There are 3 destinations for SNUPS, right? Batangas, Cebu, and Dumaguete. My travel schedule only permits me to join the Batangas leg, which is absolutely fine because diving Anilao is at least top 3 destination for diving in the Philippines. My point being, because we’re not flying to Cebu or Dumaguete, which would cost between 3 to 5 thousand pesos, I said let’s stay at Acacia Resort and Dive Center. It is one of those pricey dive resort in Anilao but you get what you paid for is certain.

Guest Building

Deluxe rooms at the G/F; Premier rooms with balcony at 2/F

Acacia Resort and Dive Center

Acacia Dive Resort after all is one of the generous sponsors for SNUPS and they had special diving package for the SNUPS participants. They were also a major sponsor during the Philippine Dive Seafari. So it make sense to me to support an establishment supportive of divers.

the century old acacia tree as the foreground

 

Acacia Resort and Dive Center is designed and built around a century old beautiful acacia tree. This obviously inspired the resort’s name.

 

 

The Rooms

Acacia Resort has 20 rooms with 6 of them generously over-sized for ultimate comfort and luxury. It has 2 queen size beds in it but still leaves the room with so much space to move around. It has a balcony that looks into the sea, which gives you the best seat in the house to witness the daily sunset.  I was fortunate to be upgraded to one of this room, which I easily got very at home in. It called me to stay for another night, which too quickly, I gave in.

Premier Room

Premier Room

The standard rooms are spacious enough for twin sharing. You have the choice of sea view (slightly more expensive) or forest view. Rooms were fitted with a glass wall which gives you a great view outside, but also gives the outside a good view of you, he he. But of course they have curtain/shades.  It was also designed with the same ZEN theme. Actually the whole resort is so ZEN you don’t want to leave.

 

The Facilities & Service

Get a drink at the bar or lounge at the pool. The impressively well trained staff is right at you before you open your mouth to request for anything. This is customer service at its finest, difficult to top even by 5 star hotels in Manila. Seriously, have you ever tried calling the attention of waiters at Circles, Shangri-la, Makati?

at your service crew

sun deck

acacia tree behind the pool

Acacia Resort and Dive Center boasts a top notch dive shop, with a large area for photographers’ precious cameras, shelves for dive bags, and  5-star shower rooms I’ve not seen in Anilao.  I appreciate that there is someone constantly mopping the floor, as wet divers constantly walking in and out of this area. Also there’s always someone fishing out leaves from the pool, and in the morning, several guys raking and sweeping the area around the pool.

precious area for underwater photographers

shelves for dive bags and trucs

5-star shower rooms

The Food

It’s not that I’ve never had good food before, it’s just that I never had it this good in a dive resort. Their buffet meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) have real good variety of choices, nicely presented, and most importantly extremely appetizing.

Acacia Resort and Dive Center made eating a part of the divers’ experience. It’s a pity that sometimes we had to gobble our food quickly to fit in another dive. This is probably why other dive resorts never care so much what they serve. But if you’re staying overnight, then you’ll be able to enjoy dinner and breakfast (served as early as 6 a.m.)

breakfast buffet

how do u want your eggs?

Acacia Resort and Dive Center is the perfect place to bring your family who are not into diving. I’ve friends who claim (complain) they couldn’t dive as often because weekend is family day and their spouses aren’t into diving. There were lots of kids having fun at the pool last weekend.

dining area with wifi

daily sunset show

Acacia Resort and Dive Center
Email: info@acaciadive.com
Mobile No: +632.917.742.5713.

Photo Credits: All the photos, except for the sunset and of the premier room, are by my good friend and dive buddy, Jerome Kim. I took some myself but his are much better and he kindly lets me use them here. He’s also an excellent underwater photographer who may want to sell his photos. ;-)