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

a swiss company/El Dorado Beach Resort, Feb, 2006,

by Phil Gans, co, USA (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 2294.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 4 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments 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).

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Belize, Bay Islands (Honduras), Thailand, Cozumel, Dominican Republic, Komodo
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather cloudy Seas choppy
Water Temp 79-80°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 7
Water Visibility 40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions no time limit. If some one went up ealrier for lack of air, you could stay down near the boat. Normal depth limits.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities 1 stars
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments There were no tanks on board the dive boats for cameras.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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