Atlantis Dumaguete Dive Resort Review with 73 Photos

Dumaguete, "Land of the Gentle People"

When we did a review of the excellent Atlantis Hotel and Dive Resort in Puerto Galera, Mindoro Island in the Philippines, a review that can be seen here, we learned from their resident manager that they also had a resort in Dumaguete, which is on the East side or Oriental as the locals call it of Negros Island, Philippines.

Now Puerto Galera and Verde Island diving is pretty spectacular in its own right, so when we were invited to go down to the Dumaguete facility, we did a little checking around first. We knew Atlantis runs a first class operation, we experienced it for ourselves, the question is, was Dumaguete diving up to par with Puerto Galera or the other World Class dive destinations in the Philippines? We have always been amazed when it comes to diving and critters in all the previous dive destination in the Philippines we have selected, but would our streak end?

For over a year we put it on the back burner, especially when we thought we heard that it was similar to Puerto Galera and Verde Island diving. We mistakenly thought that meant the diving and critters were similar. Well, we sure misinterpreted what that meant!

We were later corrected and told that the only similarities were that, just like in their Puerto Galera resort, there was an abundance of local dive sites within 15 minutes of the resort, and Atlantis Dumaguete had Apo Island within a fast bangka dive boat ride for wide angle diving similar to how Atlantis Puerto Galera has Verde Island just offshore.

The Dumaguete Expedition Seeds Are Planted

Ok, so now our curiosity was piqued, so we did some more homework. We ran into a fellow underwater videographer where we saw some HD video clips of critters and Dumaguete diving, and oh man!-we couldn’t hop on the plane sooner!

After quick arrangements with affable Gordon Strahan, one of the owners of Atlantis that had invited us to Atlantis Puerto Galera, and a regular at the U.S. scuba shows, arrangements were efficiently made.

One of the things that sets Atlantis apart from many resorts in the region is they answer all e-mails, and fast! I have been interviewed both by the Phillipine Star and Philippine Inquirer about diving in the Philippines and how dive tourism promotions can be more effectively done, and failure to respond to e-mails was one of the issues that was, well, an issue. Atlantis Hotel and Dive Resort’s quick e-mail response is just the beginning in a long list of consistent professionalism displayed by Atlantis.

Getting to Dumaguete, Negros Island, Philippines

Our main international departure point was Los Angeles International Airport.

While the City of Los Angeles typically spends a 1/2 billion dollars more than it hammers Los Angeleans for, building such absolute necessities like a multi-million dollar glass sculpture in the middle of road that bisects LAX as the airport bathrooms attain Third World cleanliness status, major rennovation is finally occurring. We found a new really nice albeit pay lounge that had food, and finally, Internet access.

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We selected the always excellent Cathay Pacific Airlines. Their food is always good, their planes look very new, clean and well maintained, and they have flat panel LCD TVS right in front of each seat, and even more importantly, about 30 different movies to watch.

We did a 2 hour stopover in the excellent Hong Kong Airport. Here they have all sorts of eateries, Internet access, all sort of shops, even shower facilities for travelers who wish to freshen up. Hello Los Angles airport, are you listening?

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Upon arriving at Mactan airport in Cebu, you will be pleased to see how quick you get through Customs with just your passport. At Customs baggage, they will ask you if you are transporting electronic equipment like cameras. They don’t really mean a tourist pocket camera, but they mean a big pro videocamera and a pro DSLR kit. They ask about this as they require a deposit for the equipment to ensure you leave with it upon departure and do not sell it in-country to avoid duty fees. If you have $10,000 worth of underwater camera kit, this can amount to over $150, but they do accept a credit cards.

Since divers don’t fall into the duty avoidance category, you may elect to ignore it all and just declare dive equipment. Philippines Customs wherever we go has always been pleasant with us, but that is what you can expect from everyone everywhere you go in the Philippines.

The whole affair takes less than 30 minutes to get checked out, quite a pleasure compared to Los Angles International, where the Department if Immigration scrutinizes returning travelers instead of more efficiently deploying to the parking lots of Home Depots.

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Upon exiting Cebu Mactan, as seen in the above photo, one walks a few steps and turns to the right, where a government cab hailer will get you a cab to wherever you need to go. At Cebu Mactan, the cab drivers are good about turning on their meter, but never get into a taxi without the meter on, no matter what they claim. Also, NEVER pay for your bags in the taxi, no matter what they claim about the weight. But do reward the cab driver when they are honest and give them a good tip. Your cab fare in the Philippines will be less than what you would tip a cabbie in the U.S., so you can afford it and the driver just wants to feed his family.

