A Glance At Dauin Macro

So, here I am in my new diving home: Dauin, on the island of Negros in the Philippines. It’s pronounced N-E-gros, not N-ii-gros, like the plural of the outdated word for black people.

It’s a top macro spot, meaning that there are many small animals to observe and photograph. The area is really rich in gobies, my special interest. Also, there are many pipefish, anthias, wrasses, and buttereflyfish around. Above the “macro” size of underwater photo subjects are some emperors, angelfish, large pufferfish and an occasional ray in the sand. Also many back bone-less animals populate the dive sites in Dauin: a number of different shrimp, crabs and nudibranchs. It’s a macro wonderland.

The dive sites here are laid out on an even slope of dark volcanic sand, with either natural boulders or a variety of man-made structures like sunken dive boats or bamboo scaffolds serving as attachment points for sessile marine organisms. The dark sand gives a nice contrast in photographs.

What I like to observe very much, but what I have not yet photographed well are the large fields of garden eels, thin eels which never leave their home burrow, always keeping the posterior parts of their bodies in the sand. What a life! Not much travel for Mr. gardeneel.

Here are some of the shots I got in my first few dives after moving here: