Northwest Dive Club

First if I am posting something against board rules please delete this.

As some of you know my wife is from the Philippines. We recently purchased a beach front lot near Siaton where she is from in Negros Oriental. We have been tossing around ideas and thoughts of what and how to build something. The lot is 20 X 110 meters Approx (65' X 360'). We could double the size of the lot, but it would mean not having money left over to build anything. That is our first obstacle, but not a deal breaker. We are about 1 hour away from any major restaurant and 30 minutes from the nearest dive shop and resort. So we would be somewhat of a first in the area. This also means if I offer it to divers we would have to provide either a large kitchen or restaurant on property. Most successful resorts in the area have dive shop and restaurant and several types of accommodations. Of course as a diver I am thinking dive related ideas. Wife wants a large pool. I would be happy with a larger 5 bedroom house, a dive shop, and restaurant, and dive boat. Unfortunately, when I was there last month I found no house reef of any kind to 70fsw. There is no hard structure to attach coral to. My suggestion is to drop boulders in and around 60-100fsw. There is a couple reef sanctuaries within a short boat ride and they have great corals and fish life. There is also Apo island which i can only estimate is about 30-45 minute boat ride from us. Unlike Bonaire in the Philippines you have to pay sanctuary fees which can range from 150 peso per dive 50 peso added for camera. Apo island is 300 peso per day. I did a 2 tank dive at Apo with Thalatta Dive Resort before I left. They have a very large boat, but to my surprise for what you pay the only thing they somewhat offered was hot water for coffee or tea. I say somewhat offer cause no one on the boat mentioned it was available. Just noticed it. So since I have somewhat a clean slate so to speak of I would like to know if you were to travel and stay, what things would make or break it for you? Just as a reminder where we are located, we are 1 hour drive away from Dumaguete and there is no places to really eat locally in Siaton. Your thoughts and ideas are greatly appreciated as I would love to build something that would be a great place to come stay and dive while in the Philippines.

I did a trip to Dumaguete a few years ago and stayed at the Atlantis resort. They did a trip to Apo and offered a full lunch on the trip - it was over an hour to Apo from the resort, as I recall. They also had an arrangement with the locals at Apo for buying stuff while at the island. The muck diving around Dumaguete was very good when I was there. They also had some artificial structure they put in near the resort. I would think you could probably find some muck diving sites nearby. May be useful to talk with local fisherman and divers to see if there are any wrecks or other structure in the area.

+1 to Magoi. I was just at the Atlantis Resort in Dumaguete a couple months ago and I also did the Apo trip in which they treated us to a full lunch, bottomless coffee, tea, soda, and bottled water (and everyone was offered a free beer on the way back to the resort). I think your best bet in finding out if a dive destination is the best course would be to check with the locals and any divers you can find to determine what if anything exists. It may also be worth the drive into Dauin to talk to the different resorts and get a feel from some of them in how/why they chose their locations or what options would be available to you to start an artificial reef, understand what the full costs are of running something like they do. I think a dive resort could be a great idea if the location is right and it's under-served or under-utilized, however, I think to be a truly all-inclusive location you may want to start small and build out over time. Maybe start with rooms, a pool, and maybe a kitchen that could do the meals and see how that goes (Kind of a Philippines B&B). Then look to expand out to offer diving. This would give you a chance to test the waters, establish a bit of an artificial house reef, and save up to make the investment in dive gear, compressors, etc.

I also dove with Atlantis Resort in Dumaguette two years ago and had similar experiences. My favorite days were the two trips to Apo Island, as I'm not into muck diving as much.
I wanted to mention that it seems pretty easy to make small artificial reefs with a few well placed large rocks. There always seemed to be a few rock clusters at each of the dive sites along the shore where the resort was. Each miniature reef was like a beautiful tropical aquarium, populated with several species of small brightly colored fish and other critters.
If you want to make your property a resort, it will need to have a restaurant with a bar area. If the location is similar to Atlantis, there isn't anything else within walking distance. Your guests will appreciate good food and some drink after a day of diving.


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The best way to make 2 million in the dive industry is to start with 1 million! LOL

I would focus on your demographic, what do they want? Are they Asian, Australian, etc? Can they get to your property? Which airport? How much hassle are the transfers? Will their dive gear arrive? What do they expect when they arrive (landside)? Just 1 restaurant and a bar? Who's going to work the restaurant? All those kinds of questions.

If you think like a diver you'll probably fail. Unless your waterfront is like Truk lagoon with its own magnetic draw, you're a resort developer first, dive operator second.

Jeff,
If I were you, I would just stick to your original priority and plan when you purchased the beach front property - that is, to make it a nice retirement place. You can correct me if I'm wrong on that. I was born and raised in Cebu City and left the country in the late 80's. Back then, my older cousin had a dive shop in Moalboal, and that is where I got into diving in the early 80's. My cousin then migrated to the States, and closed his dive shop. He told me, years later that it was hard and a headache to manage one. I know Negros Oriental very well, because prior to moving here, I was a pharmaceutical sales representative and Dumaguete was one of my assigned areas. Unless, you want headache and stress in your retirement years, then go ahead and pursue your plan. It takes a lot of work to make your plan a reality. If I were in your shoes, it would just be nice enough to wake up everyday looking out your window the beautiful beach you have, and have a San Miguel beer in your hand while you lay in your hammock. If you feel like diving, set up your gear, dive off from your beach or load it up in your car, and off you go. Get your tanks filled up and ready again for the next dive. Just living life, and nothing to worry about the daily operations of the dive shop business.

Just my own opinion. Either way, I'm looking forward diving with you in the P.I. when I'm retired and I travel back and forth from the U S., and the P.I., and elsewhere.

Great advice here!

I think it's the other way around, the best way to make 1 million is to start with 2 million and open a dive shop.

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas. If any of you are married then you know your wifes mind can change a millions times from one moment to the other. Currently 9/8/16 she is on the "let's just build a small cottage for retirement and a pool with a lazy river" ;-) I can always simply go diving and rent tanks from the dive resort or go with them to Apo. There are also some great close by reefs that IF I have a boat with a decent motor can get there in short time. I have seen other resorts in Dauin creating small concrete dome type reef balls and placing them out there. I will still look into how much it would cost to drop some boulders out there. As stated the last thing I wish to have is to deal with any stressful business dealings when i am suppose to be retired. Not saying I cannot invite local buddies to stay and do some diving. I think we are quite some years off of anything happening for now.

I know one thing I have gotten more warm water dives this year (approx 50), then I do cold water(approx 6). I must make that change soon.