I think Cebu/Visayas is a great place to start! That's what we did and have not yet been to Anilao/Puerto Galera, Tubbataha or Coron (Although I promised my husband we would do Coron as he's a major WW2 buff)
My husband also have trouble seeing the very tiny things - we just told our dive guide to maybe focus more on the not so tiny (but still small) stuff, there were plenty of nudies and shrimps in a good size and also saw octopuses and frogfish + a lot more - to me muck diving is not so much about tiny things - it's more that the diving usually is on sandy bottom not on a nice reef - i think Dauin has a little bit of it all (except big fish) and we loved Bongo Bongo - the rooms are very small and basic, so no one spends time there, all gather in the bar/reception area, so there was always someone to talk to and share dive sites/pictures etc. Pool was also really nice. Most of our dives were shore dives with pretty easy entry.
But do not skip Malapascua!
