Luxury Dumaguete Resort Group Trip & Photo Workshop 2025

Dive Overview

The resort's instructors and guides are highly trained and know how to get you to fantastic dives. They offer small group diving and the guests' requests are accommodated within safety limits. They also offer flexible dive options.

At Dumaguete, you can take full advantage of some of the worlds best scuba diving. The world-renowned Apo Island with its walls, stunning coral, and schooling fish is a short boat ride away. Some of the worlds rarest critters compete for the underwater photographers attention along the Dauin coastline near Dumaguete in the Philippines. The area is often frequented by underwater photographers in search of exquisitely rare shots.

The night dives are also stunning, as are the mandarin fish dives at dusk and the fluoro dives where you can see the underwater world in a completely new light.

Bluewater owner, Scott Gietler, says: 'July is a great time to visit Dumaguete. I've done Dumaguete twice in July and weather has been very nice - calm and not windy. You get some rain but only a brief shower which freshens the air.'

See our Guide to diving Dumaguete.

Read about our Dumaguete 2024 Trip Report by Nirupam Nigam.

Typical Daily Routine

While well probably do a bit of fine-tuning the schedule as the week unfolds, this sample should give you an idea of what to expect in terms of organized class activities. This is in addition to 3-4 dives each day and any individualized, hands-on help you may need or desire, which I am happy to provide as time permits just ask!

• Day 1 (Sunday June 29): Introduction to diving in Dumaguete, equipment preparation, avoiding floods
• Day 2: (Monday June 30):Presentation: Introduction / review of how light behaves underwater, special considerations for shooting u/w, choosing appropriate exposure settings
• Day 3 (Tuesday July 1):
• Afternoon / Evening - Presentation: Maximizing Your Macro
• Choose a couple images for next days image review.
• Day 4 (Wednesday July 2):Presentation: Composition for Underwater Photography, including lens perspectives, working with models, visual storytelling.
• After dinner: Image Review - Friendly critique and discussion about participants images from previous day.
• Day 5 - (Thursday July 3):Presentation: Wide-angle Underwater Photography, including a review of appropriate camera, lens and strobe settings, exposure strategy, utilizing histograms and equipment considerations.
• Day 6 (Friday July 4):Apo Island: All day on larger boat, 3 dives Mini-session between dives 1 & 2: Demonstration on strobe positioning and edge lighting. Individual instruction on request.
• Afternoon / evening: Choose 2 images for Saturdays photo contest and maximum 10 images for guest slide show. Videographers are welcome to submit short clips as well. This is always a very popular aspect of the trip, and showcases how much each participants images tend to improve over the course of the workshop. In addition, well also have a little photo contest, where everyone is welcome to submit a favorite photo or two to share with the group. Winners will not only be recognized, but may even be rewarded with a cool prize!
• For anyone not doing the night dive: Basics of digital workflow and image editing with Lightroom Classic
• Day 7 (Saturday July 5):Optional whale shark snorkeling and photography at Oslob
• Evening: Photo contest and guest slide show
• Day 8 (Sunday July 6): Departure day for many; others may continue diving depending on individual plans

Recommended Scuba Gear

• Dive light or torch for night dives. We suggest Kraken NR-2000 Dive Light
• 5mm wetsuit or a 7mm. Browse Wetsuits at Bluewater Photo
• Hood or hooded vest. Check out scuba hoods.
• Travel regulator. We suggest Mares Ultra 62X Dive Regulator