Please advise/critique my plans for first trip to Philippines

I have been advidly reading the posts in this forum (hours and hours for weeks) and have used all these posts to plan my first trip to the Philippines for two weeks this Febuary for my husband and myself. Can you please offer any advice on my itinerary and let me know if there are any better options as far as accomodations or if you feel we might be better off trying a different location. I have chosen the three locations because they all seem to have great diving, and are fairly close together and easy to travel without wasting much vacation time traveling around by air.

We will be spending our first 5 nights in Dumaguette (4 days diving). We are still debating between El Dorado, and Atlantis. We know El Dorado is a bit cheaper, and have read mixed reports about the food being better at Atlantis. Are the people friendly in both resorts? Does one have a better dive op over the other? We have heard some conflicting reports about El Dorado catering mainly to Germans, and not being German, wonder if this will be an issue for us.

Next we will fast ferry it over to Bohol and then move on to Cabilao Island for 4 nights (3 days diving) and are planning on Polaris at this point.

Finally we will travel back to Alona and stay at Amorita for 4 nights (2 days diving and last day off-gasing with a land tour) We picked this resort to end the trip on a plush high note for accomodations, yet not spend too much money. I had my heart set on traveling to El Nido these last few days of the trip, but it is just too costly. We are unsure of who to use for a dive op in Alona, so if any one has any suggestions for dive op close to Amorita that would be helpful as well.

We haven't made any reservations yet, so we can change our plans with any new ideas. Thanks in advance for any advise and commentary! This forum has been invaluable for us!

Can't comment too much El Dorado, but if the Atlantis is anything like Atlantis in PG, you will have a great time. I think Matt Reed may be there, so he may chime in if he logs on.

As for Alona, TheHammerhead, Chip, Anton, Maggie and myself dived with Bohol Fun Divers (scuba diving bohol philippines) just a few months back, and we had some great dives. They will also do day trips to Balicasag, and a few other locla islands.

Porais is a great resort, I wouldn't call it "luxury", but it is comfortable, fairly roomy, the trees houses are quite nice, as are the air con rooms (Tree houses don't have hot water, but you don't really need it anyway, not sure about the air con rooms though), food is good, and the bar is cheap.

Diving is also fantastic, though I hope you like your macro, because that is what you will mostly see here.

I'm sure others will also chime in with some more info.

Z...

Sounds like a great plan. Each location is unique in what it can offer.

I wouldn't worry about not being German. I haven't used either resorts there, but I will say that I recall reading a few not so positive posts about El Dorado versus reading all positive posts about Atlantis (please don't ask me to search!). Overall though, the majority of posts have been positive about both ops. I think the bottom line is you get what you pay for.

Polaris in Cabilao is great. People who've been to La Estrella also like it there. Both have good dive guides. But when some of us went in Feb there were a lot of European divers, some who were really snobbish (Polaris). Just don't be surprised if you'll be sharing the boat with 5 or so other divers. When we were choosing between Polaris and La Estrella it came down to Polaris having 24hr electricity. It'd be best to book now (or ASAP) since it is peak season around the time you want to go.

Amorita looks beautiful on top of the cliff. I believe the closest dive op is the one in Alona Tropical...I can't recall the name though. Here's a map of Alona Beach to help you out (Amorita is #7): http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ph...rs/249439-alona-beach-bohol-courtesy-map.html . And yes, Bohol Fun Divers was great, but it's a 10-15 minute walk from Amorita. But a nice walk.

Hope that helps!

I am here, and there. There being Atlantis. Although I don't work FOR Atlantis anymore(more news to come in the next few days ;-) ) I am still working in conjunction with them and would be happy to help you with contact etc. just PM me.

I think the comments above pretty much cover what to expect. I am not going to post a picture but the size of my belly accounts for the food at Atlantis, and it ain't small!

I stayed at El Dorado earlier this year for 10 days and would consider returning. The food was fine (you're not traveling to the PI for culinary reasons anyway ) and incredibly cheap compared to North America. The dive sites were great, Nitrox was free and the resort was pleasant. The only negative thing was the ratio of DM to divers is NOT what is stated on the website. On most dives, there were up to 8 divers per DM. During my stay, I did find the bulk of the divers were from Switzerland and Germany, and while not the most social people, they weren't unpleasant to be around.

I can second the recommendation for Bohol Fun Divers. There were a couple of days when I didn't want to make the trip to Balicasag so a DM accompanied me on the house reef. Nothing like two divers to a boat. One thing to note is there was no oxygen on any of their boats. Maybe that's changed in the past 6+ months though.

Both dive ops let you store your gear at their place so even if you're staying a ways away, you don't have to lug your gear with you everyday.

Have a great trip!

Thank you all for the help. I think we will go with Atlantis in Dumaguette. Do you think it is worth staying at Amorita, or in a place like Isis. I am considering ease in location to dive shops as well as restaurants. The Alona beach map is really helpful, but hard for me to tell if Amorita is a bit out of the way - then again, it is a vacation so we'd be happy to stroll on the beach to get anywhere too.
I have been looking at Philippine airlines for island hopping to and from Manila, and Ocean Jet for fast ferry. Is is better to book the air and ferry myself, or just have the various resorts book all this for me?
Thanks again for all the advise.