Resorts with good house reef diving

[awkman]

I'm searching for resorts in Asia with good, maybe great, house reefs. I'll define a house reef as a dive that I can do directly from the resort/dive shop without a boat ride or a long swim. Also the resort/dive shop should allow us to dive without a dive master, to we can set our own timing and pace.

I'll set the gold standard, in my experience, at Wakatobi's house reef. We did this dive everyday for the 10 days we were there and never got bored.

Thanks for the help

[malaysia-islands]

For Malaysia, I have 2 recommendations for you:

#1 Sipadan's Jetty Drop Off, reputed to be the world's best shore dive. The 600m deep wall is like 2 meters away from the beach. Too many turtles.

#2 Salang Reef off the Salang beach in Tioman. Not really the best, but a pleasant swim and nice corals and fish.

[malaysia-islands]

My apology. I have to add that there is no resort on Sipadan Island. Only day trippers allowed. But still, that doesn't stop people to do shore diving from the beach.

I noticed your question was more on "what resort that has good house reef"

[the_cat_keeper]

Also in Malaysia,

Mabul Water Village has 2 interesting house reefs: Paradise 1 and Paradise 2. One's for muck diving (pipe fish, shrimps, eels, etc) and the other's where divers go to see the mandarin fish mate.

Seaventure's house reef (on Mabul) is also interesting. Muck diving with crocodile fish, frog fish, nudi, schools of yellow-tailed snappers, etc.

[malaysia-islands]

Seaventure's house reef (on Mabul) is also interesting. Muck diving with crocodile fish, frog fish, nudi, schools of yellow-tailed snappers, etc.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Seaventure Resort is a make-shift oil platform in the middle of the ocean? How do they lay claim to a "house reef" in Mabul, some 20 minutes away?

[ssra30]

I suppose Seaventure is kind of right next to Mabul. The housereef is probably the area right under the oil rig which is pretty good.

I don't know how this would compare to Wakatobi but in the Philippines, Dumaguette has 2 resorts, Atlantis and El Dorado, both have incredible housereef. Both are about 1 minute away from each other by boat and when you stay at either resorts, you can dive at both house reefs. Atlantis housereef has mandarinfish, a whole bunch of different nudibranch, stargazer, arrow crab. I even saw mimic octopus there. El Dorado has ghostpipefish, more nudis, frogfish, candy crab, flaming scallops, bumblebee shrimp etc. Don't know about Atlantis but El Dorado resort also has some deals with local fisherman so that if they catch anything unusual such as frogfish from their nets, El Dorado would buy it from them and release them in its housereef. I also saw bluering octopus at Duine which is about a minute boatride from El Dorado resort, also along the beach the other direction away from Atlantis.

[Tom Winters]

I had a great time on Mactan Island in the Phillipines at Tambuli in Cebu. Great night life in Lapu Lapu City too.
http://www.tambuli.com/

[chip104]

Hi Awkman,

There are many resorts in the Philippines that have great house reefs. However, it is pretty much standard that you need to be accompanied by a DM anytime you're diving. They do make exceptions to the rule, however, DMs here are really friendly, laidback (but safe!) and can work to your pace & schedule.

FWIW, ssra and Tom pointed out two great locations. Also, the majority of the resorts in Anilao have house reefs which you may want to check out.

If you want more info about the DM rule & the many house reefs, also come visit our Philippine Paradise Divers Forum.

[malaysia-islands]

Oh, is it a rule that even beach diving will require Dive Master? I thought going with a buddy is already enough?

[chip104]

To be honest, it isn't so much a rule but the status quo thing. In general if you're diving through a resort/dive shop they request you have dive master or they will be reluctant to give you a dive pass (esp if they don't know you).

Maybe if it's the housereef the rules change (which I'm sure they do around here) so it'll be best to ask this question in the PPD forum where the more educated can answer this question more specifically than I can.