Philippines trip advice sort.

[Whiskeyjack]

On 9/17/2024 at 4:57 AM, Troporobo said:

I’ve only had the chance to see mandarin fish at Anilao and Malapascua. Both sites required a boat ride, though fairly short and certainly pleasant at sunset.  I’m not aware of a “house reef” in the Philippines that has them. Maybe others know?

One of the resorts in Anilao has mandarin fish on the house reef, I think it's the Aiyanar house reef? It's been a few years...

[Troporobo]

No kidding?!  Wish I’d known that during the years I was staying and diving just down the road!

 

We always found mandarinfish in the shallow rubble near the wreck of the Dari Laut at Maricaban Island.  It’s a short ride from most spots on the Anilao side.  A late afternoon dive looking for painted frogfish on the wreck then waiting til dusk for the mandarinfish was a favorite way to end the day. 

[Kim R]

@Mark H Just catching this thread, and I'm not sure if you're flexible on your timing, but I have a group headed to Puerto Galera (we stay at Edgewater Resort and really like it) in late April/into early May 2025 (as we're combining it with a Palau liveaboard and the flights to Palau work well in/out of Manila). 

 

Anyway if that interests you, I'm happy to pass on the details. Love the diving in Puerto Galera (and Philippines in general).

 

Kim 🙂

[Mark H]

10 hours ago, Kim R said:

@Mark H Just catching this thread, and I'm not sure if you're flexible on your timing, but I have a group headed to Puerto Galera (we stay at Edgewater Resort and really like it) in late April/into early May 2025 (as we're combining it with a Palau liveaboard and the flights to Palau work well in/out of Manila). 

 

Anyway if that interests you, I'm happy to pass on the details. Love the diving in Puerto Galera (and Philippines in general).

 

Kim 🙂

That sounds amazing but our holidays mean that it is going to be sometime after January but before mid March. In 2026 I'm hoping to retire in May so I think I'll have to be working in April and the beginning of May.

 

Thank you so much for the kind offer 💗 as it would have been great to meet up with other waterpixelers. I think we are thinking about Raja Ampt in late 2026 if anyone is doing anything then. Then in 2027 we should both me retired and our plan is 3 months a year in Asia diving at our ease as much as we can afford 🤪. Should be able to meet up with others and chance for me to actually learn to take half decent pictures 😂.

[TimG]

2 hours ago, Mark H said:

Then in 2027 we should both me retired and our plan is 3 months a year in Asia diving at our ease as much as we can afford 🤪

 

Sounds brilliant! Good for you guys!

[JustinO]

On 9/16/2024 at 11:34 AM, Mark H said:

My wife is now fixated on a "house reef" with ideally a chance to see Mandarin fish at some stage. I'm more take of leave on that - they are pretty but they aren't my first criteria. How difficult is that going to be to achieve? I could be she just want to see Mandarin fish but any house reef will do as long as we get a decent chance to see these colour fish😂. 

PG has a mandarin dive right in the harbour outside Sabang, somewhere near Asia Divers and Atlantis. It's right in the harbour but from what I know people still go by boat (maybe for safety?).   Upside is it's pretty close to some resorts,  and the fish are pretty much guaranteed, but that brings the downside too.  There's no agreement between resorts as to "who dives what night"- so it's hit or miss as to whether you have it to yourself or whether it's crowded.  

It can be a bit dull- hovering in one spot for 20+ mins waiting...waiting... and waiting - less fun if the current picks up!

We had one nice dive pretty much all to ourselves with one other small group - the second was awful: far too many people, some of whom from one of resorts beginning with "A" were either incredibly badly briefed or just thoughtless, clueless, and selfish. 

 

 

 

 

[Kim R]

12 hours ago, Mark H said:

That sounds amazing but our holidays mean that it is going to be sometime after January but before mid March. In 2026 I'm hoping to retire in May so I think I'll have to be working in April and the beginning of May.

