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Dive Review of Magic Oceans Resort in
Philippines

Magic Oceans Resort: "A Very Well Organized Resort for Diving", Jun, 2019,

by John C Crossley, FL, US (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 29 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 10974 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling 3 stars
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Magic Oceans Dive Resort
Bohol, Philippines
Although I have made several trips to dive the Panglao Island area of Bohol, I had never been to the northeast side of Bohol, so I tried the Magic Oceans Dive Resort in Anda, this year. It was a great decision.
Bohol has a new airport with easy connections from Manila and Cebu. Magic Oceans had a car waiting for me for the two hour ride to the resort. My immediate impression was how this resort is so clean and well managed. It is certainly one of the very best organized dive resorts.
The Dutch owners really have the dive operation set up nicely. Their dive center has a station with each diver’s name listed. Each station has hooks for BCDs and regulators, a hanger for your wetsuit, and a large plastic crate for other dive stuff. About five camera cubicles are off to one side. Each day’s dive schedule lists boat number, guest names, dive guides, dive site names, type of dive, and recommended camera choice of wide-angle, macro, or both.
There are three dive boats and the one that was used this week in late June was never very full. It was a large banka with a marine head and a camera rinse bucket. Most dive sites were within about half an hour ride. Dive sites were categorized as “wall,” “muck,” or mixed. Visibility ranged from 30 to 80 feet and water temperature was about 84.
The wall dives had some colorful sea fans with lots of typical small Pacific Rim fish, nudibranchs, and an occasional fire clam, scorpionfish, eel, etc. The tops of the walls at Coral Gardens and Turtle Point had nice hard corals and numerous turtles. The 7-9 turtles on each of those dives ranged from 2-5 foot in size and were not very camera shy.
The muck dives yielded numerous shrimps, crabs and a tiny nudibranch that looked a whole lot like a “Shaun the Sheep” imitator from TV cartoons. A highlight was a mimic octopus on two dives and a Wonderpus on another dive. Two night dives at “Panorama” were excellent, but another night dive at Seahorse Point had almost too much current that night to enjoy. The divemasters, especially marine biologist Marlin, were excellent at finding critters.
The resort cottages are spacious, clean, and well appointed, within a beautifully landscaped setting, many situated around a nice pool. The dining area was mostly set up in long tables so divers could interact at meals. Most of the divers were European with more Dutch than others. Every meal had lots of friendly conversation time and new guests were welcomed into the groups immediately. The food was excellent but the full-board dinner meal was expensive and also too much food for most of us. I just bought individual items from the varied menu and probably saved half the meal costs.
My week at Magic Oceans cost about $1300 for the package of lodging, transfers, breakfasts and 10 dives. By the time I added three more dives plus food it was up to about $1600. That’s more that I usually spend for a week of diving in the Philippines but it was worth it.
www.magicoceans.online
[None]
Websites Magic Oceans Resort   [same]

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Australia, Fiji, Truck, Yap, Palau, Bali, Lembeh, Hawaii, Florida, Red Sea, Soloman Islands, PNG, Caymans, Bonaire, BVI, Philippines and others
Closest Airport Bohol Getting There Fly to Bohol from Manila, Cebu, or Cagayan de Oro. Resort will provide ground transfer.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 2
Water Visibility 30-80 Ft/ 9-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions Depth and time guidelines but were flexible for time
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 3 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics N/A

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 5 stars
UW Photo Comments Camera fresh water rinse on board. Nice camera table areas in the dive center.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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