We took the fast ferry from Cebu to Bohol to get some Bohol sightseeing in, then off to Dumaguete the next day.

For those that choose to freelance transfers for fun like we do, cabs are best to take upon arrival in Dumaguete, but getting them to use a meter will be a little harder. Atlantis Dumaguete will pick up guests who arrive either from the ferry pier or from Dumaguete airport flying in from Manila. If you are not a travel writer tuning your travel skills, this is the most convenient option although I find getting around in the Philippines easier and remarkably cheaper than in the U.S.

The drive from Dumaguete to Atlantis Resort in nearby Dauin takes about 30 minutes. Your Atlantis driver will turn left onto a non-descript road, then drive past private homes with chickens and a cow or two in their yards, and you will pass through Atlantis’ security gate.

Dumaguete History

Popular legend has it that the word Dumaguete came from the Cebuano (Visayan) word “daggit” which means “to snatch”. The legend goes onto say that because of the Muslim pirates marauding the area, and the regions ability to attract visitors who frequently elected to stay permanently, the word dumaguet was used to christen the village. Murillo Velarde, a Jesuit cartographer referred to it in 1734, using its present name, as Dumaguete.

Negros is divided into two political provinces, Occidental and Oriental, or West and East. When World War II broke out, the city was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Forces on May 26,1942. It was liberated on April 26,1945 by the combined forces of the U.S. Army and the Filipino guerrillas. On June 15, 1948 or three years later, Republic Act No. 327 created the City of Dumaguete, the largest city of the province. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 116,392 people. A person from Dumaguete is called a "Dumagueteño".

Dumaguete has two seasons, a dry and a wet season. The wet season covers the period from June to November, and the dry season starts from December to May, the hottest being April and May. The average maximum temperature is 34.3 °C and the average minimum temperature is 22.9 °C for the past few years. The relative humidity averages 78%, with the month of December usually the highest.

Checkin at Atlantis Dumaguete

After we arrived, we were taken through the tropical pathway past cottages, the Atlantis Spa, of which you will see plenty of footage of in the HD video we are producing, the main fountain and to the resort front office reception area. All bags were carried by staff.

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The office is interesting as it has all sorts of curios and local crafts, clothing items and locally made art pieces. The cursory tidbits like toiletries, gear items, masks, etc, were well represented.

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Atlantis has different sizes of accommodations, from multiple unit buildings that have private accommodations in each one with en-suite bathrooms, to family style accommodations with large rooms and private balconies overlooking the beach with swinging hammocks. All rooms have air conditioning and televisions. After a quick hot shower and a change of clothes, it was off to check out the rest of Atlantis.

Never farther from any room than 5 minutes of walking, the dive staging area is huge! There are designated gear cubicles for each guest, and there is ample room to get your giant dive gear bags up and out of the way. The rinse tanks are very large and there are ones designated for each type of gear, including multiple separate ones for camera and video gear. There are several hot fresh water showers right next to the rinse tanks.

Large counter tops and benches are abundant as well as shelving underneath the wood counter tops to stow gear you may need to more readily access. There is a good selection of gear rental equipment, and new gear is available too.

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The camera room as shown above is not an afterthought, but a dedicated large room with ceiling fans to dry gear, ample counter space and a slew of electrical charging outlets configured so you don’t need prong adapters. The low pressure dried air hose was also just what the underwater imaging crowd needs, especially if you take your cameras from your aircon room to the outside with no adjustment period. Just a minute or two of gentle dried compressed and filtered air and you are set.

There are large signs up in the dive area that shows the various dive courses offered all the way up to and including Instructor Development Courses, the dive sites both near the resort and at Apo island, and dive schedule.

One of the things that Atlantis does that is really smart is their dive schedule board has photos with the names of all dive guides. What a simple yet great idea that we rarely see. Now I don’t know how the staff seems to always know the names of guests, maybe they secretly have a room with guest photos too, but that dive schedule board with dive guide names on it sure helped!
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Opposite that you will find the main dive briefing marker board with ample room for each group of divers to be able to see the briefing board.