 

Thank you so much for the kind offer 💗 as it would have been great to meet up with other waterpixelers. I think we are thinking about Raja Ampt in late 2026 if anyone is doing anything then. Then in 2027 we should both me retired and our plan is 3 months a year in Asia diving at our ease as much as we can afford 🤪. Should be able to meet up with others and chance for me to actually learn to take half decent pictures 😂.

Hi Mark!

Ah gotcha, sounds like a great plan to me! That’s awesome! We actually are doing a big Raja trip in 2026 but late March into early April! I don’t have it posted yet but can share when I do! 
 

Kim 🙂 

[OneYellowTang]

Anilao is also a decent location to see rhinopias... they are not common, but they are definitely found more frequenly than in many other locations.
 

 

Edited September 21 by OneYellowTang
text was lost

[OneYellowTang]

Lots of good info being shared here...

I would just add - we've done the PG-Anilao combination several times, and new prefer "just" Anilao. It's target rich, easy to get to, and diving is very good (another big fan of Crystal Blue here). In addition, PG can be crowded, the harbor is a mess (but you can avoid this area), and Sabang at night is a bit of a dump. I am headed back to Anilao in about 3 weeks...

Re:mandarinfish - there are a couple of spots were they are consistently (like nightly) found, however I (now) much prefer blackwater diving in Anilao (vs. any other night dives or dusk dives). If you are interested in blackwater dives, Anilao is easily one of the best in the world for these dives (and it's very easy here).

We were back in Lembeh this summer, and the guides showed us a spot where the mandarinfish can now occasionally be found out swimming in the coral during the day. They were both less skittish, and easier to shoot (although no mating behahavior during the day).

[Mark H]

On 9/21/2024 at 9:04 AM, OneYellowTang said:

If you are interested in blackwater dives, Anilao is easily one of the best in the world for these dives (and it's very easy here).

Again, more useful information, thanks. I've never done blackwater diving. While we have travelled a fair bit it has typically been on liveaboards or UK diving. I'm hoping that retirement means I can get approval to do more obscure types of diving rather than making the best compromise decisions for a week or two week holiday.

[Whiskeyjack]

14 hours ago, Mark H said:

Again, more useful information, thanks. I've never done blackwater diving. While we have travelled a fair bit it has typically been on liveaboards or UK diving. I'm hoping that retirement means I can get approval to do more obscure types of diving rather than making the best compromise decisions for a week or two week holiday.

There is lots of blackwater in Anilao (Crystal Blue is a good spot for that as others have mentioned, the owner Mike likes to do blackwater dives), and it's also offered in Romblon.  Anilao also has what they call "bonfire" diving which is similar in concept, but they stay shallow and place the lights in the sand instead of on ropes out in the blue.  I would try to contact Ram Yoro if you're interested in bonfire, he's the guy who pioneered it and offers courses, etc. It's generally cheaper than blackwater dives as you don't need a boat.

[bghazzal]

On 9/24/2024 at 8:37 AM, Whiskeyjack said:

There is lots of blackwater in Anilao (Crystal Blue is a good spot for that as others have mentioned, the owner Mike likes to do blackwater dives), and it's also offered in Romblon.  Anilao also has what they call "bonfire" diving which is similar in concept, but they stay shallow and place the lights in the sand instead of on ropes out in the blue.  I would try to contact Ram Yoro if you're interested in bonfire, he's the guy who pioneered it and offers courses, etc. It's generally cheaper than blackwater dives as you don't need a boat.

Rebounding on this thread, would anyone have recommendations for a mostly blackwater/bonfire dive focused trip?

I'm leaving Bali in December for Japan, but will have to do a visa-run late February, and the idea of a week in Anilao seems like an interesting winter-option.
Having spent 2 years shooting macro in the Tulamben/Amed area, other than mimic/wunderpus encounters the main attraction for me would be bonfire and actual blackwater dives.
 

