Dive Review of Sea Explorers Philippines/Pura Vida in
Philippines/Dauin, Oriental Negros

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Sea Explorers Philippines/Pura Vida: "An Excellent Choice for Diving in Dauin", May, 2024, by David W Allen, KS, US ( Reviewer 3 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 12979 has 2 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Having previously sampled some excellent diving in this area from a liveaboard, my wife and I decided to return for more from a land-based operation. After researching many of the local resorts we decided upon Pura Vida and found it to be a great choice. This is a very nice, upscale-casual resort that is well-run. The grounds are beautifully kept. Our Deluxe room was spotlessly clean, very comfortable and well maintained. Everything we needed to access was close and convenient. What we saw on the website accurately represented the property. Guests were an international mix, including people from Switzerland, Germany, Australia and elsewhere. The operation seemed equally well-suited to serving bigger groups as well as individuals/couples. The website for the resort is here: [pura-vida.ph link] FOOD (3.5 stars) Daily breakfast, comprised of a buffet plus an omelet/egg station, is included in the base price. The breakfast buffet (rate 4 stars) was very good. It always included a variety of warm items including one or 2 meats, potatoes, pancakes, fresh baked breads, cheeses, numerous jams and more. The buffet also included coffee, teas, juices, fresh fruit and more. Lunches and dinners are offered ala carte from an extensive menu, with prices varying depending on choice. We thought some of the menu items were 4 stars but others 3, therefore a 3.5 star on food overall. A number of local restaurants can be found within walking distance of the resort for those who want to venture out. Several were recommended by other guests. We did not try any of those located up on the main paved 2-lane street (about a 10 min walk), but we did walk up the beach to a wood-fired pizzeria that had excellent (really) pizza and a couple of very good locally brewed IPAs on tap. ACCOMODATIONS (4 stars) Our deluxe air-conditioned room had a TV (which we never turned on), a mini-fridge stocked with a few soft drinks and beers (at reasonable prices), and a nice spacious bathroom with walk-in shower. Tea and instant coffee, along with an electric water kettle, were in the room. Fresh drinking water was provided in the room daily. The veranda was very nice and we used it frequently. We were very pleased with our room at Pura Vida, as per comments in the first paragraph. The property has internet access via wi-fi which was somewhat slow and not always reliable. This is common in the Philippines, in our experiences. It was usually good enough that we could do what we needed, such as email and airline check-in. SERVICE and ATTITUDE (5 stars) Very good to excellent in every aspect of the experience (hotel staff, restaurant staff, dive operation staff, airport transfers). DIVE OPERATION (5 Stars) Kevin runs the dive operation, Sea Explorers, and was “on the ball” in every respect. He met us upon check-in to make sure we knew how to get settled in quickly. Large plastic bins with our names were delivered to our veranda. We unpacked our dive gear there, and left the bins with our gear on the veranda the next morning before breakfast for the staff to pick up. After unpacking our clothes, we took most of our camera gear to the camera room ourselves, but staff would have happily assisted with this had we wanted (they offered when seeing us). Jesse oversees the equipment staging area on shore. He proactively checked with us and other guests regularly to assure all needs were being addressed. We did not carry any dive gear around; they load and unload everything on the boats (including camera rigs unless you prefer not). We were assigned to a guide and boat each day. In our case, it so happened that we had the same guide and boat throughout, but I am not sure whether this is always the case. Groupings are limited to 4 or 5 divers per guide. Dive boats are spacious, shaded, comfortable and have marine toilets. Fresh water, tea, coffee, and snacks are available on board. Once back on board from a dive, one of the boat crew promptly provides each diver a gentle freshwater facial rinse to wash away the saltwater. We liked some dive sites a bit more than others, but found them all to be worthwhile. Never once did we exit the water wondering “why did we dive there.” We never dived deeper than around 75 feet simply because we were always fully occupied with interesting subjects within that range. Our guide was oftentimes finding several goodies in close proximity, enabling our group to trade off on the subjects once each finished shooting something (most were photographers). There are classrooms above the dive operation which could likely be used for photo workshops as well as other group needs. Sea Explorers dive operation maintains a small gift shop and dive center on the property. This business is under the same ownership as Pura Vida Resort but maintains a separate website here: [sea-explorers.com link] SNORKELING (2 stars) There is a shallow protected artificial reef area in front of the resort for snorkeling and shore diving. Since the UW topography around Dauin is muck, the shallows are mostly dark sand and seagrass. At some sites, moorings are over deeper water making them less suitable to snorkeling. SHORE DIVING (4 stars) We dived the “house reef” (which was essentially a sandy slope) 5 times, including twice at night. There was never a problem finding great subjects. During our stay, entry was easy (waves minimal). Night dives are only offered from the shore at the resort and must be guided. While this may seem limiting, the site is very good. Only issue is when there are many divers at once. They space apart the group entry times to avoid congestion when many are going out. ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITY (4 stars) We did not observe anything that would give cause for concern.
Websites	Sea Explorers Philippines Pura Vida
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia (x5), Borneo, Philippines (x6), Fiji (x2), Solomon Islands, PNG, Red Sea, Sea of Cortez, Cozumel (x3), St. Vincent (x4), Bahamas (x3), Bonaire (x3), Curacao (x2), Honduras (x2), etc.
Closest Airport	Dumaguete	Getting There	From Manila via Philippine Airlines.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy, no currents
Water Temp	79-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	2
Water Visibility	25-80 Ft/ 8-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	All dives are guided. Dives are typically 60 min in duration per the briefing. They schedule 4 dives per day.
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 diving in Dauin is muck, not reefs, similar to Lembeh Straight. Photography is macro and super-macro (critters and smaller fishes). Day trips to Apo Island provide wide-angle opportunities. Resort has a dedicated camera room (locked overnight) with individual work stations where one can set up and use for the duration of stay. The stations have adequate work and storage space, and dedicated electrical receptacles for charging. Staff is proactively helpful in carrying (properly) camera rigs to/from boats. Our guide (Thony) was excellent at spotting good subjects for us, and very helpful in general (out of the water too). Fresh water camera rinse tanks on the boat and shore could be larger but they are adequate.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Sea Explorers Philippines/Pura Vida in Philippines/Dauin, Oriental Negros

Sea Explorers Philippines/Pura Vida: "An Excellent Choice for Diving in Dauin", May, 2024,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Sea Explorers Philippines/Pura Vida in
Philippines/Dauin, Oriental Negros