Diving El Dorado in Dauin, Philippines

The rocky shoreline at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines

Divemaster Austin on the beach with his fins before the shore dive at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines

No items found.

View all

Austin Tuwiner

Dive Sites

October 9, 2026

I dove El Dorado in October 2026 with Critter Republic, as a shore dive in Dauin, Philippines.

The site is labeled on Google Maps, so it's easy to find.

El Dorado is a muck dive with man-made concrete structures and a small dive boat shipwreck, and it has tons of life.

Dive Log · Dauin, Philippines

El Dorado

Dive Data from my Garmin Descent MK3i

Max Depth

75ft / 22.9m

Avg Depth

38ft / 11.6m

Dive Time

62min

Water Temp

86°F / 30°C

Visibility

70-80ft / 21-24m

Entry

Shore

Recommended Certification

Advanced

MuckArtificial Reef Asia 9.19293, 123.271977

The Dive

You get in straight from the beach.

The first stretch is seagrass.

Seagrass with small fish at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Seagrass on the way out.

The site is covered in man-made concrete structures, and there's a small dive boat sunk here too.

Artificial reef structures on the sand at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Man-made concrete structures across the site.

A metal frame artificial reef covered in growth at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — A man-made structure covered in life.

For being an artificial reef, it has tons of life between the structures and the shipwreck.

A school of yellow striped fish around an artificial reef at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Tons of life around the man-made structures.

A school of small fish over the small dive boat shipwreck at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — The small dive boat shipwreck at El Dorado.

Plenty of coral has grown up across the site too.

Coral and a feather star at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Coral growing across the site.

A coral head with reef fish at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Coral and reef fish.

Reef fish over the coral at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Busy coral reef.

I logged 75 ft (22.9 m) at the deepest, with an average of 38 ft (11.6 m) across 62 minutes.

What Marine Life I Saw

We saw two seahorses, one gray and one white, as well as tons of clownfish, anemones and nudibranchs.

A lot of the small stuff was out on the sand between the reefs.

Clownfish on a purple anemone in the sand at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Clownfish on an anemone in the sand.

Clownfish over an anemone on the sand at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — A couple saddleback clownfish over an anemone.

Clownfish in an anemone beside a large coral at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Clownfish in an anemone.

Clownfish in a red anemone at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Clownfish in a red anemone.

A seahorse on the sand at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — One of the two seahorses we saw.

A nudibranch on the sand at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — A nudibranch on the sand.

A stingray buried in the sand at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — A stingray buried in the sand.

The Dive & Conditions

Divemaster Austin swimming out from the beach at El Dorado, Dauin, Philippines — Austin heading out from the beach.

Visibility was around 70 to 80 ft (21 to 24 m) on my dive, and the water was 86°F (30°C).

I dove in just a rash guard because the water was warm, but many other divers wore wetsuits.

The dry season, roughly November to May, is generally the most popular time to dive Dauin.

June to October is the wet season, with rougher seas.

Let's Dive Together

👋 It's Divemaster Austin

I'm inviting you to Dive Club, my global scuba diving community.

What you’ll find inside:

🤿 Dive meetups & group trips
‍
🌍 Top dive sites shared by community members

⚙️ Gear tips & technique discussions

🤝 Diver's who’ve already linked up IRL

See you there!

Join Dive Club

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Austin Tuwiner

I'm a PADI Divemaster based in South Florida.

With over a decade of diving experience, I help readers become better divers, buy their next piece of gear, and plan their dream dive vacation!