As one of the richest macro dive destinations in the Asia/Pacific, Anilao, Batangas is only a few hours by road from Manilla and has blossomed from a holiday - camp weekender dive locality, to a major dive location for serious scuba diving, snorkeling and underwater photography, with some of the most Professional Dive Resorts to be found anywhere in the world.
Bangkas are anchored to shore during lunchtime at Anilao, Batangas. Although these little boats may not appear to be up to scratch over the more sophisticated dive boats of the developed countries, they and their crews perform magnificently.
Nothing is too much trouble and service and good natured companionship amongst crews and customers is a joy to be part of.
The dive boats at Club Ocellaris generally accommodate four divers and their gear per boat. Double dive in the morning and afternoon dive. Night dive (if requested).
(Photo Neville Coleman)
At 10 metres the sandy mud slope dipped to the left and formed up into a ridge capped with stones and pebbles all covered in short, furry algae. Hydroids, sea anemones, soft corals and candelabra gorgonians grew in a scattering across the landscape and a few clumps of stony corals extended their huge polyps out into the current.
The torch beam dimmed to obscurity as I played the light down the ridge and into the darkest depths. Just as I angled the light up to the top of the ridge a rock at the edge of my peripheral vision...moved.
We all know rocks don't move on their own, but at my stage of the game (especially at night) my eyes play tricks on me when switching from bi-focal close-ups back to normal vision.
Holding the heavy Nikon F4 in its Nexus housing (to which my torch was attached) is not easy with one hand so it took a few seconds to angle the housing and light around to check my moving‚ rock. (Handling three camera systems at night does have its limitations). By the time the light made it to where I thought I saw the rock move...there was only sand.
Commonplace to the locals, the Famboyant Cuttlefish Metasepia pfefferi was the first I had found. Although they are recorded from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Australia, they are rarely encountered.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
On a hunch I moved the light up the slope to the edge of the rocks and there nestled in between two real rocks was a small non-specific grey cuttlefish with a few extended polyps on its back. Putting my two Nikonos IIIs down on the sand, I angled in nice and slowly, pulled focus as tight as I could and turned night into day with a pair of Nikonos 105 strobes, minus diffusers.
Instantly my non-specific little grey cuttlefish transformed itself into the most fantastic vision of pulsating neon-like colours one could ever imagine...at last, I was face to face with my very first self-found flamboyant cuttlefish.
Inhabiting huge Black Coral bushes Antipathes sp. there may be over 20 speciemens of the Armed Shrimp Tozuma armatum hidden amongst the branches. The hard part is to recognise them, isolate one and get the shot.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Three days before, Roger Steene and myself had arrived at Manila airport and negotiated our way through the thriving hive of activity to the lower meeting point. There we were met by "Club Ocellaris" representative Jessica and transported to our overnight hotel. (Hotel Aloha had excellent rates and well-appointed rooms and security guards, with guns).
The Warty Anglerfish Antennarius maculatus mimics brightly coloured sponges and is one of the reef's most elusive species.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Having lived in Sydney and Brisbane all my life I had imagined that I had experienced traffic.
Then I went to Bali, Indonesia and Tokyo, Japan and saw real traffic. However, nothing had prepared me for the roads in Manila; it was wall to wall vehicles, six-wheel vehicles, four-wheel vehicles, three-wheel vehicles, two-wheel vehicles, skateboards, roller skates all interwoven with people walking, running, dodging and waiting.
The next morning the mini bus arrived and we set out on our five-hour adventure south to Batangas and eventually Anilao.
Although single discs of the Mermaid's Wineglass Algae Acetabularia calyculus may only be 15 mm across, they make an attractive, somewhat unusual subject and are only found growing on the backs of live or, dead shells, or calcium deposits.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Batangas Province
The people of Batangas Province are made up of a mixture of many races and religions all existing in a vast melting pot of humanity, with Tagalog ( Filipino )being the traditional language and English taught at most schools.