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Passing the tranquil fish pond seen below within the dive briefing area we came to the center courtyard highlighted by a waterfall sculpture into a pond.

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Turning left towards the shore we came to Atlantis’ bar, the popular Atlantis Tokos restaurant and the spacious dining area. Now a general word about resort food. One of the things I like traveling to exotic, remote tropical destinations is I lose weight because the food, although healthy, is just not my cup of tea. Not so with Atlantis! Oh man, their food rocks! Ok, so that was toned down for the review! From European and American traditional style breakfast items, to eye appealing nouvelle cuisine, you won’t be eating at Atlantis, you will be enjoying a fine dining experience prepared by trained Atlantis Chefs. Especially for dinner, there were times we didn’t know whether that was a meal on the dinner table in front of us or a work of art. Wait till you see some of the dishes that we had to shoot on HD video, they were that eye appealing and tasty. And yes, the sauteed sizzling beef dish and the seared fresh tuna below was one our favorites.

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Each day for lunch and each dinner, Atlantis’ Tokos restaurant has a large board with the menu selections to choose from and any evening activities in the presentation section of the dining area.

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After our tour, we set up our boatloads of HD video equipment, both above and below water versions, and set up our dive gear and prepared my rebreather.

Atlantis has pure 02 available upon advance notification for your rebreathers although it is best to bring in your lime, at least to the Dumaguete facility.

Nitrox is always available and recommended for all those who are nitrox certified, and Atlantis has mix testers.

After a long day of traveling, arrival, kitting up, and getting our name on the dive schedule, it was time to relax, have dinner, then retreat to our nice room to watch TV and get ready for some guaranteed amazing Philippines diving!

The next morning it was up at 8 for a non-rushed American style breakfast in time for the 8:45 am dive briefing. Regularly scheduled dive times for local sites are 9 and 11 a.m, and 2 and 4 p.m. Night dives are always available, just ask.

Because Atlantis is so popular, you get to choose which dive site you will go to at any given time slot. This allows you to “cherry pick” through destinations to tailor destinations to your diving style and photo/video subject wishes.

All our gear was always carried by Atlantis staff to and from the dive boats, even my humongous videocam housing and lights and my rebreather, either of which probably outweighed some of the staffers.

Muck Madness!

We kept hearing about the DuCoMi Pier as being a muck diving paradise so that is where we were headed. DUmaguete COconut MIlling Company, or DuCoMi for short is a commercial loading/offloading concrete pier about 15 minutes north of Atlantis resort.

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We don't know who the original artist is who drew or painted the above right rendition, but he or she gives us all a great idea and perspective of what the structure looks like below.

Recently the DuCoMi pier started undergoing piling renovation, so we have heard tales of Armageddon from various sources predicting the total demise of a national treasure to the dive community and an eco-disaster.

We did see a press release letter from DuCoMi management indicating they would do all they could to preserve as much of the piling marine growth as possible while still maintaining the long term viability and stability of the privately owned concrete pier.

We got the impression just by the tone of the letter that DuCoMi management recognized not just the value to the local dive tourism economy, but to the environment itself, and they pledged to transparently work with the local eco-community to rennovate the pier responsibly.

What we found upon our descent was they are scraping only the bottom 3-5 feet of some of the pilings above the sand line, and maybe the same amount under the sand line, and once cleaned, the workers were wrapping those lower portions with rebar and concrete forms. Well over 90% of the marine growth was and will be left intact.

We do suggest though that you check with Atlantis on the status of diving there, as things can always change.

Rather than doom and gloom, we were treated to the very reason why the DuCoMi pier is in fact a national treasure to the dive community as it claims; a tremendous kaleidoscope of fish, invertebrates and plant life!

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We shot GREAT footage of a very small juvenile Platax pinnatus or Pinnate batfish, as seen in the above video screencap, who was in their stunning jet black fringed with bright orange juvenile coloration. After a red frogfish was videotaped with the above screencap, we ran into a large light brown frogfish that obliged by engaging in their jaw stretching behavior showing their enormous mouth gaping abilities, and in slow motion, all caught in HiDef with a screencap above.

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As seen by the above video screencaps, juvenile cuttlefish were frequently seen by guests, and we along with most divers had multiple ornate ghost pipefish encounters. Large sea fans were the order of the day with filter feeding crinoids perched on them. You could literally spend an entire dive on one piling. In the shallows around the pier we encountered tube stalk anemones, and like most tube stalk anemones in the Philippines, they all had Perclimenes magnificus shrimp on or next to them doing their comical barrel roll dance thing.

