Aug
22
Written by:
Vicki
8/22/2011 1:43 PM
GR8 Divn the Philippines, Atlantis Resort Dumaguete May 2011…..
So our travels began Vegas to San Francisco to Hong Kong to Singapore to Manila over night in Manila and final destination Dumaguete, Philippines 36 hours of travel whew!!! 13 savvy travelers/divers arrive in Paradise to neck & back massages followed by a cornucopia of breakfast delights. Brief orientation of property the off to unpacking and dive briefings. Our first day was check out dive and boat dive then as would follow every evening a 5 star gourmet fair.
Apo Island was our first great day’s adventure with walls and reefs. It was also our only day with light sprinkles opening up to sunning skies the rest of the trip. Air temps were mid 80’s with water temps in the low 80’s. Vis was great all week 80 to 100 feet. Light currents at times made for some very casual and relaxing drift dives.
What do you say about sightings “words cannot describe”…. Ghost pipefish, hairy frog fish, black frog fish, messmate pipefish, banded pipefish, orangutan crab, squat lobster, robust ghost pipefish, estuary seahorse, blue ribbon eel, juv. harlequin sweet lips, fimbriated moray, tomato clownfish, juv. Razor wrasse, blue spotted stingray, stripped catfish, mandarin fish, juv. emperor angelfish, saddleback anemonefish, broaadclub cuttlefish, devil scorpionfish, lionfish, nudi’s of all shapes & colors and yes the “BLUE RING OCTOPUS”…. A special treat was the cosmic Fluro Night Dive or black light night diving trippy to say the least; green moray turns fluro yellow, red lionfish turns fluro blue & purple far out! Every dive was filled with did you see that conversations!
Landside was spent relaxing between our 5 to 6 dives a day. Wednesday morning was local market day. When we say local we mean local everything and anything was to be had. Livestock auction complete with squealing pigs, water buffalo and chickens to boot, underwear, pots & pans, machetes, fish, fruits and bootlegged DVD’s. Topping off our market extravaganza was a local taste testing sticky rice in coconut milk and the ever popular “LECHON” pit roasted pig yummmmm! Friday was our desat day prior to flying with waterfalls, hot springs, zip lining, fire dancers and of course another superb meal and every entrée was sampled. Then off the next day for our stopover in Singapore which is a story in its own.
The entire trip could not have gone better travel was a breeze with connections, transfers and customs extremely easy. Staff at Atlantis is absolutely the best friendly, courteous and professional. As travel goes you could not have asked for 13 better people to share what simply put was the trip of a life time!
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