Magic Oceans Dive Resort — Hotel in Anda

A well-designed resort with a free-form pool surrounded by individual thatched "cottage-style" accommodation. Rooms are large with plenty of shelf/hanging space for clothes and hot water showers. The balcony also has a drying rack to hang out wet gear. (A door mat at the front door would be useful to help prevent skidding on the tiled floor). Meals are at communal tables but guests can eat at single tables if they wish. There is plenty of food throughout the day, mostly Western dishes, with a large menu to order from but we did find the food a little "same-ish" (meat or fish in a sauce). It would be nice if a few more local Filippino dishes were in the selection available each night as there wasn't really time to order one off the menu at lunch time and then go diving again. The bar is a great place to meet before and after dinner to chat away with other guests and the bar staff produce a selection of cocktails, some of which are quite potent and make for a merry evening. All the staff, from the serving staff to the gardeners, housekeepers, receptionists, dive staff and boat crew, are friendly and keen to ensure you have a great time during your stay and if you ask for anything they will do their best to get it for you. ||The dive centre is spacious and the dive boats are very well laid out with plenty of seating, and space for cameras and dry gear in the middle. The rubber-covered steps and handholds along the outriggers on both sides make getting out after a dive much easier than having to hang onto a rope and the dive staff are there to help you out if you need assistance. ||Our dive leader, Lee Ann, had an expert eye for spotting more unusual creatures and indulged us whilst we ferreted around on muck dives, on one pointing out three Wonderpus - how she even knows where to look was beyond us! There is a virtual certainty of seeing a frog fish on each dive! There are also many large turtles who seem totally oblivious to divers and happily swim around allowing photographers some great shots. The coral around the area is in excellent condition and the soft coral walls are absolutely beautiful to dive - Coral Garden is an absolute must. Our first night dive was amazing: squid, cuttlefish, morays, lionfish, tiny frogfish, nudis and crabs galore. I love muck diving and there was plenty to see in that category although I would have liked to have found a few more of the unusual nudis which other visitors have spotted. Reason to visit again in the future! ||We did a day trip to Canumantad Falls which was fun, albeit an expensive tour from the resort. Note that cars are not allowed to drive right to the waterfall so one is driven there on the back of a motorbike, which takes 5 minutes. We took a picnic lunch and ate that overlooking a nearby rice field in a small cafe before returning to the resort. We drove back via Anda beach to visit a "cave" which turned out to be a small underground pool open to the air so you could jump in if you wanted. As it was full of the local kids having a good time, and we'd already got wet in the waterfall, we gave that a miss.  Pretty to see the water and have a quick walk on the beach, but not really worth the extra cost.||On the last day we left early and made our way back to the ferry terminal via a 20 minute stop at the Tarsier Sanctuary at Cobella and a (somewhat touristy) buffet lunch on the river trip down the...

We arrived, having had a week on sister resort Magic Island. At Magic Ocean all the guests were from Netherlands and several were big groups from dive clubs. All the dining tables were long and communal. Not surprisingly they were all engaged at dinner speaking to each other in Dutch so we sat at the end of a long table but didn't really speak to them. It would have made sense for staff to make separate tables for 2 right away for people who didn't speak Dutch. They did this eventually but it was a slow response. |We had booked for breakfast which was excellent, as well as dinner and I wish we had opted for breakfast only and just paid for a la carte from their menu, which has pages of great Philippino food on it, because dinner was definitely catering to a palette that likes bland, familiar food. There is plenty of it but it often arrived tepid. We asked about getting local food at dinner and eventually they brought us great dishes like Becol Express and Sisek but we went through some real communication issues to get it so I didn't feel well fed at all for the first half of our week there. The bar and accommodation is lovely and the dive staff are great. On the boats you are given generous amounts of fruit such as watermelon during the break. One thing I was surprised by was that some divers threw the skins in the sea. It takes 2 minutes on the internet to see that even fruit skins can harm marine life and disrupt the ecosystem. Why as a diver you would want to do that I don't know. We asked the dive centre to include this in the briefing and that bins are provided, but they did not. The diving was great, it is all macro apart from the many turtles and the coral is in the best shape I've seen anywhere. One final thing I would say is check your bill thoroughly. We were charged for almost $180 dollars worth of Nitrox which we had already paid for in Magic Island resort but it is easy for a guest to miss that kind of thing on the bill. Remember that you're paying a 5% credit card surcharge so any overcharging...

Overall okay resort if you do not value food too much. Half board package is overprized, a la carte dinner is certainly cheaper option (main courses are 500 - 800 PHP).

The dive location around the resort is just great and earnes all the stars given. There are lots of turtles, varoius reef fishes and creatures to spot, just too many notable to list here. Diving is the best, but only reason to go there.

Mostly they offer 2 tank boat dives in the morning which leave at 8:30a and single tank in the afternoon, but depending on peoples request they are quite flexible to adjust. The guidance is quite good and the boat crew is really helpful.

The rooms are all indvidual bungalow, mostly around the pool and some towards the sea. Hot water in the shower is prepared by a water heater with only 3 temperature levels. Rooms are nice and clean. They are fine alligned with the hotel category and are really just as you would expect when looking at the pictures here or from the official site.

The food quality is way more basic than you would expect in the category. All meat, fish and most vegetables is from tasteless deep fried or conserved products. Although you see everyday fisherboats the chef does not manage to serve a catch of day. The chef is certainly self taught, however not with much passion for his job. You can get better lechon or other local food at most street sites and western style dishes would only sell in Europe at food stands near a train station. However the really country side location will stick you with the resorts restaurant.

The service is okay, but not very attentive. So you will need stop them to order a beer along dinner or get a coffee refill at breakfast.

Last to mention: Due to lack of competition the prices for day trips are several times higher than from Tagbilaran. My advice is to book a private limo via internet to pick you up and pay the small entrance fees yourself.

Was it a nice holiday ? Definitely, because of the great diving.

Would I go there again ? Not to this resort. Food quality was just way lower than my own cooking not to mention any...