Atlantis dives the DuCoMi Pier almost every day when it is open to divers and not being actively docked at. DoComi management works closely with local dive resorts to always notify them when a small cargo ship arrives or departs, and from what we experienced and hear, you can pretty much count on being able to repeatedly dive the DuCoMi pier on multiple days during a stay at Atlantis.

There are so many dive sites within a few minutes of Atlantis, we couldn’t even begin to keep track of them. You don’t really need to remember them, just tell the dive guide what you are interested in seeing, and they will tell you the names of the dive sites most likely to hold such critters and they can put your name on the schedule for those sites.

One dive site though whose name did stand out was a dive site called “Cars” where some old auto wreck lies. Cars is an easy dive not too far from shore. We saw many juvenile cuttlefish doing their spectacular “light show” thing, as well as numerous tiny juvenile painted frogfish and ornate ghost pipefish.

Most of the near shore diving in Dumaguete is primarily macro critter diving with igneous sand bottoms, all which makes it far easier to spot critters. There are plenty of plant and coral growths on the hard objects to be anchored upon, there are just no massive reef structures, but that is ok, as just a short dive boat trip away lies an exceptional reef fringed island...Apo!


We regularly saw and captured in HD subjects like robust ghost pipefish, both solitary and paired ones, half a dozen different species of decorative shrimp, and as February and March is nesting season, we saw plenty of ornate ghost pipefish, both solitary and mated pairs. Bright yellow large mantis shrimp “spy-hopping” out of their sand burrows were filmed, and we saw pygmy and common seahorses, along with filefish and bizarre pipefish.

Apo Island

We had heard about Apo island as a remarkable dive destination, so up early one morning and we were going to find out!

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Via the above roomy Atlantis bangka dive boats, Apo island lies about 30-45 minutes away from Atlantis depending on weather. Only about 3 kilometers long and 120 meters at its highest point, the volcanic island is fringed by white coral rubble, gin clear turquoise waters and some of the most amazing reef growth and life to be found anywhere, and we were going to find out first hand, and capture it all in HD!

The first dive site is in the Apo marine sanctuary. When you see the brilliant clear waters in the pending HD video, you know why we got excited just looking over the dive boat side. As local fisherman motored past without stopping in tiny bangkas, Atlantis does the dive briefing.

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This site was stunning! Massive corals, both hard and soft were everywhere, with huge shoals of schooling jacks as seen in the below video screencap.

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The above right photo was a diver who was paying attention and noticed within just 3 or so meters of descending his videocam housing was flooding. As he carefully brought it to the surface, Atlantis dive boat staff grabbed it and without him having to say anything, held it perfectly level and slowly brought it back aboard as he continued the dive. They drained it, wiped the bottom of the videocam, removed the rear o-ring, cleaned it, cleaned the sealing surfaces, then left it open to dry. Yes, it worked perfect on the next dive. How's that for service?!

Solitary mushroom corals were everywhere like brown gumdrops had rained down one deluge.

Now occasionally I run into these solitary round and oblong mushroom coral that have been accidentally flipped upside down by a divers fins. These coral animals need sunlight so their zooxanthellae algae within its cells can photosynthesize and produce waste that the corals need to feed from, and these corals need to stay upright so that any food that lands on it can be drawn along its channels to its central mouth. If left upside down, they will all die a slow death from starvation. The few that I see, we upright them to go on to live a full life and reproduce. In doing so, I place them in sections where they are unlikely to have coral sand deposited on them or get flipped over again.

So what did we get for my coral philanthropy doing this at Apo Island? During one coral uprighting episode, we spied a furtive tiny white fleeting movement in a mushroom coal that had its numerous polyps extended. Upon close inspection, it was 3 tiny snake-like mushroom coral white pipefish, Siokunichthys nigrolineatus, and more importantly, they were exposed enough and active enough that we captured awesome HD video footage of them! You will just have to wait for the video.

You know you’re a hardcore underwater imager when you will be satisfied to do an entire trip just to see one marine animal you’ve been searching for for over 3 years! Saving the lives of corals proved it has its side benefits! Mother Nature said “thanks”, and in a big way!

