Just back from Anilao in the Philippines

[PhatD1ver]

Wait for it, 1st announcement is that I completed my AOW over the weekend at Anilao, second, all that is great, but it was the stuff I got to do in just a very small area over two days...

Gotta say, Thailand was good, but I think in some respects the lean goes to Anilao.... 50% of the good dive sites are 15-20 minutes from your dive resort doors, service is killer, you have to fight these guys off to set up your own gear... the other 35% of the dive sites are probably a good 30-40 minutes, but you can catch two of them on your morning run, or afternoon.

They run bangkas out of the dive resort and hit two spots in the morning after breakfast, then come back in to swap tanks out, and if you want to dive two more they'll take you back out... and back for dinner... or if you want a night dive, they'll hold dinner on you... pretty flexible.

We did FOUR dives on Saturday (2 boat in the morning, then a shore dive to a helicopter wreck about 100m out and in 29m of water from our launch... then a night dive)

On Sunday, we did SIX dives (morning dive to the helo wreck, two boat dives morning and afternoon each, and a night dive)...

Even with some serious chop on top, vis was 15-20 meters, reefs gorgeous, lots and lots of small fish life, nudis.

If you try it, places you MUST dive

Kirby's Rock
Daryl's Laut (this is actually the girders and framework of a floating hotel that obvioulsy isn't floating any longer, only four years, but ALIVE with fish and small stuff)
Mainit - there are some sharks and baracuda now regularly, but it's the perfect drift (not to fast, not to slow) that is a treat, along with the view.
Cathedral - it's pretty awesome at night, and during the day
Eagle point

Highlight really was a very simple little helicopter wreck... has a couple tire piles around it, an old sunken skiff, and a jeepney (hardly recognizable)... the treat is the lion fish couple and their larger adolescents hanging out on the helicopter... pretty easy to find.. but deep enough you need to watch yourself (29m or 90ft) and your bottom time...

People say they can't afford a trip to the Philippines.. but I've looked at ticket prices and if planned well, you could leave almost any point in the US and still find tickets to Manila RT for $1000-$1200, then figure a week at a place like where I was that runs about $175 a day including four boat dives and room and meals (sorry, beers are extra, but the San Migs were running 70 pesos or $2 each at the bar I was told)... so for a full week, you're looking at about $2000 for some pretty unbelievable diving... all in the range of a good solid diver... there are good drifts, walls, small caverns, deep dives (lots of 20-30m dives, but the beauty is that you can see about 80% of what you see at 30m at 18m), and you can shore dive your heart out for free...

So anyway, that's my report!! I'm headed back with my wife 1st week of September anyone gets a wild hair and wants to join up.

 

[DiamondD]

Thanks for the report. Where did you stay?

 

[PhatD1ver]

Thanks for the report. Where did you stay?

Little place called Aquaventure Reef Club (aquareefclub.com)

Rooms were spartan, nothing fancy at all, but the beds were soft enough, sheets clean daily, and there was AC in the room... food was as good as anything I've had in my years of staying in different quality hotels. It was really good. The staff were great! dive staff were very capable, and Joel one of their divemasters can find small sealife like you can't believe, he knows the nooks and crannies of Anilao.

 

[Centrals]

Little place called Aquaventure Reef Club (aquareefclub.com)

Rooms were spartan, nothing fancy at all, but the beds were soft enough, sheets clean daily, and there was AC in the room... food was as good as anything I've had in my years of staying in different quality hotels. It was really good. The staff were great! dive staff were very capable, and Joel one of their divemasters can find small sealife like you can't believe, he knows the nooks and crannies of Anilao.

I won't call it a "little" place!!!!
I would certainly use it instead of the one with a Spanish name!!!! US$100.00 for a single room!!!
I also believe Aquaventure offers unlimited unguided shore dive as well.

 

[drbill]

I did 44 dives in Anilao last year with Club Ocellaris and loved everything (well, except editing the MANY hours of video footage after I got back to the States!). Although we only did four dives a day, many of them exceeded two hours on an Al 80... great bottom time for filming. Just wish my other marine biologist friends would get busy and identify many of the critters that are unnamed! Yes, I know... a fish by any other name would still know the sea (Eluard).

