Negros Oriental - Dauin

A little south of Dumagete in Negros Occidental is the town of Dauin, for all intents and purposes Dauin is a town that Scuba Diving Literally built.  Being the home of probably some of the Philippine's best Marine Protected Areas, Apo Island included;  Dauin is truly a destination serious Divers and Under Water Photographers should not miss.  (more on Apo Island in the next post)

Apo Island Aside though; diving on the Dauin coastline has alot to offer on its own.  With almost all of its shoreline reclassified as marine protected areas, Dauin has probably the best supported sanctuaries in the philippines.  What is amazing is that these sanctuaries are mostly run by the Local Government Unit, funded with funds coming from different fund raising events as well as diving ticket collections.  And boy are they strict about their policing and making sure that Dauin sanctuary rules are followed to the letter.

The only downside of Dauin is their high dive fees; fees on their own are already high for Philippine Standards at150php per dive an extra 200php for cameras divers specially photographers will shell out close to 10USD per dive on sanctuary fees alone and that equates to about 210USD for a 7Dive Day Holiday on top of our already lofty dive operator bill.  That being said though Dauin is known to produce some of the best Macro Photography situations nationwide, only challenged by Anilao on the main island.

In any case Dauin does have its share of really good dive sites and let me name a few here.

one of the sites of special mention in this area is the Dauin South Sanctuary; this sanctuary is half of a coral garden bustling with marine life.  Animals such as Turtles, Cuttlefish, Frogfish and sea horses roam this site freely.  It is generally a very easy dive in none to weak current.  Photo subjects shot against the colorful coral garden backdrop provides for a more vibrant image of species being photographed in the area as compared to most of the Coastline's Black Sand bottoms

The true allure of Dauin though are those very Black Sand Bottoms and the muck diving they provide.  Black Sand dives such as the Cars and Buluarte located all within an area of less than three Acres are not to be missed; as most of the best Macro photography subjects can be found here.  Alien looking creatures such as razor wrasse, clown frogfish and hairy frogfish of all colours and sizes; sea horses, Devil Scorpions and leaf fish are plentiful on this black sand slope mix that in with a few flying gurnards and this is a dive which could take far more than an hour if your gas can reach that time.

On top of the critters found above these sights also offer almost every species of ghost pipefish; from the leafy looking robust ghost pipefish, to the colourful ornate variety are present in large quantities and are found in a wide array of different colors and sizes.

And WAIT there's more!!!...  Is how you will feel on most dives here as adding to the long list above are the number of cephalopod species which are present here as well.  Special sightings of the mimic octopus, the wonder pus, short legged octopus are all around.  Just wait for the sound of your eagle eyed guide's tank banger as he points them out to you.

Also present on these slopes is my personal favourite cephalopod, the flamboyant cuttlefish.  These colorful festive critters can usually be photographed doing a number of behaviours in these waters.  From feeding to courtship to mating these little colourful critters are never shy to put on a performance for the cameras for hours on end.



Sometimes I try to imagine how it was i the days of film when 36 shots was all you got on a sigle dive... Boy was that too few....

Muck diving aside the Dauin Coastline also offers one hell of an Adrenaline dive on the eastern facing coast.  Mainit Sanctuary so named so for the volcanic vents divers can observe at about 7ms.  These vents though are only a small plus to what this dive has to offer.  The ripping current that is always present at Mainit attracts big schools of fish of all shapes and sizes.  There is a grouping of silversides here in a school so big they make a whoosh sound as they pass by,  to large chevron Barracuda just hanging out in formation in the strong currents, to diff types of sweetlips, groupers, and sometimes the occasional black tip shark.

This dive is not for the faint hearted and it is suggested divers follow the guide closely as he knows the path behind the numerous boulders sheilding the group from the ripping currents.  If for any reason you get separated from the guide most likely you will just be pushed by the current down to the end of the sanctuary where the dive ends and your boat will be ready to pick you up and this trip from one end to the other if you dont know the stopping points could take as little as 15mins but boy what a ruch those 15mins would be.

Though I only mention 3 sites here these are in my book the 3 must do dives in this area but in no way are they the only ones.   Dauin has a number of other shoreline sites which provide rich marine life just as the sites mentioned above.

It is these special sites found in Dauin that make it truly a photographers dream destination.


For info to Dauin and Apo Island email m.santos@bluewaterexpeditions.net