You should have heard the buzz of excited divers raving about what they saw after the first dive at Apo Island. From encounters with turtles, giant butterfly fish, giant schools of big jacks, turtles, and the sea snakes, mushroom coral pipefish and a large spotted grouper I got on HD video, it was like a grade school full of big giddy diver kids just let our for recess.
After we moved off to a rocky point for the 2nd dive site, it was more of the same terrific diving.

After the 2nd dive, it was off to the beach at Apo island. Dive boat staff were pouring fresh water from large jugs over those that wished to get out of their wetsuits and change clothes for a shore excursion.

After we anchored on the shore of Apo Island, lunch was served on the dive boat. There was fresh chicken, fresh tuna, chips, cold drinks, tea salads and veggie snacks. Looking towards the Apo Island shoreline right in front of us wondering what exotic tropical island adventure awaited us, we tore through our lunch like ravenous monkies on a cupcake.

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When you walk off the wide long boarding plank on the Atlantis dive bangkas, divers are greeted by a group of local women all selling a huge assortment of Apo Island t-shirts and beautiful hand dyed sarongs.

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Remember though that they are sized using the smaller Philippine sizing system. The average American or European guy needs a 3XXL T-shirt, so make sure try before you buy! T-shirts were about 300 pesos, the equivalent to $6 or 4.5 Euros, yet the quality was good.

After selecting 3 shirts, the women agreed to hold them for me. I turned around and there was this quintessential picture postcard perfect photo-op. Well, ok, HD video op.

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On the point of the tiny bay we were anchored on what was a rocky volcanic outcropping set against the most pristine waters I have ever seen. I had to climb about and set up the tripod and videocam and capture the moment.

Turning back towards the island, we walked to a small white building that housed the local authorities. There wasn’t much to see inside, as the protectors of the island were still amongst the “land of the gentle people.” We exchanged pleasantries with the authorities smiling like only someone who is gloriously rich in their surroundings can do.

The Philippine people are a deeply religious people with a society built primarily around the civilized bedrock of Judeo-Christian ethic. Churches abound everywhere, and Apo did not disappoint. Even the local village “man’s best friend” was paying his respects as we did.

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We next walked through the main village walkway. School children flitted about as adults carried on with an unhurried pace those of us in the big-city corporate rat race can only admire. There was a small sundry items store near the end where children got their sweet tooth satisfied, as local villagers looked on with smiles. The kids as usual were adorable, and the safety that their culture gives them allows them to be kids who aren’t taught nor need to fear “strangers”. I see this everywhere I go in the Philippines, from little kids unattended still watched over by all, to little kids running around naked in the waters or in the villages without a care in the world, laughing and giggling like children ought to be able to.

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I stopped and purchased a few candy bars and let the kids laugh, giggle and ham it up for the camera, and they did so with an unbridled exuberance.

We walked on through the village, past all the kids waving and smiling at us in the local school, then all the way to the beach in front of the protected marine preserve we just did out first 2 dives in front of.

We were having such a great time being privileged enough to immerse ourselves in the local culture, so much so we lost track of surface interval time, so we double-timed it back. Turns out we weren’t the only ones enjoying the island interior!

After a near jog back, that pathway between the towering volcanic rocks on the beach that people kept disappearing through had us going, so a sprint with the camera over there and through it revealed a 10 meter long walk-through opening up to another scenic bay.

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We almost forgot our Apo island T-shirts, but once again the honesty of the locals bore fruit as the women tracked me down to give me my shirts and my change. Thankfully several of the last divers who were also enjoying the scenery returned after us, thus nobody could blame us for holding up the dive boat!

After one more Apo Island dive, it was time to head back to Atlantis. Out came the cold drinks, tea and cookies to a boatload full of awfully happy divers.

Atlantis does day trips to Apo almost every day weather permitting, so guests scan decide whether to dive local or dive Apo almost every day. Apo Island diving was so awesome we returned 2 more times interspersed with local diving.

Atlantis Local Excursions & Activities

One of the things that is really nice about Atlantis resort is there is much to do when not diving. We were told that there was a local open air market called the Malatapay market.

This event occurs every Wednesday and Atlantis takes resort guests their in their own aircon Jeepney. The Malatapay market is sort of like a cross between a county fair, a farmers market and a swap meet all wrapped in an intense cultural wrapper.