With over 600 species of opisthobranchs recorded from the waters of the Philippines the area around Anilao has shown to be one of the richest regions. this Magnificent Chromodoris Chromodoris magnifica was found in only 5 metres of water.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Besides small business, the area is known for its boat building, fishing, agriculture (oil palm, rice, sugar cane) holiday resorts, dive resorts and tourism. Diving is very popular amongst locals in Manila and Batangas Province is the closest good diving relative to the city. Education is compulsory, though parents pay for each child‚s education and their school books.
When I saw my first specimens of this Soft Coral Ctenophore it was difficult to believe that such amazing creatures existed. Living exclusively on Leather Corals Sarcophyton sp. these delicate parer thin creatures appear similar to flatworms, but are really creeping comb jellies.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Kindergarten begins at four years old with primary, secondary and university education levels. Export is mostly in labour. Thousands of locals work overseas and send money back to their families.
Obtaining a passport is not easy. Access depends on the price paid. Voting age is 18 and age of consent (marriage) is 18 for girls and 21 for boys. The average wage is 250 pesos a day.
On the ridges of the black sand slopes at around 10 to 20 metres are schools of the Pink Flasher Wrasse Parachelinus carpenteri. The females swim in groups and are well atttended by one or, two males. As the males court the females they swim close, erecting their fins and flashing their courting colours. Many a dive can be spent in attempts to get a male with its fins erected.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Most jobs in tourism require an exam and there is a great deal of competition, as work is often hard to find.
Besides local vegetables and rice, pork, chicken and fish are the main meats with some beef available. We were there in April and the region was extremely dry and dusty. Yet even as the buildings along the main roads appeared drab from dust (or exhaust emissions) the cars were clean and spotless. Everywhere people dressed in bright colours and wore shining smiles.
Found in groups clinging to the sides of rock walls with good current flow, the attractive yellow colour of the Robust Sea Cucumber Colochirus robustus makes it easy to find. It feeds by expanding its sticky mouth tentacles out into the Current to catch plankton.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
The terrain at Anilao is rugged with little flat land and most of the houses and resorts on the bay are built into the hill sides, so there are always steps to negotiate.
Club Ocellaris Dive Resort
Always cute and often difficult to photograph, sea horses are actually very shy animals but remain a favourite amongst underwater photographers. This characteristic Thorny Sea Horse Hippocampus hystrix was discovered at 20 metres on a rocky slope
(Photo Neville Coleman)
The resort is on three levels. The main building is two storeys construction from river stones, concrete, steel and wood with bamboo buildings, floors and superstructure. Upstairs are six four-bunk connected bungalows with tiled and concrete bathroom and flushing toilet. Each room had two mobile fans which were really necessary for a comfortable sleep at night.
Ranging from Japan to temperate Australian waters, the Graceful Spindle Cowry Phenacovolva gracilis has a very characteristic pattern on its mantle and can be found living on several species of Black Coral bushes.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
The wide verandah with work benches and neon lighting is certainly adequate for checking, repairing, assembling cameras, strobes and changing film, or downloading cards to laptop. Electricity is 220V (24 hours) with double flat pin sockets. Food and service is excellent with night dives being catered for even into the later hours (9 p.m.)
Across its range, the Scribbled Flatworm Pseudoceros scriptus is extremely variable in pattern, as are most flatworms. Sometimes it is very difficult to determine that two individuals of the same species could be subject to so much variation.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Fresh water is provided in coolers and all the drinking water is of good quality. Bottled water, soft drinks and beer is available. Bore water is on hand to wash dive gear and cameras. However, all surfaces of housings and strobes require wiping down after washing otherwise calcium deposits harden upon drying and are difficult to remove. Particular attention should be given to all glass and plastic ports.
The Diving Services
The general schedule is three dives per day and one at night (depending on demand). Tanks and weight belts are provided and all my air was excellent, with fills to 3000 psi. Traditional Gats (see photo: ) ferried divers to sites, most within 20 minutes to 40 minutes trip depending on the particular site.
Growing to over 90mm this beautiful Hypselodoris Hypselodoris apolegma was by far the largest specimen I had ever seen.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Experienced dive guides accompany every dive and both Alexis and Allan were exceptional at finding unusual and interesting critters for all. Of course, the wealth of amazing creatures at every dive site made their work easier than most, but knowing where to find specific subjects with commensal or prey and predator relationships is a learned skill.
