Anilao for macro?

[mitphys]

Hello all
My wife and I want to do a 2 week trip in December where we can do very good maco/muck diving for a week and then maybe do something else for a week. We were thinking of combining Anilao and Palau. Our other option is maybe Lembeh and Komodo. We have been to Lembeh and Ambon before and also Dauin and loved the macro diving and that's the style we are looking for. We have spent a couple of days in Anilao several years ago but unfortunately didnt see much (not sure if it was just bad luck or not going to the right sites, but we didn't see much in the way of anything macro/muck like). This might be the last macro trip we get to do for a couple of years, so wanted to get some thoughts on whether we should take a risk with Anilao or fall back to Lembeh/Ambon/Dauin?

Thanks a lot

 

[ocdiver1]

Definitely dont discount Anilao...you just had to be unlucky last time--it is better than Dauin. You could also combine it with nearby Puerto Galera that has decent muck diving. Nothing will ever beat your combination of Lembeh/Ambon, but Komodo is a "must dive" place, and if you get a boat that does a southern route (that includes Torpedo Bay) you'll get some fantastic macro. Also consider Alor...just a notch below Lembeh/Ambon IMHO for some great muck diving. Did you do any diving in Bali on your prior Indonesia trips? Great critter diving in lots of places...Tulamben, Padang bai, PJ, and Secret Bay.

 

[BuceoFilipinas]

Anilao, definitely the best macro destination in the Philippines with great muck sites at the level of Dauin and Lembeh !!! I will upload a new dive map of Anilao soon

 

[Searcaigh]

+1 for Anilao, I am off to Lembeh for the first time in 8 days so will be able to compare directly very soon

Anilao is much better than PG primarily because of the ability to shore dive, a major plus for me in order to do nice long dives in the region of 90+mins.

 

[pughio83]

Will look forward to the lembeh trip report. Would love a direct comparison to lembeh if u could. Enjoy lembeh it's fab.

 

[Foxtrot16]

To throw something different in - what about Bali and dive Tulamben and Amed. There are lots of great sites in both areas with everything from macro to wide angle (Liberty and Kubu wrecks) etc.

Karl

 

[Manuel Sam]

I would recommend going to Malapascua for the threshers and there is also decent macro there. I am doing just that (Malapascua first, along with Anilao as my second leg) in November. Just finished my bookings this week. Airfare from BOS is atrocious tho. PM me if you want details. The flight between Manila and Cebu on Cebu Pacific is dirt cheap.

 

[DevonDiver]

I don't think Anilao is quite on a par with Lembeh, but's it's certainly close. Sites vary though - some better, some worse. You can't beat 'Secret Bay' (Beach at Seaspring Resort). Hopefully back there soon, to Scubabro Resort. Dived there before, but was running tech courses so didn't get any chance to critter spot.. this time, I will

 

[seansrs36]

Anilao is purely a macro spot. I didn't use my WA once when I was there. Please the following link for my pics that I took while recently in Anilao:

Zenfolio | Sean Sydnor Photography | Anilao May 2013

 

[drbill]

Anilao certainly is a great spot to shoot macro, although there does seem to be some inter-annual variation in populations. I was there (Club Ocellaris) in April and there was plenty of macro subjects (although while my buddies were shooting pygmy seahorses and nudis, I was shooting the more common stuff like gorgonians... they don't get much respect!). However the guides talked about how some years and at some sites, there was much lower diversity and population size of many species.