The Philippines at Caribbean Price

February 19-March 1 or 6, 2009

 

Now that I’ve been to the Philippines, I want to tell you all about it, so you’ll go back there with me next February. We’ll spend 8 days at the beautiful Atlantis Puerto Galera resort after which you can add on the Atlantis Dumaguete resort for an additional five days. Either way, the diving will astound you.

First Stop: The Atlantis Puerto Galera

The resort sits on a beautiful, terraced, ocean front setting on Puerto Gallero bay on the island of Mindoro. You are sure to be impressed by the large airy lobby/restaurant area, pool, spa and dive shop.

You will have your own cubbyhole for your gear and hangers for your BC and wetsuit. After you set your tank up once, you won’t have to do it again. They carry it on and off the boat for you every day. You only need to bring your mask, snorkel, fins and wetsuit. You won’t have to lift anything heavier than your camera all week!

The food at the restaurant was out of this world and the service was exceptional. Every day you have a choice between the buffet and ordering off the menu. The chief is from France. You will eat too much and you won’t care. Fresh baked bread at every meal. Omelets made to order. And, every person on the wait staff will know your name and call you by it after the first day.

Okay, so all that stuff is great, but how about the diving? That’s what you’re going there for, right?

The water is warm and calm with little or no current. The dive boat is a long narrow beam oriental shaped teak boat with bamboo outriggers on both sides. The center area has plenty of room for two sets of tanks with bench seating on both sides pretty much the entire length of the boat. The top is covered for those wanting to stay out of the sun and there are flat areas on both sides atop the outriggers for sun worshippers.

The local dive sites are all within 10 to 15 minutes by boat. You come back in after every local boat dive, so if you don’t want to do one, you just don’t go. We’ll also do three Verde Island day trips where we’ll do a dive, go back to Verde Island to have lunch, then do two more dives.

None of my dives had less than 60 minutes of bottom time. It seemed like the best part for many of the dives was the last 10 minutes in 15 - 20 feet doing your safety stop, looking for critters.

The entry was a simple back roll off the boat. They take the two back boards off the bench seat and like magic - the pool is open! There is very little current on most dives and the water is pretty warm, so all you have to do is pay attention to what there is to see. And there is a lot to see. The area is known for the many varieties of nudibranchs in every conceivable shape and color. They are blue, green, orange, yellow; small, medium, large; with tentacles, without. They’re great for the Photo-folks, since they don’t move fast.

Another slow mover, the frog fish, is relatively common. We saw a couple that were enormous, larger than a softball. There were many varieties of clown fish, each in their own type of anemone. On night dives we saw octopus, giant puffer fish and ocean triggerfish. I saw batfish, leaf fish and a red ribbon eel, scorpion fish, flying gurnards. You’ll see wonderful hard and soft corals on every dive. We saw ghost pipefish, sea snakes, turtles and orange-stripped pipefish. We saw three cuttlefish together on the same dive! There were blue spotted rays, mantis shrimp, cowieries, sea horses and even a pygmy sea horse.

Well, as much as you can see of a pygmy sea horse. I had only seen one mantis shrimp in my life, but there you’ll see so many, you’ll start to ignore them and look for something else. If you’ve never seen a juvenile sweet lips, it’s like a clown fish on steroids, absolutely stunning. By far the largest puffer fish you’ll ever see — two feet long. There was even a dive with three different wrecks on it. Looking back, there were just so many stunning dive moments it’s hard to remember them all.

At the end of it all, hot water showers in the dive shop so you can wash off before you go to your room - or just to feel fresh between dives!

I don’t know whether or not you keep a dive log, but in mine I wrote that the dives at Verde Island were some of the “ten best dives I’ve ever done.” Now, I may only have a little over 300 logged dives, but nearly all of them are Caribbean or Pacific. So, to me, I think that says a lot. The reefs are incredibly healthy, with beautiful color with thousands of small reef fish. The colors are like the late 60s.

Second Stop: The Atlantis Dumaguete

For part two, we fly to Atlantis Dumaguete, on the island of Negros for four more days of diving. Located 20 minutes outside of town, the resort is on the water and every bit as nice as the Puerto Galera operation. Same great food, accommodations and dive operation.

We’ve reserved two day trips to beautiful Apo Island. Only a 45 minute slow boat ride away, the dive sites there have the healthiest coral I have seen anywhere in the world. Imagine coral so healthy and prolific that you can’t find a place to put your finger to steady yourself to take a picture! That is what Apo has to offer.

I could go on and on (I know, I did), but this really will be a trip to remember. I hope you can make it! — Michael Miracle

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