Dive Review of
a swiss company/El Dorado Beach Resort in
Philippines/Dumaguete

Belize, Bay Islands (Honduras), Thailand, Cozumel, Dominican Republic,
Komodo

Dive Conditions

no time limit.  If some one went up ealrier for lack of air, you could stay
down near the boat.  Normal depth limits.  

There were no tanks on board the dive boats for cameras.  

Overall Rating

   The El Dorado Resort near Dumaguete on the Island of Negros in the
Philippines was very nice.  The accomodations were simple, clean,
comfortable and inexpensive.  I opted for the least expensive and it was
just fine, and you could upgrade to ocean view, and much nicer
accomodations.  The beach was dark sand, and you could walk a long ways
either direction.  There were resorts and squator houses along the shore.
   The dive operation was well run, though some of the dive masters were
more interested in impressing their owner who was there for a few days than
providing service.  Most of the guests were Germans and Swiss, and there
were not a lot of divers from the USA.  They were not as friendly a group
as I have had before, but that may have jsut been when I was there (or
maybe it is jsut me.)  One of the dive masters was from the US.  He and the
Philippine dive master spoke English.  The other dive masters spoke very
adequate English, but, as I said, they were more interested in the owner,
and the German and Swiss guests.
    My research had indicated that the weather was supposed to be good in
February, but it was cloudy most of the time, and even rainy some of the
time.  The most interesting diving was at Apo Island.  Because of the
weather, the boat rides there, and mostly back, were time consuming, and
could be rough.  The boat was only OK, and could not handle the chop on the
way back very well.  The last few days I took my wind breaker, and was more
comfortable.  Again, this may not be typical, since they said that the
weather was not typical.
    The dives were interesting and fun. The corals and sponges were
beautiful.  We saw frog fish, scorpion fish, turtles, lion fish, manta
shrimp, rock fish, tons of clown fish, occasional barricuda, nudibranches,
sea snakes, and all kinds of reef fish.  We got to stay down practically as
long as we liked.  Of the 16 dives I did, I think that only one was less
than an hour.
    They provide complimentary nitrox, which was very nice.  Their prices
are very reasonable.
   I am very picky on food, and the food at the resort was very good and
varied.  I got a package with all meals included, and I never had a bad
meal in the week that I was there.
   I managed to obtain a good fare to Manila, and reasonable fares to
Dumaguette.  The charges at the hotel for accomodations, food, and diving
were very reasonable (i.e. low).
 

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