Lots to Say. Where to Start?

Well, we've been back over a week now and all I can say is that it feels like we were never away.  So before I completely forget about the trip, let's get started...

Let’s start by telling you a little bit about where we stayed in the Philippines. Our first stop was the island of Negros, Philippines and on this island, we stayed at a beautiful resort called Atlantis Dive Resort. From the moment we were greeted at the airport by our hosts, we knew we were in for a treat.

Every detail of our stay was beyond our expectations. The resort was clean and comfortable. The staff were over-the-top attentive and they knew our names by the second day. This is not a tiny resort, so memorizing all the guest’s names should be commended. A personalized greeting goes a long way to making you feel welcome and at home.

Gloria - She Was The Best !!!

The food was 5+ star to say the least. It’s a miracle I did not gain any weight while we were here, but I guess having the ability to dive up to 5 times a day helped work off some of the breakfast, lunch, dinner and desserts. The lack of weight gain is still surprising to me because, we were even provided treats in between dives. Ahhh, life was good.

Best BLT Sandwhich Ever!

The diving was good, but in all honesty not the best I’ve experienced. What we experienced was called “muck diving” and the main difference with muck diving is the lack of coral reefs. With muck diving, there’s still a lot of things to look at – just different things that like to camouflage themselves in the muck and coral rubble – mantis shrimp, sand divers, banded sea snakes, ribbon eels, crabs and nudibranchs. It’s not to say that it was bad – just different from other places we have been. We did do a few days of diving, where colorful coral reefs were plentiful, so all was not lost in the muck. Call me silly, but I prefer a sensory overload versus having to hunt for my viewing pleasure. Like I said – overall the diving was not bad, just different and let’s face it – it still beats diving in Canada.

Small Dive Boats

I would certainly recommend Atlantis Dive Resort to anyone that's looking to head to the Philippines - not just divers.  It exceeded our expecations and I'm sure it would yours too.

More trip report and photos to come...