Staying close to the bottom, an Oriental Sea Robin Dactyloptena orientalis seems to 'fly' over the sand with only its tail waving from side to side.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
The Gats do not have shade for the divers, only the cameras, so it is very wise to take a hat. Divers kit up in suit on the shore and board, with the tanks, BCs, weight belts and gear stowed forward. Each Gat has a skipper and boatman. On our boat To-Toy and Ricky were good-humoured multi-skilled professionals who worked hard, showed excellent initiative and never missed once on anything when gearing everybody up on every dive over my entire 40 dives.
The Philippines has an extraordinary nudibranch fauna with over 600 species recorded from a single province. Willey's Halgerda Halgerda willeyi is found across the Indo - Pacific region, feeds on sponges and grows to around 60 mm in size.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Putting four divers together and getting them all in the water with all their bits, including handing down six camera systems, dive after dive, day after day is not something everybody can do. Retrieving the camera systems and weight belts and skull-dragging tanks and BC up over the side of the boat under various sea conditions was also a credit to them.
Diving
Even with 40 dives all lasting 45 to 90 minutes and three cameras my bottom time barely recorded an iota of what was there. Every site was brilliant, from deeper water, drop offs to reef slopes, giant boulder-like bommies to terraces, reef flats, muck diving sand slopes and rubble gutters, it was all good.
Only described in recent years, Rudman's Phyllodesmium Phyllodesmium rudmani mimics its host soft coral Xenia sp. upon which it also feeds.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
With such a range of versatile sites almost every type of critter diving was catered for. Just in 10 days divers found eight differently coloured anglerfish, from 10mm to 250mm, pink, brown, red, blue, grey, yellow and red, black and orange. Some were so camouflaged that focussing was quite a challenge, especially in low light at 20 metres.
There were pipefish, sea horses, glass eyes, flathead, brilliant flasher wrasses, sand divers, crocodile eels, monkeyfish, ghost pipefish, grubfish, gobies, blennies, scorpionfish, firefish, lionfish, flounder, soles, gurnards, moray eels, two species of comets, cardinalfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, rock cods, basslets, soapfish and garden eels.
Living in deeper water ( 20 to 30 metres) on outer reef slopes the exquisite Red - spotted Dwarf Goby Trimma rubromaculatus only grows to 25 mm.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Although it wasn't the height of the season for nudibranchs we did manage to find 34 different kinds including at least six undescribed species. (Special thank you to Alexis for sharing his soft coral secrets).
Twenty-two kinds of shrimps were found. Of these five were undescribed species. At long last I got to see lots of brilliantly-coloured Periclimenes colemani; exactly 30 years since I found the original ones at Wistari Reef, Great Barrier Reef. I had never seen them again since so it was quite a thrill to see a pair on each of 10 Asthenosoma varium sea urchins.
Thirty years after my initial discovery on the Great Barrier Reef I meet Coleman's shrimp Periclimines colemani for the second time; every bit as exciting, because there were so many.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
It was such a smorgasbord of creatures representing every major marine phyla and some of the minor ones. Many of these, including several algae, sea cucumbers, forams, sponges, corals, corallimorphs, zoanthids, sea anemones, sea pens, molluscs and crabs were firsts for me. Every dive was an exciting adventure in learning.
Night Diving
The Bonnet Helmet Shell Semicassis bisulcata is a nocturnal predator which hunts down and eats heart urchins.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Without doubt, some of my most productive dives (photographically) were at night. With crocodile eels, bobbit worms, fire worms, nocturnal sea anemones, coral polyps, helmet shells, fig shells, tun shells, moon snails, Coleman's porcellanids, squat lobsters, flamboyant cuttlefish, spindle cowries, prawns, shrimps, crabs, sea pens, squid, hermit crabs and many others, each night dive put the icing on every "piece of cake" day dive.
