Very nice setting and a lot of tasteful details.Excellent food.

Lovely nice staff
Negative points:beach stony-shuttle from hotel too expensive-no restaurants close by-no water cooker in the room.

Found the resort lovely,suite was very nice,garden a real delight and very well kept, for my husband the diving was very good,dive guides all very helpful and friendly,all staff were lovely including Ray in the Bar area. Only thing I had to complain about was no tea and coffe making in your suite,which surprised us as we have never been anywhere else amongst all the places we have been where this was not provided for, and if you wanted same after b/fast you had to pay,even though we had paid as full board clients,and only ate very small meals,sometimes sharing a mains and not eating desert each night,only one night in our 8 night stay during xmas and new year period,they put on a good show for New Year with a beach dinner set up,very well done.The pool is a delight indeed,I spent a great deal of my time in the pool as the side excursions I was going to do were unavailable due to a thypoon they had which washed out the access to those side trips,like twin lakes and the waterfall trip,still I enjoyed my time while Garry went of and did his diving.I think they just need to supply the clients with the choice to make tea and coffee in your room at no cost and they would have the perfect resort.The dive boats are very good and the whale shark trip was great.Well done all the staff.

If you really want to know the best place to dive and the best place to stay, find out where the professional photographers go. The answer in the Philippines is Atmosphere Resort in Dauin. During my 9 nights there in early December, 4 professional photographers made Atmosphere their base. But for full disclosure, two of the photographers are married to each other so we'll call it 3 photographic entities! And the resident photo pro was out of the country so I'm not even including him. You can just imagine how incredible our evening slide shows were.

I've been fortunate enough to travel and dive at numerous top destinations around the world. And to cut to the quick, it's a beautiful thing when all the components come together. Usually, something is out of sync - not quite on par with the rest. Maybe it's the critters or the reef, diveboats or divemasters, the rooms or food, but something that keeps the overall experience from topping the charts. Not so at Atmosphere.

Recognize that I'm a diver first and foremost.We chose Dauin primarily for the macro critters: nudibranchs, hairy squat lobsters, ornate ghost pipefish, mantis shrimp, juvenile frog fish, seahorse, ribbon eels, decorator crabs, mandarin fish, flamboyant cuttlefish, wonderpus, sea snakes and critters too small to see without magnification. Of course we had eels, turtles and the incredible reefs of Apo Island just 20 minutes away. But the whale sharks were the absolute bonus. Unbeknownst to us, whale sharks had been hanging around a nearby fishing village for months. Ranging in size from 12-25 feet, they (5 to 7 whale sharks at a time) were very comfortable with divers in the water. To see a sampling of what we saw, click on this link to photographer Tim Neumann's Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.155962527839210.24092.100002763908600&type=3

And BTW, Secret Corner was our favorite site. Go slow because there are a ton of things lurking in the sand.

The dive operation was also first rate. A special shout-out to the divemasters (Chito, Lor, Richard and Arjay) for your eagle eyes and for tolerating our extremely slow pace and exceedingly long bottom times. The boats are big, spacious and stable, and the after-dive fresh fruit always hit the spot. The camera room and gear storage room are both well planned and much appreciated.

To sum, the diving was everything we had hoped and more.

Now to the resort itself. The overall design, architecture and execution are nothing short of brilliant (let's give owners Matt and Gaby well deserved credit). I stayed in a beautiful and very spacious suite with an outdoor shower. It was perfect in every way.

The outdoor bar is cute and perfect for hanging out. The infinity pool is spectacular, as is the restaurant by the beach (be sure to look up to appreciate the thatch roof - a masterpiece). The sanctuary spa is off the charts and you should definitely plan on several massages.

But we were blown away by the food, especially the seafood and local traditional entrees. Chef Glomer, you sir are a rock star! And of course the hospitality was terrific with lots of smiling, friendly and very attentive servers.

Net, everything was perfect including the weather. And while Atmosphere can't control the weather, my experience suggests they will insure that all the other components of the trip are first rate. So follow the photo pros to Atmosphere. Happy Diving!

Stayed here for two weeks in September 2010. A bit late on my review, but I have recently started giving back all that I have gained from tripadvisor by posting reviews instead of just reading them. I have decided to post this review because I have to say this resort is my standard for dive resorts. I have stayed many resorts in various countries and have found this to be our favorite so far. We always compare each new resort we visit to Atmosphere.
The diving is great - nice big boat and fabulous dive staff. Really enjoyed the variety of muck diving in Dauin versus reef diving at Apo.
The staff was extremely friendly and always helpful.
The food was very nice, although we did find it a bit too western. We almost always ordered the local dish and wished they had offered more options for local food. We frequently special ordered Singapore Noodles or Chicken Adobo which they were always happy to make for us.
A Wednesday trip to Malatapay Market is a must. Walk to the road and flag down a jeepney or tricycle for a cheap ride there.
We ran just about every day up the hillside which was challenging but nice to see more of the country side.
The massages were outstanding. My husband and I each had 6 massages in two weeks! Well worth it.
The beach is rocky, but I loved collecting the tumbled sea glass for my collection.
The pool area is very relaxing and I loved the mango daiquiris.
The grounds and rooms are beautiful. Simple and elegant. Loved the outdoor shower, but did not use the tub as it was frequently dirty due to being outdoors.
Overall we loved our stay at atmosphere and will definitely be returning in the near future. This resort has become our standard for which we now compare all dive resorts.