Anilao 1998

For those of you who are worried that you have to spend loads of money and go to PNG like Steve and Trevor to get good diving, don’t despair. There are a number of very good budget dive destinations within easy reach of Hong Kong. The Philippines offers several. One of the most popular is Puerto Galera, and the best way to see this will be on Veronique’s October trip where you get the chance to dive and drink with a bunch of people you know and trust (hopefully!). A quieter alternative is Anilao from which Louisa and I have just got back. It doesn’t have the nightlife of Puerto Galera, but does have excellent diving at a reasonable cost. There are a number of resorts there, and most of them seem to quote local or overseas rates. The overseas ones are in US dollars, and are usually all-inclusive, per-person packages. They are often aimed at the Japanese market and are not very good value. Through a friend of a friend we were able to get on to a local package at Arthur’s Place. Double rooms with fan and attached bathroom cost 900 pesos, which is about US$ 22.50 per night. Diving cost us 8,000 pesos for 7 dives each, so about US$ 15 per dive, and one of those dives was a night dive. Food cost us a bit more than expected, partly because there are no alternatives to the resorts, and partly because I attempted to eat everything on the menu and drink everything in the fridge. Since we had 2 kids and a mountain of dive gear, we paid USD 100 for a van transfer Manila – Anilao – Manila. You can do it on public transport, but it involves changing buses a couple of times and switching to a jeepney for the last bit.

Between May and December the weather can be a bit unpredictable, as it is typhoon season, but we were lucky. The resorts are generally quiet in the week, but often full at weekends, since it is close to Manila. We were there mid-week and had the place to ourselves. Arthur and his wife were really nice people, and made us very welcome. He is from Anilao, unlike the owners of a lot of the resorts there. His was also among the first people to set up there, but it remains a small, family-run operation. He also told us that he would offer the same local rates to members of SCDC.

We had a banca and Leto, the dive master, to ourselves. Unlike a lot of divemasters, he very quickly adapted to our style of diving – long dives, at a slow pace. There are over 20 sites, most within 30 minutes. More details on our web site.

Our first dive was at Sombrero island. There was a flattish reef top, leading to a wall. The bottom of the wall was at about 25 metres, from where a slope headed further down. As on all of our dives there were lots of fish. Trumpetfish, lion fish, triggerfish, damsels, anthiases, wrasse, moorish idols, lizard fish, file fish, surgeon fish, a juvenile sweetlips, bat fish, some schooling juvenile catfish. In addition we saw nudibranchs, several moray eels, hermit crabs, sea cucumber and lots of hard coral.

The afternoon dive was at Layag Layag Point. Again there is a flat reef top at 3 – 6 metres, which then falls away quite steeply. We saw similar life to Sombrero, as well as 2 big Titan Triggerfish, and several small pipefish (a cousin of the sea horse).There were also several lobsters, and lots of butterflyfish, along with pufferfish, a couple of scorpion fish and a barracuda.

The following day we dived the Cathedral. This is so named because ex-President Ramos, a keen diver, put a underwater cross at this site. Cathedral is traditionally used for fish feeding. The fish tend to get a bit excited when they see divers, and in the melee, something bit my finger, while something else tried to eat my ear. Later on we got very close to a group of garden eels, watching us from their holes in the sand. There was a box fixed in a small cave. This apparently contains the ashes of a very keen diver. Behind the box were 4 adult catfish. We also saw lots of nudibranchs, shrimp, coral trout, barracuda, shoals of fusiliers, several types of triggerfish, morays, as well as both a regal and emperor angelfish.

That afternoon we went to Red Palm, where we drifted with quite a strong current along a wall until we got in the lee of the reef. Unfortunately we had to head into the current when we got to the other side of the reef. At this site there were a couple of blue-spotted stingrays, a porcupine pufferfish, which had blown himself up, hawkfish, another species of pipefish, 2 genuine clown fish, anemone fish, parrot fish, butterflyfish, bannerfish, batfish, plus lots of nudibranchs.

The following morning was my favourite dive, at a site called Kirby Rock. There are 2 submerged pinnacles which are quite close to the shore. One almost breaks the surface, the other comes up to around 20 metres. The bottom is at about 40 metres, and the rocks have vertical walls. We were quite lucky, as we dived it at slack water and didn’t have to worry about the current, which can apparently be quite bad. We were also lucky to see our first frogfish, as well as 4 very large lion fish, plus lots of moray eels, 3 types of tiny shrimp, tons of nudibranchs, puffer fish, trumpet and cornet fish, and a huge shoal of silversides near the surface. It was an excellent dive, very colourful with lots to see.

Next was Sepok Wall. The top of the wall was between 2 and 6 metres, and was very colourful. The wall went down to about 35 metres, and slopes up slightly towards the shore. A second lower wall led away at right angles. Once again there was lots to see.

That night we did a night dive at Arthur’s Place. The shore entry was a little problematic over the rocks. The first part of the dive was a little disappointing – it looked like parts of Hong Kong. But once we reached a wall going down to between 25 and 30 metres, things started to get better. We came across 2 tiny cuttlefish, 2 giant pufferfish, sleeping parrotfish, lots of angelfish, moorish idols, coral shrimp, a baby ringed pipefish, 2 crown of thorns starfish eating coral, a small blue spotted stingray, trumpet fish, a giant clam, and hermit crabs. A great dive to finish the trip on.

Visibility was generally good, often over 20 metres. The worst we had was between 10 and 20 metres at Red Palm. Currents can be quite strong, and it is well worth getting local advice about them. The diving is very colourful, and the fish life is concentrated. Like most of the Philippines, there is not much big stuff, but the concentration and variety makes up for that. There are no sandy beaches at Anilao, just a rocky shoreline, however the snorkelling in front of Arthur’s Place was very good. The banca took us to some other good snorkelling sites, which was great for the kids, where among other things they saw their (and our) first gurnard. In addition the staff at Arthur’s kept an eye on them while we were diving.

As for the fish names that I mentioned, I should probably point out that I am not an expert. As some of you know, I only recently found out that in the wild, cod is covered by scales not batter, and doesn’t come with a commensual shoal of chips.