Trip Report Buceo Anilao and Atlantis Dumaguete

[Damselfish]

Interesting comments about group orientation dinners. That was something I really disliked about the SB Philippines invasion - sitting down to presentations and dinner and whatever at Atlantis PG upon arrival, when I desperately wanted to cool off and take a nap. I'd never been on any group trip where that was done and assumed it was a SB choice rather than a resort choice? (I think I actually did get a nap at some point because I could stay awake any longer, and apparently won/lost something in a "must be present to win" drawing of some sort that I was unaware of.)

 

[Searcaigh]

Thanks for your report @dianna912

I previously dived at Crystal Blue Resort in Anilao and have heard that there is a lot of critter manipulation at Buceo Anilao from other sources, which was a subject of discussion during my last Bali trip at the beginning of this month.

My experience in the past with Atlantis in Puerto Galera was that they were as twice as expensive as Asia Divers so never went back to use them again, and used a different quieter place when diving Negros Oriental back in 2019.

Perhaps it's my age, but I prefer a quieter slower paced dive these days and take my time. I'd rather do one 80-90 min dive than two 50 min dives, and if someone told me I was diving to too slow and holding a group up, I know what I'd be telling them to do

 

[Tippytoes12]

I had a second trip to Buceo in March, with 13 consecutive diving days on this trip. There was honestly no critter manipulation. The only exception was if a nudi was sitting on a small stone, the guide on rare occasions would move the stone nearer the photographer, gently and respectfully. Everybody on the boat was a repeat guest and we all had cameras, all small as it happened, and we’re brilliantly taken care of.

 

[jjmochi]

Thanks for the trip report! I had been to Buceo pre-covid and your account is consistent with what I remembered. For some reason I cannot recall (I think it was the so-so food?) I decided to go w Blue Ribbon this year and definitely missed the quality of the guides at Buceo. Next time I return I will be back to Buceo.

Interesting to see on the Dumaguete leg, sounds like it's not for me. We passed through Dauin for 3 days on the Siren but only got 3 or 4 muck dives in (2 days were fully spent on Apo). I would have ignored the other diver lol. But it's crazy how expensive it is to get a private guide in the Philippines - Asia Divers / El Galleon in PG also charged $40/dive! Whereas in Lembeh Bastianos charged 60 euros per DAY (4 dives)! I always wondered why that is as cost of living / cost of labor should be cheaper in Phili? Your whole account there reminds me a bit of El Galleon actually, tons of 1-2 dives/day then BEER!!!!! resort divers. I hired their best macro spotter and split the private guide fee with another photographer for the second half of my trip and it was so much more enjoyable.

 

[hedonist222]

But it's crazy how expensive it is to get a private guide in the Philippines - Asia Divers / El Galleon in PG also charged $40/dive! Whereas in Lembeh Bastianos charged 60 euros per DAY (4 dives)! I always wondered why that is as cost of living / cost of labor should be cheaper in Phili?

The cost of a Buceo Anilao private guide per dive is 50% of the cost of the dive.

So 10 days of 4 dives a day with a private guide meant I paid 50% of the cost of those dives for a guide. Quite a bit.

 

[dianna912]

Allow me to report an entirely different diving experience than the OP’s with Atlantis Dumaguete.

My spouse and I were there in August with a group from our local shop. The pace of our dives was slow and focused on critter hunting. Our dive guide (sometimes two on our small boat of 6 or 7 divers) was very much attuned to finding macro subjects, and nearly every dive was a muck dive. Five dives were available each day (and we did ask to repeat a particularly good site or two). The variety and number of nudis was spectacular — although we’ve never been to Anilao so we can’t compare. On only one dive did we cover a lot of territory, but that was at a site that required a drop far from the destination.

We missed the Apo Island day because we were sick (not food related), and we were very unhappy to learn that the whaleshark event was a feeding. We’re definitely not interested in contributing even more than we already do to disturbing and changing animal behavior.

