About this trip

Are you ready to embark on an underwater journey like never before? Atlantic Edge Scuba invites you to join our upcoming trip to the tropical paradise of the Philippines! Immerse yourself in the wonders of the deep blue sea, vibrant coral reefs, and the breathtaking beauty of this exotic destination. 

 The Philippines is a fascinating country and one of the top spots to SCUBA dive in the world. It is a country of thousands of islands with many well-known dive locations. It was proving impossible to pick one spot to spend 10 nights, so we decided to visit two very different locations for five nights each to broaden our experience and see more of the country.
We’ll start our trip with four nights in Puerto Galera staying at the Atlantis Puerto Galera Resort. We’ll explore the famous dive sites in this area (most less than five minutes from the resort), as well as a day trip to the world-renowned Verde Island. We will fly into Manila and be picked up as a group, for a two-hour van transfer to the coast and a 30 minute ferry ride to Puerto Galera.
After the four nights in Puerto Galera, we will reverse the transfer back to Manila for a domestic flight south to Dumaguete. We will be picked up at the airport for a 45 minute van transfer to Atlantis Dumaguete Resort. We will stay six nights at the Atlantis Dumaguete Resort enjoying four days of diving including a day-trip to Apo Island. Both resorts have approximately 40 rooms so guests enjoy a warm, family atmosphere in both locations. 

Please do not book your flights until we confirm we have enough people for the trip!

World Class Diving

 We will be diving up to five dives a day in both locations. We will be divided into groups of six or fewer with an experienced Divemaster assigned to each group. Each Divemaster is prepared to do five dives per day and will take any number of people (one or more) from their group on each dive. The boats and Divemasters are ready to go for whomever wants to join them. This means you could potentially complete 30 dives on this trip! Atlantis offers concierge service, which means the Dive Shop staff handles your gear and set up, if you chose to let them. They work overtime to ensure you can simply relax and enjoy the dives. 

Diving Puerto

The diving in Puerto Galera is beautiful with colorful coral and plenty of sea life including reef fish, turtles, eels, and more nudibranchs than you could ever hope to see. The diving around Verde Island is world-renowned for a reason. There are few places to experience the beautiful underwater scenery and schools of fish that we will see there. 

Diving Dumaguete

The diving in Dumaguete is true “muck” diving. It is an absolute macro paradise. We can almost guarantee you will see things you have never seen before. Some examples include Wunderpus and Mimic Octopus; gold, black and blue stripe ribbon eel; Mandarin fish spawning on a night dive; Flamboyant Cuttlefish; several varieties of Mantis; Giant Black Frogfish; Yellow Leaf Scorpionfish; Electric Clam and many more. And don’t forget the day trip to Apo Island with astounding, colorful coral configurations and more sealife to experience.

Lodging

 The style and layout of the two locations are very different. Both resorts are all inclusive with an a la crate breakfast menu and three/four gourmet choices for each of three courses at lunch and dinner (including vegetarian and vegan options). Soda (except one at each meal) and alcohol drinks are not included. The bars are full service with plenty of interesting international and local options from beer to wine and liquor. A tab is run for the five night stay and settled at the end with
cash or card.

Puerto Galera

The Atlantis Puerto Galera is a beautiful property with a Greek Islands (white-washed stucco) theme. It is located right on the Main Street of Puerto Galera (a resort/fishing village) across a brick walkway from the water with a limited beach. The walkway is set up as a “boardwalk” concept and runs the entire length of the village waterfront. The resort is arranged around an internal courtyard with the rooms rising three stories above the pool, spa, restaurant/bar, and dive shop at ground level. One of the two resort bars sets at the entrance and looks out over the water and is a great place to hang out throughout the day as we enjoy up to five boat dives each day. They offer a standard room set up as a double (for a couple) or twin (still double occupancy but for two singles).

 Dumaguete

The Atlantis Dumaguete is built as a tropical paradise with each room offering a full glass wall looking out over the plush tropical greenery. The room options are similar to Atlantis Puerto Galera with a double or twin bed arrangement.
The resort is much more of a beach resort, with rooms arranged along a plush, green walkway (in two story buildings) leading down to the restaurant/bar right on the beach. The approach to diving and overall resort service is similar in both locations so in some ways, when we arrive at Dumaguete, it will feel like we are home again.

 DATES AND FLIGHTS

The trip takes place from June 18-28, 2025. All transportation and transfers are included EXCEPT the international flight from your home airport to Manila – round trip. We will need to fly out on June TBA (or TBA depending on layovers and route selected). To be included in the group transfer to Puerto Galera, we will need to arrive in Manila by 9 AM on June 18. We will be picked up as a group and transferred by van and ferry right to the resort. You will most likely NOT WANT TO BE TRANSFERRED OUTSIDE OF THE GROUP TRANSFER. A single transfer is not included and we have been told it will be expensive.
The return from Dumaguete will be a domestic flight back to Manila during the day of June TBA. As most flights back to the states leave in the evening, the typical plan is for the Atlantis staff to transfer us from the domestic terminal to the international terminal for a layover waiting on our homeward flights on the evening of the TBA.

Hotels on either end can be suggested (and possibly arranged) but are definitely not required.
There are several different options available for international flights. We will be advertising our flights a little closer to the trip dates once the airlines have opened their flights for this period.