila can be heavy at times, and it's surprising and actually funny how the Filipino drivers don't pay any attention to traffic lanes, or lines. Just hit your horn and change lanes, pass, whatever. Once you arrive at the boat launch, there are porters there to transfer your luggage to the boat for the crossing, and then transfer it to the resort once you arrive. The boat crossing is in what is known as a panga, or large outrigger boat, and is quite comfortable and stable. When I made the crossing, I actually fell asleep.

Once you arrive at the resort, the staff will guide you through the required paperwork, waivers, etc. then have your bags taken to your room. The rooms are built onto the hillside, and do have a few steps to walk up. The rooms are built in a "Flintstone" style, meaning they have stucco walls and interesting and thoughtful cubby holes and storage areas for your clothes and other things. All the rooms feature a fully stocked mini bar with beverages of all types, some basic toiletries, snacks, and cigarettes. Most rooms have a single bed along with a queen bed. There are some larger rooms and suites available as well. Each room also features a small safety box for valuables, as well as having wireless internet access, air conditioning and ceiling fans. Outside each room are small patios or seating areas with table and chairs. Some of the larger suites even have lounge chairs outside. There is a multi-media room on site where guests can charge batteries, prepare photo equipment and download photos. The electricity here is 220 volts, so converters are necessary, but the multimedia room has transformers for 110 volt chargers. The front desk/reception area is open-air as are all the resort areas. The front desk can arrange for tours, and other activities, as well as exchange currency for you and is the location of the gift shop/boutique. The exchange rate when I was there was about 50 pesos to the US dollar. Things are very inexpensive in the Philippines. The front desk will also keep your room key for you when you go out diving. At the resort are "vendors" who are not allowed on the property itself, but are allowed to come into the street side reception area only to sell their items. Here you can find all sorts of locally made crafts like baskets, pearls, and jewelry. Other vendors sell knock-off DVDs, clothes, and other common items.

Moving on to the diving…..all diving is done from small speedboats, which hold a maximum of six divers. Not a big deal, considering the majority of dive sites are less than 10 minutes ride from the resort. Once you have your gear set up at the dive center at the resort, the staff carries it to the boat for you every day, and all you have to do is climb into the boat from the beach and head off. Booties are almost required here, as sometimes the walk to and from the boats can be long over the sand and coral when the tide goes out. Once you arrive at the dive site, the crew on the boat (Divemaster or boat driver) will assist you with donning your gear before everyone does a backroll entry into the water at the same time. Cameras are then handed to divers, and then the dive starts. At the end of the dive, the Divemaster sends up his safety tube, and the boat picks the group up. All you need to do is take your BCD off in the water, and the boat driver will pull it into the boat. You can then climb the small ladder into the boat, and it's back to the resort. We had long dives, with 60 minutes being about average.

Most of the diving was done in the 50-80 foot range, with some currents, so the Divemaster always carried a safety tube and line to alert the boat where to pick us up. There are a few sites, however that have some stronger currents, and are advised for advanced or experienced drift divers. Marine life is prolific here, with large schools of fish, like jacks, trevalley, anthias, and other smaller species. On one dive (a site called Canyons) we saw well over 500 jacks schooling above us at depth. There are many opportunities for macro photography, with nudibranchs, mantis shrimp and crinoids everywhere. We did see one turtle during our stay there, but no sharks or other large pelagics. Soft coral is abundant here, with mounds of it on certain dive sites, especially at Verde Island and the dropoff there, which is a series of dive sites that are a 40 minute boat ride away. These sites are done as a special extra trip at additional cost. The Divemasters are very good at pointing out various critters and marine life on the dives. We had the good luck to see things like banded pipefish, leaf fish, all sorts of nudibranchs, hundreds of crinoids, lionfish, among others. Visibility ranged from 50 feet to well over 100. The dive sites ranged from classic "muck diving", looking for small critters to wall and reef drift dives. There is one dive site that has some small wrecks on it right in front of the resort (Sabang Wrecks), and this is a good place to see lots of macro subjects.

Each diver is assigned a numbered storage area in the dive shop, where you can store your personal gear like mask, fins, wetsuit, etc. Your BCD/Regulator set are rinsed after each day's diving and placed on hangers near your storage area. There is a large dry erase board the the front of the resort where you can find your name/number, and what the dive site is, along with who your Divemaster is. Every morning the staff sets up your gear and takes it to the boat for you. No need to carry any heavy gear. If you are using nitrox, you would analyze your tank before it is set up, and then the staff gets your gear to the boat. At the dive shop there are large rinse tanks for your personal gear, including ones for cameras and computers. There is even an outdoor shower to rinse off before removing your wetsuit. There is a rest room at the dive shop and one in the storage area, as the dive boats return to the resort after each dive to change tanks and give the divers time to change batteries, memory cards, or to get some refreshments. The dive schedule is normally 9, 11, 2 and 4pm, with an optional night dive. Nitrox and trimix are available at an extra cost.

Then there is the food! WOW! Breakfast consists of various fruits, breads, bacon, sausages, eggs cooked to order, along with cheeses, cold cuts, and the special fruit smoothie of the day. My personal favorite was the banana/mango/pineapple shake. Lunch can be either ordered from the menu listed on the wall, or the resort features a Mongolian wok every day for lunch. Dinner is served either as a buffet, with nightly specials, or from the menu listed on the wall. The restaurant also does theme nights, with barbecues, or local specialties on the menu or buffet. The menus were varied, the food prepared superbly, and served very efficiently. Warren, the head of food and beverage service, is very knowledgeable about local cuisine and recipes. Ask him anything about Filipino cooking, and he can give you the answer. By the end of the first day, the entire staff knew our names, and what room were were in. Even though the meals are all included, beverages are not, and you sign for each meals' beverages to be added to your room charge. The staff is extremely friendly and goes out of their way to make sure your are having a good time, and getting the service you require. The dining room is spacious and very inviting. There is a large bar area, as well as a small pool area and sun deck. There is another smaller bar near the water called the "50 Bar"  where the staff congregates after work. One of the big attractions though, are the massages. Very inexpensive ($18 for one hour) that can be done poolside at the massage room. There were some of our group who got two massages every day! The resort in general is very clean and well maintained. Every morning I saw staff sweeping the stairs leading to the rooms, painting something, or just generally cleaning. The Atlantis Resort at Puerto Galera boasts it's own generators and water filtration systems, so when the power goes out in town (which apparently happens with some frequency) the resort stays in operation. In fact, when I spoke with one of the owners, he told me that they were in the middle of a small typhoon, and he awoke at 2am to a funny sound, and he realized it was his air conditioner still running right through the storm. Everywhere else was without power. The resort and dive operation kept going. 

[Mateo]

My wife is Filipino and the next time that I go back to the philippines with her, I plan on going diving at a resort, probably in Bohol though. 

The cultural differences is very interesting to observe and learn about; such as the lack of respect for road signs.  Most of the infrastructure over there is in need of redesign/repair. 

It is a great place to go. If anyone has an opportunity to do so, don't pass it up.