Negros Oriental rewards those who come for the water. Apo Island is the headline act — a marine sanctuary an easy boat ride from shore where sea turtles circle the reef and visibility is measured in tens of metres. Back on the coast at Dauin, muck divers find a different kind of spectacle in the rubble and sand: nudibranches, frogfish, ghost pipefish. You do not have to dive at all to enjoy it; snorkelling above the shallows at Apo is enough to understand what the fuss is about.
Inland, the Twin Lakes of Balinsasayao and Danao fill volcanic craters in the mountains south of Dumaguete. The rainforest around them is thick and largely undisturbed, and the lakes themselves are calm enough to paddle across by kayak. Casaroro Falls near Valencia is a harder outing — the gorge requires scrambling over boulders — but the narrow falls dropping into dark water are worth the effort.
In Dumaguete itself, the main thing to do is walk Rizal Boulevard in the early evening, find a plastic stool at one of the grilled seafood stalls, order too much, and watch the sea.