 

[t4e]

People say they can't afford a trip to the Philippines.. but I've looked at ticket prices and if planned well, you could leave almost any point in the US and still find tickets to Manila RT for $1000-$1200, then figure a week at a place like where I was that runs about $175 a day including four boat dives and room and meals (sorry, beers are extra, but the San Migs were running 70 pesos or $2 each at the bar I was told)... so for a full week, you're looking at about $2000 for some pretty unbelievable diving... all in the range of a good solid diver... there are good drifts, walls, small caverns, deep dives (lots of 20-30m dives, but the beauty is that you can see about 80% of what you see at 30m at 18m), and you can shore dive your heart out for free...

at the prices you mentioned its actually more for 2 weeks then the price of the Invasion, not to mentionthe booze is covered and the 2 trips to Apo and Verde

one key point to remember for those of us in Canada and US is that at such a distance, 1 week is not worth the effort to go, 10 days is minimum that makes sense, 2 weeks is even better

good review though

 

[DiamondD]

at the prices you mentioned its actually more for 2 weeks then the price of the Invasion, not to mentionthe booze is covered and the 2 trips to Apo and Verde

one key point to remember for those of us in Canada and US is that at such a distance, 1 week is not worth the effort to go, 10 days is minimum that makes sense, 2 weeks is even better

good review though

i agree that one week is not enough given the travel. I spent 10 days in Subic in Febuary and promised myself that the next time would be two-three weeks. I would like to go to Anilao but because I'll be flying solo and the screwy pricing they have there I will probably opt for PG my next trip.

 

[Centrals]

i agree that one week is not enough given the travel. I spent 10 days in Subic in Febuary and promised myself that the next time would be two-three weeks. I would like to go to Anilao but because I'll be flying solo and the screwy pricing they have there I will probably opt for PG my next trip.

Anilao + PG is a lot better than Dumaguete + PG!!! It only takes about 2hrs by public transport to travel from PG to Anilao or vice versa! There is no "no-fly" penalty and the macro is a lot better in Anilao and Dumaguete.
Weekend is the best in Anilao if you want someone to share the cost because of the large influx of the divers from Manila.
Enquire ahead.
Good luck.

 

[drrich2]

... so for a full week, you're looking at about $2000 for some pretty unbelievable diving...

I agree with some others that distance is a big factor. I've had Bonaire trips where the flight from Atlanta to Bonaire was roughly 4 hours. By the time we touched down, I was quite ready to come up out of that seat! Especially since the earlier flight from Nashville to Atlanta might run, oh, somewhere close to 2 hours?

Just for fun I hit Orbitz to look at airfare roundtrip for Nashville (BNA) to Manila, 9-6-14 to 9-13-14, and got prices in the $1,200 to $2,200 range ($1,400 seems ball park), but more importantly, sorting by shortest flight, the trip there would, counting layovers, take at least 21 hours & 31 minutes, only about 2 hours of which is in layovers.

Now, maybe somebody else can do better than that, but that many hours on a plane could figuratively drive me insane.

Perhaps I somehow mis-entered or misinterpreted the results. I imagine that people on the west coast face much better flight times & costs to get out there & back.

I hear great things about the Philippines and would love to dive there. But fly there & back? Auuuggghhh!!!

Richard.

 

[Centrals]

Just for fun I hit Orbitz to look at airfare roundtrip for Nashville (BNA) to Manila, 9-6-14 to 9-13-14, and got prices in the $1,200 to $2,200 range ($1,400 seems ball park), but more importantly, sorting by shortest flight, the trip there would, counting layovers, take at least 21 hours & 31 minutes, only about 2 hours of which is in layovers.
Now, maybe somebody else can do better than that, but that many hours on a plane could figuratively drive me insane.
I hear great things about the Philippines and would love to dive there. But fly there & back? Auuuggghhh!!!

HK to Manila is under 2hrs by plane.
Batangas Pier(ferry to Puerto Galera) is only about 92km away from Manila.
The longest travelling time from leaving my home to arrive at Puerto Galera is about 12 hrs!!!!! Well it was before they built all those toll roads though.
Getting there is half the fun.