My Best Beach Resort Award 2011 – Dive Thru
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Image courtesy Martyn Willes
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My Best Beach Resort Award for 2011 goes to Dive Thru Scuba Resort on Panglao Island Bohol. It receives this award for offering the best overall value for money accommodation, dining and scuba diving experience, above all others visited during the year.
It was while writing the featured destination article for the Bohol edition of the Active Boating & Watersports magazine that I was introduced to the Dive Thru Scuba Resort. I had the opportunity to stay for a couple of nights there and to explore its inner workings and management style.
The Dive Thru resort is not easy to find, being located along a torturous (if you have a regular car) dirt road, about 500 metres off the main road through the Alona Beach area but transport is thoughtfully provided from Tagbilaran Airport if you let the staff know your flight arrival time. Once you arrive you really don’t want to wait during the check–in process, as the vista across the pool to the ocean tugs at your senses and the grand Asian style reception buoys the spirit with anticipation of a luxurious vacation.
Dining was a delicious experience and the resident chef ensured our pleasure with creations normally enjoyed only by Manila’s elite. All meals were served on tables set for fine–dining, with freshly picked native flowers daily.
The rooms at Dive Thru were generous in size and the beds inviting, day or night. A large LCD television set was available but we never actually switched it on, preferring instead to explore Mother Nature’s views and interactions. If there was one thing to improve, it would be the size of the bathroom – not as generous as the rest of the room.
Crabs were much in evidence, served for meals and alive around the gardens: the hermit variety, scuttling along the paths; and, the burrowing kind, in the lawns. Many more were to be found in the coral pools that are a feature of the beach frontage.
Dive Thru Scuba Resort is located close to one of the best reefs for snorkeling and scuba diving, and a beginner would need to go no further for his or her first few dives to understand why scuba diving in the Philippines is the number-one vacation water sport.
The Dive Thru dive shop is very well equipped with the most modern equipment and facilities, and the dive masters have many years of experience in guiding people to the most fantastic of Bohol’s underwater extravaganzas. Whether your passion is for big fish action or macro photography, Dive Thur staff will show you the best of Panglao’s varied offerings.
We were fortunate enough to also visit the Dive Thru out-station, on nearby Pamilacan Island, where they have the plans for the ultimate “glamping” experience, amongst coconut palms and native fruit trees, with a beachfront that is its own infinity pool.
It was hard to leave Dive Thru and return to the dirt & noise, and pollution of Metro Manila, although waiting for our flight at Tagbilaran Airport did provide us with a foretaste.
Dive Thru Scuba Resort rates a 9 overall and a 10 for value for money, hence my award.
Dive Thru Scuba Resort Panglao Island, Bohol
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author – Martyn Willes – based upon his own experience and do not necessarily reflect the experience of all people visiting the Dive Thru Scuba Resort. If you have other experiences you would like to share then email them to The Editor