Dauin · Philippines · Artificial reef · Muck & macro · Sand slope
San Miguel
An old truck-tyre reef grown over with coral, full of critters
Area photo: Austin Rex Lobaton · CC BY-SA 4.0
San Miguel is a small, very old artificial reef of truck tyres tied together on a sandy floor with patches of coral and sea grass, north of the Dauin poblacion. The tyres are overgrown with soft and hard corals and give cover to a long list of critters, which is what makes this a relaxed search dive rather than a route.
Where it is and how deep
9.2005° N, 123.2789° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site is shallow and undemanding, around 20 metres at its deepest, and the whole dive is spent working an artificial reef of old car and truck tyres tied together on the bottom. The tyres have been down long enough to be overgrown with soft and hard corals, and that growth is where things hide; between the structures the floor is sand with patches of coral and sea grass.
Sea Explorers describes it as a relaxing dive spent looking for frogfish, ghost pipefish and even harlequin shrimps, and Dive The World's line-up adds cockatoo waspfish, flamboyant cuttlefish and stargazers, painted and striated frogfish, and mimic octopus. Rare nudibranchs, sheep nudis among them, and seahorses are reported here too, while blue and orange schools of damsels and anthias sway above the coral patches.
Marine life and season
- Frogfish
- Nudibranchs
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Macro critters
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Dauin: Diveable year-round on the sheltered coast; December–February trade winds can raise chop on the shallow sand slopes.
Dive videos
Tauchen PHILIPPINEN - San Miguel "Klein, kleiner, am kleinsten" 4K Dauin · Ollywood - Dive & Travel on YouTube
Stunning Dauin, Night Dive, San Miguel Dive Site, March 2026 · S&N divers on YouTube
Questions divers ask
What do you see at San Miguel?+
Frogfish, including painted and striated, ghost pipefish, harlequin shrimps, cockatoo waspfish, flamboyant cuttlefish, stargazers, mimic octopus, seahorses and rare nudibranchs such as sheep nudis. Damsels and anthias school over the coral patches between the tyres.
Sources
- San Miguel — Scubago (SSI MyDiveGuide)
- Dauin Dive Sites & Day Trips — Sea Explorers
- Dauin Diving, Dumaguete - Philippines — Dive The World
- Scuba Diving in Dumaguete — Atlantis Dumaguete
In The Logbook
- Frogfish: species, behaviour and where to diveMacro & muck · 12 min read
- The best shore dives in the worldShore diving · 8 min read
More dive sites in Dauin
Muck slope and coral bommies ten metres apart
Sand slope
Metal and concrete structures set on a seagrass flat
Coleman shrimp on fire urchins, and the coast's smallest finds
Artificial reef
Mimic, wonderpus and blue-ringed octopus under the pillars
A decade-old tyre reef, grown in and dived after dark too
Muck & macro
Muck and healthy reef on the sanctuary's southern edge
Blue-ringed octopus and wonderpus on the rubble
Mandarinfish spawning over black sand in the last light
Similar dives elsewhere
Motorbike frames and concrete set on a sandy slope at 15 metres
Frogfish in red, yellow and black under the platform legs
Two jetties over a steep sand slope to 30 metres
Debris slope from 3 to 18 m, dived for frogfish and nudibranchs