Philippines (Puerto Galera) or Caribbean (Cozumel)

[tridacna]

The two dives following the volcano at Verde were awesome too. “Washing Machine” (for advanced divers only) was unbelievable. If you really want to experience a ripping current with spectacular coral as a backdrop at what seems like 50mph, this is a must-do. I’ve never been so out of control on a dive before, you’re sailing at 90 degrees between gardens of soft coral with zero control.

 

[pinshootr]

Atlantis hands down, great DM, lots of small stuff to find and see, we were there in Nov. and we had currents but nothing we could not hand, until Verde Island. Not to mention the massages everyday(35 us for 90 minutes) check the place out.

 

[BDSC]

The two dives following the volcano at Verde were awesome too. “Washing Machine” (for advanced divers only) was unbelievable. If you really want to experience a ripping current with spectacular coral as a backdrop at what seems like 50mph, this is a must-do. I’ve never been so out of control on a dive before, you’re sailing at 90 degrees between gardens of soft coral with zero control.

After we did the first dive we went by the "Washing Machine" to take a look. It was freakin ripping. The DM said he would do it if anyone wanted to but you could tell he wasn't crazy about it so we passed on that one but I'll eventually go back and maybe try it next time.

 

[tridacna]

Let's put it this way: No-one brought a camera and everyone brought an SMB. The water was foaming at the surface when we splashed. It looked scary. Only three of us excluding the DM were nuts enough to volunteer. We had an interesting time getting out of the water after the first dive which made most everyone leery of anything named "Washing Machine". Grabbing onto the ropes on the Banga in a 4' swell was challenging enough on the first dive.

Washing Machine is a backward roll hot drop - no surfacing. What was remarkable was how close we all stayed together without doing anything! I brought my muck stick - a joke. Never got close to anything that we could hold onto. Amazing reefs and corals but impossible to look at anything for longer than about 2 seconds. Not sure I'll do it again.but glad to have done it once.

 

[outofofficebrb]

I have also read and heard amazing things about Atlantis. Be warned, there is a significant premium to stay and dive here and for the Philippines and Southeast Asia, it’s a lot. We looked at 6 nights and ended up going with El Galleon and Asia Divers instead. While I know the customer experience won’t be to the same caliber, it’s still the same diving and we thought to budget more $ for a place that didn’t have more economical options in the future when we travel elsewhere.