Diving in Dumaguete & Apo Island

Mainit – This site takes its name from the hot yellow sand patches towards the end of the dive. The patches are by-product of a nearby hot spring and ‘Mainit’ literally means ‘hot’. The wide variety of marine life here is the highlight. Schooling barracudas, fusiliers and snappers, dogtooth tuna, snake eels and stingrays through to jewel like nudibranch and miniature critters. Masaplod North – This Dauin dive site offers a good mix of reef life and critters. Critter life is as you would expect from the region. Frogfish, ghost pipefish, cephalopods, crustaceans, nudibranch and the highlight is the tiny, yet sought after, flasher wrasse which intensifies its colour while courting. Also look out for turtles, barracuda and plenty of reef fish. Bonnet’s Corner – This muck diving site is a treasure trove of unique critters that will impress even the most seasoned of divers. Macro photographers will have a field day with the range of cephalopods which are known to frequent here including blue ring, mimic, wonderpus and mototi octopi and flamboyant cuttlefish. San Miguel Tires – The artificial reef, formed from old car tyres, gives this site its name. This is an incredible site for macro photographers and special sightings include Ambon scorpionfish, mimic octopus, pygmy squid, flamboyant cuttlefish, blue ring octopus, bumble bee shrimp and even striated frogfish. Don’t miss night dives and the chance to see stargazers. The Chapel (Apo Island) – One of the areas best coral reef dives, this wall dive is packed with marine life. Look out to the blue for schooling fish and on the wall for vibrant corals, leaf fish, nudibranch and frogfish. A small cave at 20 metres / 65 feet provides shelter for small fish. Turtles, trevally and banded sea snakes are common.