I was absolutely blown away by the gardens of Daisy Corals Dendrophyllia sp. that were down on the slopes at 20 metres plus. Night diving was so fantastic at Anilao.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
I had admired the fantastic Bobbit Worm Eunice sp. in Roger Steene's books, but to see it for real and watch its behaviour was a magic experience. A really fantastic 'critter'.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Acknowledgments
Anilao was certainly a brilliant dive location and one I will gladly return to any time. On behalf of our group I would like to thank Boy Venus at Club Ocellaris for running such a professional set up.
To all the staff from cooks to bottle washers and everybody who makes the entire system run so smoothly, many thanks.
Special mention to the guide divers Alexis and Allan, our ever-smiling waitresses Jessica, Joy and Menchre, the Gat guys To-Toy and Ricky and all our "keen as mustard" divers from across the globe. It was a really great experience, thank you all for making it easy...
Neville Coleman's diving expeditions, fauna surveys, photographic fauna surveys and marine life identification courses include every major group of marine life.
Neville Coleman's expertise in marine life identification extends to the identification of Algae, Sea Grass, Forams, Sponges, Stony Corals, Soft Corals, Sea Anemones, Sea Jellies, Zoanthids, Corallimorphs, Black Corals, Flatworms, Segmented Worms, Crustaceans, Barnacles, Shrimps, Rock Lobsters, Hermit Crabs, Squat Lobsters, Molluscs, Chitons, Univalves, Bivalves, Cephalopods, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squid, Opisthobranchs, Nudibranchs, Sea Slugs, Bryozoans, Sea Mosses, Echinoderms, Sea Stars, Feather Stars, Brittle Stars, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Ascidians/Sea Squirts, Marine Fish, Sharks, Marine Reptiles, and Marine Mammals, all found in the waters around Anilao, Batangas, Philippines.
( Copyright Neville Coleman)
Travel tips (guide only)
Travel insurance
We strongly recommend that, at the time of booking, you purchase a comprehensive travel insurance policy of your choice.
Departure taxes
Associated charges and taxes for departures from Australia are prepaid prior to your departure from Australia and shown on your airline ticket. Taxes applicable in the Philippines may be required to be paid at your Philippines airport of departure. Please check details with your travel consultant.
Climate
The Philippines is tropical and experiences three distinct seasons; cool from November to February, hot and dry from March to pay and rainy from June to October. The average humidity is 77 per cent. Average temperature range in °C
Cool November-Febraury 22-28°
Hot/dry March-May 22-32°
Rainy June-October 22-28°
Passports and visas
Australian passport holders visiting the Philippines must hold a passport that is valid for at least six months from the departure date, an outbound air ticket and stay less than 21 days in order to enter without a formal visa. For longer stays, you must obtain a visa before departure from Australia. Non-Australian passport holders should contact their travel consultant regarding visa requirements.
Important: It is important to double check your visa requirements with the appropriate embassy/consular office as visa regulations may have changed.
Money changing
It is much better to change money at the airport. Rates might not be what you get from the locals but at least you do have a rate that you can see and check. There are many ways that you don't really end up better off.
Airport
Manila airport is very security conscious with removal of belts, shoes, hats, watches, pens etc. to go through x-ray. After personal screening there is also "stand on a box" pat downs to further check for concealables. The airport is very busy and packed with commuters. Buses are used to transfer passengers from the lounge to the plane on the tarmac.
Roads/traffic
Throughout the Philippines, "Jeepneys" are not only used for the transport of passenges, but also as transport for goods. ( photo: Nigel Marsh)
All roads are dusty and choked with traffic. Every type of vehicle seems to be there and all on the road going one way or the other. It seems an impossible task to get anywhere but hours later, there you are, at your destination. However, as long as time is no object the traffic does keep moving, if only slowly in the built-up areas.
Healthwise
Although Malaria may not be noticeably present in all areas of the Philippines it is in the malaria region. I always take my own mosquito net and take my prophylactics and repellent AND USE THEM, as malaria is forever and I don't need it. Out in the sticks anywhere its best to abide by the old rules. If you skin, shell or cook it, you can eat it. However, bottled water is best if one is unsure and avoid salads in uncertain areas.