Scuba Diving in Dauin, Philippines

Dauin (Dumaguete), Philippines

Scuba Dive Destination

Wide angle madness!

Apo Island's clear waters

Stilted bungalows of our resort

  Dauin is a tiny municipality of Negros Oriental, Philippines. Except for tourists coming in for scuba diving the small fishing village vibe still rules here. Ladies set up stalls by the road in the afternoons with all the fresh catch of the day. The men and some women too take out big seine nets right around sunset time and drag them along the shallows. Ten villagers hauling in these huge nets on either side made me wonder how any fish are still out there in the shallows. I got my answer when they pulled the net in the first time and I overheard someone say, "stonefish....we got 1 stonefish." They are hoping to get tiny little fish about the size of anchovies on our pizza here in the States to make little fish pancakes and rice for the next mornings meal. I couldn't believe all the work that went in to such a small catch. I wonder if there used to be many more fish in their nets...

Heidi diving through a Steve Zissou film

  The big draw here for us was the scuba diving. Black sand beaches abound here in this part of the Philippines thanks to the looming volcanoes making up these islands. This dark colors sand makes for great picture opportunities for macro subjects like frogfish, nudibranchs, and scorpionfish. The muck diving is superb with some of the best biodiversity we have seen since Indonesia. Plus this area has access to the incredible Apo Island. This small island is only a twenty minute boat ride away and is the opposite of the muck diving you find along the shoreline. Clear waters and a surrounding coral reef filled with colorful fish and big schools can be found here. We did a day trip with three different dive sites and it got better and better with each dive. Huge schools of jacks, incredible coral coverage, and the biggest sea snake we saw all trip greeted us here. It was a wide angle photo heaven.

Tiny Clown Frogfish

This is the smallest flatfish ever

  We also made sure to do a couple of night dives while we were here. This is when the sandy bottom of the near coastal water lights up with life...literally. Turning off our flashlights and waving around underwater small blue-green flashes of bioluminescence light up the dark.

Snake Eel

Mr Grumpy

Turning back on our flashlights we found snake eels peering out from the sand, nudibranchs slowly moving, and micro versions of animals that must feel safer coming out in the dark.
  Another fun thing about staying in Dauin is finding how many different kinds of transportation you can use to get to town. Dumaguete is the biggest town nearby with malls, an airport, immigration, and even a movie theatre. We ended up taking a bus, a motorized tricycle (kind of like a motorcycle with a side car), and a fully packed out jeepney. This costs us anywhere from fifty cents to about three dollars for a twenty minute ride. You have to love public transportation in the Philippines. Even when there are eight people packed on your tricycle.

Sea Horse Eye

One of my favorite anemonefish pictures from the trip, Dauin

Nudibranch colors