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As you drive down the road in the Atlantis aircon Jeepney, as above you will see all the taxi trikes lined up on the left side of the road. Atlantis parks right across the street, so no walking any real distances. Then you will enter the Malaptapay market street entrance.

In big cities we’re so removed from the reality of so many things. To see locals carefully hand selecting huge aged tobacco leaves, sweeping ground flour or rice into a pile near the weight scale, and to see bushels, buckets and boxes full of all sorts of dried and pure’d sustainable fish items, it is all quite entertaining!

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We saw women proudly holding up whole octopi, and all laughing at themselves good naturedly about how that must look to a “ big city foreigner”. There were young men with old timers shooting the breeze proudly displaying their “champion roosters”, and farm and working field animals being brought in by the large hauling trike and mini-truckload for auction.

Atlantis guests were free to choose between a guided tour by Atlantis local staffers or to walk around at your whim. Of course we chose the latter! We threaded our way through a sea of humanity and farm animals, from pigs wallowing in the mud, packs of baying goats, to small dairy cows to large bulls that pull farm field plows, all up for sale or auction. Nothing like harrowingly dodging large cows with active digestive systems all seemingly with their business ends pointed in my direction. Several times I had such close calls that it made me wish to exchange it all for a nesting titan triggerfish encounter. But we did select the self-guided tour!

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Carefully climbing up a wall to get a panoramic video position, I used my precarious perch to test my fate in avoiding falling into a fertilizer heap freshly made by the local herd of cows.

We spent several hours totally soaking up the fun local cultural experience before heading to a designated meeting time for a Malatapay lunch. Here local women have an open air eatery where you can ask for and probably get just about any thing for lunch you saw, from crabs, giant shrimp, fresh fish, fresh exotic fruits, etc. The food was actually quite good, as I had local fish and my cursory Pepsi, all as we were entertained by a local playing a 12 string banjo.

Now all this looked like a mass of entertaining madness, but it is actually well organized by local experienced authorities who are under the direction of some pretty strict supervisors who don't monkey around.

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Other Excursions

Atlantis can arrange lots of other excursions and activities, like golf, caving, tours of the Casaroro Falls, the San Antonio Hot Springs, etc.

Spa Time!

Atlantis Dumaguete has their newly opened Spa. A full range of spa services are available here, and we sure availed ourselves to them!

They have an authentic wooden spa imported from Finland, a large jacuzzi tub, a room for manicures, pedicures and facials, and a wet room for body scrubs, seaweed algae treatments and body masks, along with a “Rain Dance Shower Room”. And of course, there is a tranquil room for relaxing Swedish style massages. Nothing like a 2 hour long massage in Paradise that is half the price of a 1 hour long massage in the U.S. or Europe!

Atlantis also has a large pool that has a fun rock waterfall outcropping you can climb into with water cascading over you, and also has a deep end for diver training away from the swimming section.

Lounge chairs are everywhere along with a supply of fresh beach towels. Sitting around the pool late at Atlantis Dumaguete is a nature experience, as in the late evening huge bullfrogs move into the grassy sections, sitting like silent, motionless sentinels.

Noteable Notes

Now Atlantis has some nice touches that are often lacking in a resort. Aside a full array of safety items like emergency 02 always on board each well maintained dive boat, one of the things that we have not seen before at any dive resort was a staff woman holding two trays of baked goodies and snacks for divers on the go to grab. If you got an appetite between dives, or were in a rush and missed your meal, the freshly baked muffins and cookies were a perfect touch.

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Our Amazing Journey Comes to an End

Sadly, our time came to an end after only 7 short days so we took the last bittersweet shot below.

With all the local excursions, to spectacular nature sights, and a fantastic array of magnificent, bizarre marine life, there is easily more than 10 days worth of new things to do at Atlantis Dumaguete, so we surely will return again and picked up where we left off on another exotic tropical dive journey of a lifetime to “The Land of the Gentle People" of Dumaguete, Philippines.

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Much thanks to all the dive guides, boat crew and competent, friendly staff at Atlantis Dumaguete.


You are all welcome to ask questions or posts comments below! :)

wow I am soo glad you got to go to MY favorite place in the Philippines!! I totally fell in love with ducomi pier since day one, and If I dont remember wrong last time we went to Dumaguete, almost daily we went to the pier! it is just magestic in my opinion.:)
When were you in Dumaguete shooting your hd? Because they were making repairs on the pier area and diving was not allowed.....thats why last June we went to Malapasqua instead. We were going to celebrate the birthday of a great friend and fellow diver and he said he wanted to go to Dumaguete only if the pier was open... and it wasnt :(
Next time you come to Cebu let me know , there is this nice little place 15 mins from the airport that is amazing and is where we spotted the blue ringged octopus mating!!!

ciao!
S.