Reading this great article on blackwater as pioneered by Mike Bartick at Crystal Blue Resort
https://indopacificimages.com/getting-into-blackwater-diving-the-anilao-night-shift/
 

if I understand correctly seems that you get back to land at around 1am - based on people's experience, would you think it possible to do a blackwater/bonfire focused stay, ie diving only at night, or are the blackwater dives, given the logistics -  mostly a once-a-week / enough-guests-interested kind of setup?

It would be great to try to get 4 or 5 evenings on a week-long stay for instance, but maybe for this it's easier to join whoever is organising blackwater dives than diving with the same resort?

cheers
ben

Edited Thursday at 02:46 PM by bghazzal

[Giancarlo M.]

7 hours ago, bghazzal said:

Rebounding on this thread, would anyone have recommendations for a mostly blackwater/bonfire dive focused trip?

I'm keaving Bali in December for Japan, but will have to do a visa-run late February, and the idea of a week in Anilao seems like an interesting winter-option.
Having spent 2 years shooting macro in the Tulamben/Amed area, other than mimic/wunderpus encounters the main attraction for me would be bonfire and actual blackwater dives.
 

Reading this great article on blackwater as pioneered by Mike Bartick at Crystal Blue Resort
https://indopacificimages.com/getting-into-blackwater-diving-the-anilao-night-shift/
 

if I understand correctly seems that you get back to land at around 1am - based on people's experience, would you think it possible to do a blackwater/bonfire focused stay, ie diving only at night, or are the blackwater dives, given the logistics -  mostly a once-a-week / enough-guests-interested kind of setup?

It would be great to try to get 4 or 5 evenings on a week-long stay for instance, but maybe for this it's easier to join whoever is organising blackwater dives than diving with the same resort?

cheers
ben

February is a great time for Blackwater in Anilao. The water temperature is colder at this time, so a 5 or 7 mm is recommended if you are particularly cold.

I have been to the Anilao Photo Academy many times and I can recommend them. They come out practically every night to do BW if there are guests who want to do BW. As for logistics, the dive spot is very close to the resort so when you are done you go back to the resort.

The first dive is around 19:00 but if you're alone I doubt you'll be able to make a second dive, so I suggest you contact the resort directly.

In January 2023 I was with a group of 5 friends and we asked to do 3 Blackwater per night, APA organised everything perfectly for us.

[Davide DB]

2 hours ago, Giancarlo M. said:

In January 2023 I was with a group of 5 friends and we asked to do 3 Blackwater per night, APA organised everything perfectly for us.

 

BW addicted! 😁

[Whiskeyjack]

21 hours ago, bghazzal said:

Rebounding on this thread, would anyone have recommendations for a mostly blackwater/bonfire dive focused trip?

I'm leaving Bali in December for Japan, but will have to do a visa-run late February, and the idea of a week in Anilao seems like an interesting winter-option.
Having spent 2 years shooting macro in the Tulamben/Amed area, other than mimic/wunderpus encounters the main attraction for me would be bonfire and actual blackwater dives.
 

Reading this great article on blackwater as pioneered by Mike Bartick at Crystal Blue Resort
https://indopacificimages.com/getting-into-blackwater-diving-the-anilao-night-shift/
 

if I understand correctly seems that you get back to land at around 1am - based on people's experience, would you think it possible to do a blackwater/bonfire focused stay, ie diving only at night, or are the blackwater dives, given the logistics -  mostly a once-a-week / enough-guests-interested kind of setup?

It would be great to try to get 4 or 5 evenings on a week-long stay for instance, but maybe for this it's easier to join whoever is organising blackwater dives than diving with the same resort?

cheers
ben

I'm pretty sure the resorts that do blackwater (Crystal Blue, Anilao Photo Academy) will do blackwater any night you want to. There might be an additional charge if you're the only diver since they have to take the boat out. I've only done 1 dive per night but they might do 2, you'd want to contact them as suggested.