Acqua Dive

I stumbled across the resort on Google while looking for scuba diving at Apo Island, and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves diving. The rooms seem brand new, are very clean, and feel on par with a 4 to 5 star place in central Europe. The restaurant food is very good, and the diving is incredible. It’s run by a family. Sean and his wife were lovely and helpful, and the well-trained staff speak good English and do whatever they can to assist. What I liked most was how small and friendly it feels: even though I was traveling alone, by the second day it felt like diving with friends.

During our three weeks in Philippines, this was the most unforgettable hotel we stayed at. The rooms and grounds were so clean we felt like we could stay forever. From the location and food to the accommodation, diving, and swimming, everything was top-notch. Thank you, dear host!

The resort looked nice, and the boat was very good, but the dives themselves seemed more focused on how far we could swim than on seeing marine life. For quite a while, we swam over dead coral or open sand. When I stopped to look at something interesting, I was urged to hurry. The DM only pointed out 3-4 creatures. I asked several times if we could slow down, but we didn’t. I was also rushed into a taxi before I could write my dive notes, so I have no record of which sites I visited. I was really looking forward to Apo and ended up quite disappointed. It just wasn’t very enjoyable for me :-(

This place really wasn’t for us, especially with kids. Right when we arrived, a staff member told us to leave our shoes at the door. I get wanting to keep things clean, but we had to go barefoot all through the building, over a cold, sticky floor, and there weren’t even slip-ons offered. At reception I asked what activities we could do during our stay. The girl said there was only a boat trip, which we took and found okay. I’m still waiting for the photos the boat staff took to be emailed. With nothing else to do, the kids wanted to swim, but the pool didn’t feel available in practice, even though we were told it was open from 7am to 9pm. On our first afternoon, they’d only been swimming a few minutes when a staff member asked me to tell them to lower their voices because some guests were sleeping. They were just giggling, not shouting. There were only a couple of couples and a family of four staying there, all foreigners apart from us Filipinos and the workers, who were actually courteous and accommodating. We got similar reminders about sleeping guests at 6pm and 11am too. It felt ridiculous. We hoped there might be something fun for New Year. They said there’d be fireworks and gave us hats marked “HAPPY BIRTHDAY,” a plastic horn, and some luces. By 11pm nothing had happened. One couple had already left. We stayed until about 11:30, while the resort next door was lively and had started celebrating early. Our garden was dark because the lights were off, and there was no sound. We wondered if the owner had forgotten it was New Year. The lights didn’t come on until 11:55, along with some sad music. We always look forward to having fun on New Year, and this wasn’t what we had in mind.