I’ve spent decades covering the Caribbean for major dive magazines. But when it’s time for a personal trip, I usually set my sights farther from home. One destination that has become a personal favorite over the last ten years is the Philippines. The waters of this island nation lie within the “Coral Triangle,” a region recognized as having the most bio-diverse marine ecosystems on the planet. Divers visiting the Philippines enjoy a rich variety of underwater landscapes and bountiful marine life and can choose from a number of resorts that provide excellent service at a reasonable price. A good example is the Atlantis Dive Resort in Puerto Galera.
First Impressions
The town of Puerto Galera lies on the northern tip of the island of Mindoro. Travelers arriving at Manila’s international airport take a 65-mile van ride to the town of Batangas, then a ferry trip to Sabang Beach, which is the coastal resort area on the north end of Puerto Galera. With numerous dive resorts and shops offering diving services at relatively inexpensive rates, Sabang Beach is certainly a place where divers will feel at home. There are also numerous restaurants and clubs offering a range of dining options and lively nightlife. These added draws sweeten the pot, but it’s the quality of the reefs that really explains the area’s popularity with divers, who come from around Southeast Asia, North America and beyond.
Due to the large tidal flats that front most of Sabang Beach, the near-shore depths are too shallow for anything larger than a skiff to approach the Atlantis Resort proper. On arrival, you will disembark 100 yards to the left of the resort’s entrance and take a short stroll along the waterfront. Don’t worry, all of your luggage is taken care of, and brought to the resort right behind you.
From the beach, it is hard to get a feel or sense of the layout of the Atlantis Resort property. At the beachside entrance, the resort’s bar and the dive staging area sit sandwiched between a local restaurant and bar on one side, and another dive operation on the other, concealing what lies within.
Once you are beyond the beachside entrance you will discover the resort is actually quite attractive and surprisingly larger then your first impression would have allowed. In all, the property encompasses forty guest rooms and suites around a centrally located restaurant and a large freshwater pool. The grounds include a boutique, full-service spa, and a dive center with retail space, classroom and camera room. To accomplish this centralized layout, the resort is very cleverly built in a long rectangular formation that extends part way up the hillside overlooking Sabang Beach.
Here is where I should mention an interesting quirk in the relation between Atlantis Dive Resort and the town of Sabang. There are few motorized vehicles in or around town. Instead, everyone gets around on foot. One of the public walkways runs right through the resort, separating the dive staging area and beach bar from the resort’s dive shop and guest’s gear storage area. The resort’s own restaurant sits to one side and the public walkway while a local restaurant & bar occupies the other side facing the beach.
This may seem a bit strange to first-time visitors, but there is no security issue, as non-guests know not to venture off the path into the resort’s property uninvited, and the resort itself has both security cameras and personnel watching everything day and night. While the resort’s restaurant doesn’t offer a scenic ocean view, the ambiance is still nice as the dining area sits beneath a giant open-air thatch roof overlooking the resort’s large freshwater pool. The resort’s kitchen uses fresh local fruits and meats to create a range of local and international dishes that change daily.
Amenities
Like a growing number of full-service dive resorts in the region, Atlantis offers a full-service spa overlooking the pool opposite the restaurant. After 27-plus hours of travel and transfers, a 90-minute-deep tissue massage was just the ticket in getting the kinks that comes with prolong air travel ironed out, leaving me feeling more ready to hit the reefs.
All guest rooms are air conditioning and include en-suite private bath and shower facilities with hot water provided by a solar heating system. The deluxe suite I booked came with one full and a twin-size bed, a large flat screen LCD TV with movie and sports channel and a DVD player, a refrigerator, coffee/tea maker, fully stocked mini bar, and even a supply of emergency toiletries (toothbrush, tooth paste and shaving kit). Even the least expensive rooms in the resort, which are located on the second floor above the dive staging area, provide wireless Internet access and in-room safety deposit boxes.
Management at the resort advises that you should not drink the water from the tap in the rooms. Your options are the bottled water in the room or the water available in their restaurant, as well as at the bar and dive shop, which are all completely safe.
One of the resort’s roomier dwellings, particularly for families with small kids is the Seaview Suite, which is located above the dive center on the third floor. The suite’s nickname, the Flintstone room from the stone-pattern stucco walls and the tree trunk running from floor to ceiling, which serves as the ladder for the bunk beds adjacent to the room’s one queen bed. Additionally, this suite has a large terrace overlooking the beach and ocean.
Dive Center
Atlantis’ dive center is split into two areas. On the landward side are storage facilities and a rinse area with four tanks – one just for cameras – along with freshwater showers, cubbyholes for stowing mask, fins, and dive lights, and a large drying room for hanging wetsuits, BCD and regs. The other side of the center is located facing the beach, and is comprised of a large staging area where divers secure the tanks they need from large selection of aluminum 80s with air or 32-percent nitrox. Once your tank, BCD and reg are assembled the staff then carries it down the beach and in the skiffs.
