Dive Review of Atmosphere Resort & Spa in
Philippines/Dumaguete

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Atmosphere Resort & Spa: "Not perfect, but close", Dec, 2017, by Michael O'Reilly, GA, United States ( Reviewer 5 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 10088 has 2 Helpful votes.
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	No dive resort has it all, but, at times, Atmosphere comes close. My wife and I have been to Atmosphere three times now, so I decided to submit a review. There is very very good diving here, with local biodiversity matched by few places in the Philippines (or even in the Indopacific.) The resort has gotten even better in the last five years, with a mature and capable dive staff, more than 80% of whom are from the local area; the best food I've had at any resort (including the El Nido resorts) in the Philippines; a high end (though not inexpensive) spa which is the prime attraction for many of Atmosphere's guests; and, to top it off, a resident marine biologist who teaches the only PADI specialty course dedicated to frogfish in the world. The dive sites close to the resort are muck dives. Apo Island, a 45 minute boat ride away, offers wall dives and a remarkable variety of coral. Muck: Atmosphere/Dumaguete is not Lembeh, but it's solid muck diving. We saw 5 sea kraits, harlequin crab, banded pipe fish, commensual chrinoid shrimp, devil scorpion fish, peacock mantis shrimp, translucent shrimp, multiple porcelain crabs and more. That was the first dive, a check out dive on the house reef. At one site, secret corner, we saw 5 octopi, including 2 wonderpuss. Also clown and napolean snake eels, peacock razor wrasse, file fish, and a free swimming snowflake moray, and a juvenille emperor angel fish. On a night dive we saw several squid posing for up close photos, 9 sea snakes, a giant frogfish, squat lobsters, a flathead, many shrimp species, and a friendly flamboyant cuttlefish that stayed with for as long as we wished. Also of note, Dumaguete has the most plentiful and vibrant garden eels I've ever seen. These guys rise a good 2 feet off of the sandy bottom and dance in the soft current. I even saw two or three feeding. They don't shoot back into the sand intil you're within a meter or less. That was two days of diving. Apo: We also did one day (two dives) at Apo Island. Apo has over 400 species of coral in its waters. It's a small island. In two dives you can dive its perimeter. To put this in perspective, in the entire Carribean there are about 187 coral species. As soon as you enter the water at Apo you are over whelmed by the coral variety volume and density. It's stunning. The fish density is very good also. Also, Apo is a haven for Green and Hawksbill turtles. We saw 12 greens on our second dive. This is an excellent resort, very well run. We've had a total of 5 friends and family members do training at Atmosphere. I'm reluctant to advertise it too much, because I'd hate to see it get too popular, but Undercurrent readers should have Atmosphere on their radar. Note: all dives include nitrox free of charge.
Websites	Atmosphere Resort & Spa
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Bunaken, Lembeh, Wakatobi, Sippadan, Indonesian Borneo, GBR, South Australia, PNG, Tanzania, Philippines many locations, Little Caymen, Belize, Turks and Caicos, other
Closest Airport	Dumaguete	Getting There	20-25 min drive
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	27-29°C / 81-84°F	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	10-30 M / 33-98 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	60 minute time limits enforced on some dives
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	The best camera room I've ever seen at a resort. Twenty stations with a clean camera work desk, excellent lighting and power outlets. Air gun available.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Atmosphere Resort & Spa in Philippines/Dumaguete

Atmosphere Resort & Spa: "Not perfect, but close", Dec, 2017,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Atmosphere Resort & Spa in
Philippines/Dumaguete