I too have had the priveledge of staying with Atlantis, both in Puerto Galera and aslo in Dumaguete. My girlfriend and I stayed there a couple of years ago and reading your report brought back many happy memories.
I loved the diving, but my special memory is of the people at the resort and the care they took of us and the incredible friendliness of all the local population we came into contact with, and yes we too went to the Malatapay market, having roast pork for lunch; sadly we missed the guy with the banjo.
Thank you for such a well worded article, I will definitely be returning there some time soon.

Great stuff,

Really enjoyed the article. I spent 6 weeks on Apo last year researching and it trully is one of the best places in the world (and some of the best diving)! Its great to see people getting off the boat and buying t-shirts, etc. as that and staying on the island is the only way the local people get money from the tourism. Most of the dive fees are put into park maintenance, etc. Loved the photos... recognised some of my favourite t-shirt sellers! Note to anybody reading: probably best place in the world to do your 1st dive - we took a friend on mine out on a try dive and he saw 13 turtles on his 1st ever dive - mental!

Very well written, and love the photos!!! I've had the opportunity to visit Atlantis on 2 different occasions. On the first visit, I stayed at both Dumaguete and Puerta Galera, and the second visit was primarily spent at the PG location. I simply love the diving in the Philippines, and believe there is no better place to dive with such an abundance of life.

Their slogan of "Come as a guest, leave as a friend" is by far, very underrated. I presently still converse with the dive staff at both locations and they make you feel like part of their family. The Atlantis crew has been some of the friendliest that I have encountered.

Thanks for the report, and great photos!!

Thanks everyone...I agree about diving in the Philippines....everywhere there everyone is so welcoming.

Sandra, I was there 7 months ago in February. Eddhind, I agree about the shirts, I know how income is so crucial to some people. Clothes in the Philippines are cheap to buy for Americans and Europeans, so it is convenient to not bring many and just buy them there and it helps the locals.

When I was in Malapascua the local vendor guy did not have the shirt size I wanted, 3 hours later he shows up with it, the silk screen ink still smelled fresh! Someone in that tiny village had a silk screen!

I just wanted to add that this was a good article that also brought back good memories. I stayed at the Atlantis Resort Dumaguete three years ago, and the staff, guides, diving, service, and room quality were great. If you are into macro photography, Dumaguete is a great place to go. We did not see a blue ringed octopus, but got a lot of great shots of a flamboyant cuttlefish. As with many, the Ducomi Pier was at the top of our “Do Again List”.

Since I have only been diving in the Philippines at Dumaguete, I am curious about the comparison to Puerto Galera. Which location would you choose if you could go back to Philippines? Would you recommend another location in the Philippines? I am an avid photographer, so I am looking for a location that may offer a little bit of macro and wide angle. I plan to travel in March or April of 2010. Any recommendations?

I highly recommend Mabul and Sipadan, which I stayed at Sipadan Water Village. Again, great diving and great accommodations, which offers the best of macro and wide angle with schools of jacks, barracuda, bumpheads, sharks, turtles. You get the picture..

I am looking for recommendations for the Pacific area, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia or Malaysia.

Hello Oki,

Dumaguete is really quite, Puerto Galera is a little more bustling. You can read a full review we did of Atlantis Puerto Galera here that also has the very first HD video I threw together with no experience whatsoever.

Puerto Galera, or more properly Sabang is good diving too, with lots of macro critters, and they have Verde Island, their version of Apo.

Thanks for the link. I am seriously thinking about PG, as I really enjoyed the Atlantas Resort and their service. Can you recommend any other locations in the Pacific that might offer both muck and open water for larger sea life?

Yes, Anilao is smoking for macro and wide angle, and take a trip across the channel to Maricaban island and dive with resort owner Jose Evans and her crew at Maricaban and Sombrero island for some wide angle and drift diving.

Anilao is 1 hour south by Jeepney of Batangas, the port you take to get to Puerto Galera.

P.G. has stuff to do after diving, Anilao is real quiet.