The Atlantis resort’s camera room is first class, with sold, spacious worktables covered with rubber matting. A feature I prefer rather than moisture absorbing carpet. Underneath the tables are shelves for storing equipment and multiple sets of power outlets in both 220 and 110 volts that accept both standard US and European plugs, plus two air-guns systems to blow water from recesses in equipment. The room is climate controlled so working conditions are comfortable, and the air has lower humidity.
Diving Puerto Galera
The daily dive schedule usually involves a series of single dives set around 8 to 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. with trips back to the resort after each to change out tanks. This is because most of the diving in the Puerto Galera/Sabang Beach area is no further than a 20-minute ride from Atlantis’s beachhead, and several are less than five minutes away. The resort maintains a fleet of 18-foot skiffs, which typically carry no more than 6 divers plus a dive guide and driver.
The skiffs have neither sun protection nor tank holders. So, my recommendation here is pack a hat, and to be a bit diligent with your camera setups, since both dive gear and camera equipment are both placed on the floor of the skiff.
My first dive at Atlantis was at a site named Monkey Beach, which is an eight-minute boat ride to the east of the resort. This site proved to be indicative of the general bottom topography of the area, with the reefs starting near the shoreline and following either a steep slope or a series of step-like ledges down to depths between 70 and 105 feet, then terminating into a semi-flat sand and rubble floor. At the start of the dive, there was no noticeable current, but water flow picked up during the second half of the dive. Currents around this region of the Philippines are tidal in origin, ebbing and flowing throughout the day, and changing direction from one side to the other during each high and low cycle. At some spots the current can get quit strong, turning dives into a drift.
Underwater visibility was more than adequate, varying between 50 – 60 feet. From what I got from the dive guides, and what you should typically expect around Sabang Beach. Water temperature in March was around 76-77 F. The diving here is not about how far you can see, but what you find in the spaces you cover. This region of the Philippines is a macro photographer’s paradise, with an endless supply of subject matter from the small and colorful such as nudibranchs, peacock mantis shrimp and mandarin fish, to the fantastically cryptic like robust ghost pipefish, pygmy seahorses and dragon sea moths. As should be expected, the dive guides know their way around all the dive sites, and they are quite helpful and accomplished hunters when it comes to finding small critters.
Other than the occasional sea turtle, don’t expect to see any large pelagics around Sabang Beach. The place for wide-angle photography is Verde Island, which I will get to in a moment. Two of my favorite sites around Sabang Beach were Boulders, a steeply sloping reef comprised of huge boulders covered in corals, and Giant Clams, which is named for a nearby giant clam farm. This site is located within a protected bay and features a shallow area adjacent to a gentle slope that is ideal for true muck diving.
Verde Island
What I would consider the most memorable adventure provided by Atlantis Puerto Galera Resort was the three-tank dive adventure to neighboring Verde Island.
For this all-day trip, divers are loaded onto a 50-foot banca-design dive boat for an 8 am depart across the Verde passage, which separates Puerto Galera from Batangas. The trip to Verde Island takes approximately an hour and a half. Once there, the schedule is two dives, followed by a trip a shore for lunch, where the staff puts together a pretty amazing lunch buffet. After an hour of on the beach, it’s time for the third dive, and the return ride to the resort with time to relax before dinner.
Verde offers three very interesting and beautiful sites: Coral Gardens, Washing Machine, and Drop off. Out first dive was made at Drop Off, as the tides were in our favor at that time. This site turned out to be my personal favorite, offering excellent underwater visibility, interesting topography and a tremendous variety of fish and coral. The site is a huge, broad base pinnacle the just breaks the surface, with one side dropping sharply down a couple hundred feet, while the other side takes a more gradual downward profile, terminating at a broad plateau 40 feet deep running back towards Verde Island. When the tide approaches its zenith, the currents can really sweep the steeper side of the pinnacle, making it a challenge to stay in one spot. But watching the banquet of small fish, corals and crinoids compete for space makes effort worth it.
Final Thoughts
Overall, my experience at Atlantis’ Puerto Galera Resort was quite good. The staff was very friendly, helpful, and accommodating. Rooms at the resort are spacious and clean with plenty of shelf space. The resort’s dining fare was tasty, with made-to-order breakfast, and the lunch and dinner menu varied enough to keep things interesting. The soups were especially savory.
Would I return? Absolutely! The plane rides are longer than to Caribbean destinations closer to home. But when you factor in the quality of the marine environment, the excellent service and the relative cost-per-dive, a trip to Atlantis Dive Resort starts to look pretty good.
For more information regarding bookings, and what you need to bring, visit Atlantis Dive Resorts at www.atlantishotel.com
