Our house reef was featured in DIVER magazine this February! We think this is well deserved as the incredible variety of marine life found just meters from the resort tempts our guests back under the waves for more than just a single check dive.
Grab a cup of tea and come with us as we lead you around the marine sanctuary…
Life on our house reef
Take a few steps from Atmosphere Resorts & Spa and you’ll enter one of the largest marine sanctuaries in Dauin, Philippines. Our house reef is more than just a standard shore dive, home to a huge diversity of marine life, there’s plenty to hold your attention over multiple dives.
Green turtles can be seen munching on seagrass as you make your way through the shallows, while trevally and emperors scour the reef in packs searching for their next meal. Head north to encounter famous blue tangs cruising amongst the corals and schooling barracuda hanging in the blue. Head south and see blue-spotted stingrays and inquisitive turtle-headed sea snakes hunting over the reef.
A macro lover’s paradise
For macro lovers, hairy shrimp, ghost pipefish, frogfish, mantis shrimp and nudibranchs can be found with the help of our dive guide’s expert knowledge. While, if you’re really lucky, grape-sized flamboyant cuttlefish eggs can be seen developing right before your eyes.
Artificial reefs
Dive a little deeper and you’ll come across three shipping containers, sunk in 2011. These artificial structures have proved popular with batfish, nudibranchs, scorpionfish and juvenile sweetlips. Back on the reef, the critter hunt continues with jawfish mouth brooding their eggs and broadclub cuttlefish buried in the sand. Finish up in the shallows where colourful anthias and damselfish twinkle in the sunlight and garden eels, schools of razorfish and sea moths scatter the seagrass beds.
The reef at night
Wait a few hours and another rare critter can be encountered. As the sun sets behind the palm trees, technicoloured mandarin fish begin their complex, but brief, mating rituals. Wait patiently and you won’t be disappointed with these small, but beautiful fish.
Once darkness sets in, life on the reef changes again. Many fish find a safe crevice and settle in for the night, but others are only just beginning to stir. If you’re lucky, bobtail squid and the elusive blue-ringed octopus can be seen exploring the reef, manoeuvring around colonies of fluorescing corals.
Whatever the time of day you drop under the waves, Atmosphere’s house reef will have you coming up smiling.
