Dauin

Dauin is a small (about 25,000) seaside municipality south of Dumaguete in Negros Oriental. It is bordered on the east by the seashore, one the north by Bacong, on the south by Zamboanguita, and on the west by Santa Catalina.

Many visitors come for the fine scuba diving and snorkelling; the town is a diving resort in its own right and a jumping-off spot for boat trips to nearby Apo Island.

Understand

In addition to diving-related tourism, the town is also seeing quite a bit of residential real estate development, much of it upmarket. It is about 20 km from the regional center Dumaguete, close enough for commuting, and also gets quite a few retirees. It is said that Independencia St up the hill can offer rentals, but I did not check it myself.

Get in

There is a coastal highway connecting to Dumaguete to the north, and Zamboanguita and Siaton to the south, with bus and jeepney services to any of those. The bus that goes to Dauin is going to Saiton or Bayawan, there are also multicabs Duma-Dauin and jeepneys Duma-Zambo. Jeepneys and the bus are going from almost the same point in Duma. Minimal fare for jeepney is 15, from Duma to Dauin it's as of 23 Nov is 25 peso. Bus is 35-45 depending on a/c or not. The bus with a/c got wider seats.

Get around

• Habal-habal: they are located on the crossing of Independencia St and the highway and going up the mountain. Shall be around 40-50 pesos.
• Tricycle: they are located on the crossing of Captain Ponso and the highway. They travel across the heighway, especially when delivering pupils back home.
• Motor: Maxplace on Washington St for instance, heard it's good.
• Foot: chop-chop, the town is not that big, everything within a walking distance.

Pro tip: to go off the jeepney or multicab use coin to make a sound.

See

People doing sport

• Dauin Plaza: basketball court, tennis court, so-called Gym just after the municipality
• In front of petron: basketball
• Beach: volleyball

People fishing

Closer to 19-20 pm fishermans are hunting fish on the beach near Dauin Point

People betting

Dauin Cockpit Arena or near XYZ trading around 6 p.m.

People drinking and singing

On the beach every weekend

Churches

• There are around 4 churches around the area, including main St Nicolas
• Sometimes there's choir in Iglesia Ni Cristo

Do

The snorkeling off the beach is just a sandy sea-bed, few fish. Need a boat to reach good snorkeling here. However, some artificial reef just off the GRACEY Resort's beach, might be the best snorkel-zone if on foot. The main snorkel area is at the end of J. Basa St and is called Marina Sanctuary. Sometimes it's even possible to see occasional turtle. You might be charged for a fee of 50 pesos by Municipality for snorkeling in the sanctuary.

Or you can get hamac with you and go to the Dauin Point to just chill.

There's a gym in Pura Vida. You can play sport with locals.

Buy

Food

Okay, byers guide will be to complex, you just need to walk around the area. Overall mostly things are being resold in Dauin. Here are some tips:

1. Mostly people are selling the same stuff, except for D'Mart, Shalom and Pacific.
2. You will NOT find western salty bread hier, trust me, just don't bother. Make it yourself, buy wrappers or travel to WhyNot in Duma's downtown
3. Local products are limited to meat, fish and some vegetables. Stable-priced vegetables are: squash, eggplant, cabbage, string beans, cucumber (buy the white or yellow ones).
4. During the weekend-trade on Capitan Ponso St might be smth local from farmers.
5. Don't buy mangoes here, it's too expensive. Overall for fruits I suggest to check Buntis (Bacong area). Stable fruit here is only one - banana, in season lychee and rambutan.
6. There's a Malatapay Livestock market in the area, never been there, but worth attention
7. There's a flour being sold in DONGZ (in front of Dauin Market)
8. There's red rice being sold in Pacific, a few places with spaghetti.
9. There's no way to buy spices more complex than pepper and salt.
10. You can buy milk and magnum ice cream. I suggest to be picky about yogurt though and check Shalom first.
11. Top tier cookies are sold near Habal point ask for Silang or Half-moon. They are baked in Juvy's bakery nearby on the highway. It's still margarine but it's cookies.

Overall you can make without living this town:

• some kind of bolognese (tom paste, ground meat, onion, carrot, spaghetti)
• some kind of Pilaf (rice, turmeric, carrot, onion, meat)
• mashed Potato (milk can be bought as well as potato)
• pancakes (flour, eggs) + you can select between honey and jam)
• steamed vegetables

Housing

• XYZ and the store near BDO on the highway

Eat

• Finbar, ☏ +639959085224. Tuesday-Friday 11am-10pm Saturday & Sunday 9am-10pm. (updated May 2022)
• The Lokal Food
• La Bamboo
• Descansa
• Grilled pork during the evening in (Burgos / Villanueva, near D'Mart and near Habal-Habal area)
• 1 Aquarius Restaurant Dauin, Masaplod Norte Marine Stingray Sanctuary (About 50 meters from the sea on the left side), ☏ +63 926 001 4719. 11.30AM to 09:00PM last Order 08:00PM. Thai and European cuisine. 1000 sqm. garden, parking spaces, al fresco dining. 300 to 400 PHP. (updated Dec 2023)

Drink

With locals on the beach from the both sides of J. Basa during weekends.

Sleep

Most of the accommodation in and around the town is dive resorts. These can be booked directly or through dive shops or travel agents in Dumaguete.

• Atlantis Hotel Dumaguete. PADI courses, live-aboard trips, other services 
• Liquid Dive Dumaguete (a few km south of town), ☏ +63 917 314 1778, info@liquiddumaguete.com. A resort mainly dedicated to diving. 

Daily options

• Bongo Bongo Divers (in town), ☏ +63 926 710 9121. PADI courses and other services 
• AivyMaes (probably the cheapest daily dorm in the area with kitchen, hot shower, generator and hamacs)
• Amigos Dauin Hostel (looks fancy, feels overpriced for what you have)
• Baki Divers (claimed to have good shawarma)
• Glamping Dome (the owner said that if you want a discount you should catch in Agoda)
• La Tortue (was recommended between Russians)
• Mabuhai (same road on which is dauin's ancient tower)
• Cezar's place
• Gracey's Dive Resort
• A few fancy options near Pura Vida on the left and there's a beach villa on the right if going through the beach
• Mike's diving resort
• Bamboo 2 floors hut between Cezar's and Gracey's
• 2 Guest houses near cockpit arena
• Pisces Diving Hostel
• Darpins Guesthouse
• Dauin Market rooms on the second floor

Monthly options

• Pura Vida (80k per month)
• Jacks Pad (10k per month)
• Argana Resort (15k per month)
• Guest house near Iglesia Ni Cristo (15k)
• Anchorage Villas (20k per month)
• Puerto Citas (20k per month and above, have kinda bad reputation on google maps)
• Capitan Aspilla (10k per month + 10k deposit, questionable contract)
• Diver's Home (15k per month)
• Inspiration (25k per month), search Christensen Real Estate Investments on the Google Maps

Go next

Mostly tourists are going to Siquijor after Apo