Mike's Dauin Dive Resort

This was my first stop on a three week die trip to the Philippines. I flew into Cebu International Airport, stayed the night in the Waterfront Airport Hotel and then flew to Dumaguete from Cebu which was very quick and convenient. MIkes is a really great place to stay with excellent food, especially the daily specials and the a la carte breakfast. The rooms are great and the pool just perfect. Like everywhere else in the Philippines the staff were delightful. My guide, Ace, was an amazing spotter and so friendly and kind. The manager, Chester, was so quick and efficient with replies to emails before I arrived. What really gives the warm friendly vibe is divers love so much is having a friendly owner or manager who is interested and mixes and talks to people. Chester did this beautifully, doing a round of the tables at breakfast and often again at lunch to chat to guests. The diving was superb, Apo was fantastic as always, but I really loved the macro dives on the coast. There were masses of big turtles everywhere, all looking very happy and well fed. We also did really well with frogfish, sea horses and many many nudis. The weather was really good for January, there was one morning of rain only in a week. But the currents on the surface were very strong. The Captain made great efforts to avoid dive sites with a lot of current underwater and succeeded. But this is apparently the norm in January. Highly recommend this dive resort.

This has been the second consecutive year that we have stayed and dived at Mike's Beach Resort. Congratulations to Chester for ruling this hotel with such attention to detail. Diving with Gabby and Ace was awesome. All the staff were attentive, including Victor, the captain of the bangka boat, as well as the boat crew. Comfortable rooms and a good restaurant.

Nice mid range hotel. The main attraction for us was the diving and the dive team did not disappoint. The accommodation is a bit tired but ok and the included breakfast is very basic and cheap, but all the paid for food is lovely. Dive masters Ace and Gaby and the boat crew are great and the week got better and better.