Indeed our arrival experience was the same as the OP’s, with the group orientation dinner right away, and we carried our gear to the dive shop. The service was concierge level from then on, however. We carried only mask and fins on and off the boat. Small camera rigs we carried, but the crew would carry large rigs unless you specified otherwise.

The rooms were reasonably large and very nice, and the resort grounds were lush and gorgeous. The food was very good (although definitely not the best we’ve had at a dive resort), and the waitstaff was very nice and friendly, if noticeably inexperienced and sometimes inattentive.

I'm glad you had a good experience. I think our experience was highly influenced by us being the only macro hunters and photographers at the time, and by the types of divers at the resort at the time. Because there was a very large group there, there really wasn't flexibility in mixing the boats and DMs up to match the divers.

I probably should also clarify: for the most part, we are actually "super-macro" hunting. <5mm is my specialty. We are talking: plant myself on a mooring laying line on the ground, and not move myself more than that 30 feet for the rest of the dive type of nudi hunting. I understand it is a very small subset of divers that enjoy this type of diving.

Here are a couple of my finds, that I was super excited by:
I have always wanted to see a Janolus incrustans. (The second shot) What is particularly amazing about this find is that I managed to capture a sequence of shots of it feeding on a bryozoa. The food source for this species has not yet been documented, since they are such a rare find.

 

[dianna912]

The cost of a Buceo Anilao private guide per dive is 50% of the cost of the dive.

So 10 days of 4 dives a day with a private guide meant I paid 50% of the cost of those dives for a guide. Quite a bit.

It was $15 per dive for Buceo, which seemed really reasonable to us. The $50 per dive at AD we were not willing to do, though.

 

[Luko]

I'm glad you had a good experience. I think our experience was highly influenced by us being the only macro hunters and photographers at the time, and by the types of divers at the resort at the time. Because there was a very large group there, there really wasn't flexibility in mixing the boats and DMs up to match the divers.

I probably should also clarify: for the most part, we are actually "super-macro" hunting. <5mm is my specialty. We are talking: plant myself on a mooring laying line on the ground, and not move myself more than that 30 feet for the rest of the dive type of nudi hunting. I understand it is a very small subset of divers that enjoy this type of diving.

I do also supermacro A LOT, I wouldn't dive without a SMC1 or a Noodilab Moby add on lens at the tip of my 100mm.
As per my experience at AD last may (I recently added my report on this board) I didn't find any problems with it even though some of the guests were more on classic macro or even reef patches.
Maybe because I'm systematic on asking/paying for a private guide , as for much having a local expert for spotting critters than about the other divers. I don't want anybody around me to speed or interfere on my shooting (even though I will move around , tbh I would also be bored with a buddy not moving for the rest of the dive as I am looking for various biotopes in other to get different nudis or critters). Hence I could organize the dive pace or end it whenever (usually in the >70 minutes, I lose energy and focus after that) I could even call or suggest some spots.
Some of my fellow photogs staying at AD were on a mission not skipping more than one dive of the 5 scheduled dives everyday of their stay. Hence I wouldn't state Atlantis caters to casual divers (while I think their competitor Atmosphere is more likely to, I was often the only diver on the afternoon boat when I dived with Atmosphere).

I usually do not find Dauin so outstanding for nudibranches (I dived with various operators looking for macro critters)even though I was sometimes happy to find less commonly seen sacoglossian species , I appreciate the place more for octopi, crustacea or froggies sightings (typically in April you would just ask your guide to stop showing any type of frogfish after fifteen minutes since you would have already seen a dozen in the same dive). If you(re interested in that type of nudi, Janolus incrustans can be quite often seen in Tulamben/Bali (and there are so many facelinid sp. as the third one you show). To me Tulamben is the nudibranch capital of the world (I give the edge to Anilao on bigger nudis such as Phyllodesmiums), problem is that this is the place where they are the smallest too, 5mm is the usual fare :