Mike, a former Californian grape grower supplying fruit for the wine industry decided to sell up his Californian business interests and make a lifestyle decision to move to the Philippines. Mike keeps a watchful eye over the running of the resort and it is evident that he comes from a business background.
Mike and his team run a very tight and professional show, his team was very accommodating to all the guests during my stay at the resort. All the staff was very friendly and helpful, ranging from the dive staff through to the kitchen and bar staff.
The focus of the resort is scuba diving the local Dumaguete reefs, Apo Island and Siquijor. A number of local adventure activities are also available for non-divers or those who do not wish to dive every day.
I was fortunate to be diving three times a day returning to the resort between dives, a number of the dive sites are named after the dive resorts the sites are located in front of the local dive resorts. Many of the dive sites are a quick 5 – 10 minute banca ride away from Mike’s, that's great as we can return to the resort between dives.
Car wreck – a small pick up van that is broken apart at 25 metres depth on a sandy bottom, imbornal tubes are found here along with 38 gallon barrels, some scattered logs and cement blocks with ropes joining the pieces together with sea grass at the 5 metre depth.
Masaplod Sanctuary – small rocky outcrops with many sting rays buried in the sand and frogfish propped against rocks jutting out. There are staghorn coral beds with schools of yellow snapper hanging above the coral beds with seagrass beds in the shallows. The sanctuary is bordered with marker buoys & ropes so that boats can not enter. Many ghost pipefish are found here and I found this to be an excellent dive.
Masaplod South – sandy patch moves onto broken coral with small blue spotted stingrays buried in the sand, many nudibranch are found around the 5 metre depth, another excellent dive.
Atlantis – tyres bound in groups of three with staghorn coral at the safety stop, I found it to be very ordinary and I wouldn’t recommend it as a good dive. I actually hate these pre-fabricated dive sites, the area should have something to offer travelling divers.
Pura Vida – the house wreck in front of the resort, small fishing boat, car & tyres on a triangular frame as artificial reefs at 25 metres depth, we landed on dark sloping sand from the descent and a small swim was required to the site as the banca was moored just outside of the dive site.
El Dorado – the reef in the front of the El Dorado resort, a combination of sand and reef with good macro opportunities on top of reef at 14 metres, the bottom of reef is around the 18 – 20 metre mark with yellow snapper schools frequenting the coral.
Mainit – drift dive over the dark white sand to a broken reef, a resident school of barracuda frequently sighted, the dive ends close to the hot springs with the yellowish sand hot to the touch, I really liked this dive and spent a long time swimming with the barracuda in the current.
Dumaguete is just a day trip away from Apo Island, I was lucky enough to alternate diving days between Dumaguete and Apo Island, this gave me great variety as Dumaguete and Apo Island are completely contrasting dive locations.
Siquijor is also a day trip from Dumaguete and unfortunately I was unable to make it there in this trip as minimum numbers are required to make the trip viable. At times, I was diving alone with just the divemaster on some dives and Mike will run the boat for just a single diver.
As the boat returns to the resort between dives, people can join or opt not to take the next dive. I was fortunate to arrive in the period between one large Chinese group finishing and another group starting so I had pretty much the run of the place for a couple of days.
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