In 2023 I spent 3 weeks in Buceo Anilao/Philippines (Buceo Anilao resort) and hoped to fly back with a decent amount of good pictures.

Unfortunately, I had very little luck overall and had to deal with a rather lazy and uncooperative guide the entire time who also always preferred to dive against the current.

On top of that, after the first day of diving, I had several days of total diving downtime due to a typhoon (although other dive centers were diving in calmer bays).

Blackwater diving was promised to me at the beginning, but it never happened.

All in all, I can't recommend the rather expensive Buceo Anilao.

After the trip, I was so frustrated that, although I saved the photos on my computer, I didn't develop a single one.

I more or less put the trip out of my mind and only remembered it just a few days ago, went through all the folders and tried to identify the species.

After that, I decided to develop some of them and want to show a few images here in chronological order (I'll start with day 1 and work my way through the individual diving days).

Incidentally, I believe this was my first ever diving holiday where I didn't use the wide-angle/fisheye lens even once.

I don't know if anyone is interested in the camera settings – if so, please let me know and I'll add them.

Generally, I photographed everything with the Canon R5, the Canon RF 100/2.8 Macro lens and two Seacam 150D strobes in a Seacam housing, sometimes using snoots and close-up lenses (Nauticam SMC1+2).

All images are uncropped (otherwise, I'll mention it in the image description) and developed with Lightroom and Photoshop.

Day 1 (just one check dive):

Disc Anemone Shrimp (Pliopontonia furtiva)

Day 2:

Female Hairfinned Leatherjacket (Paramonacanthus japonicus)

Warty Frogfishh (Antennarius maculatus)

Highfin snake eel (Ophichthus altipennis) with a Black coral goby (Bryaninops tigris) and if you look very closely, you can also see a parasite, probably a Gnathia sp. (yellow colour) between Goby and mouth

Edited October 16Oct 16 by waso

Beautiful images! 😊 It’s a shame the trip didn’t go as planned, but I’m glad you’re sharing these stunning photos with us!

1 hour ago, Jurgen said:

Beautiful images! 😊 It’s a shame the trip didn’t go as planned, but I’m glad you’re sharing these stunning photos with us!

Thanks, Jurgen!

My expectations were also very high, as I had generally heard only good things about Anilao and especially about this resort from two friends.

From what I can see so far, there will be quite a few more pictures to come. 😉

Always suxs to go so far, spend so much and not have a great experience

A resort you might want to consider, if you haven't already been there is - Alam Batu in Bali

Wow, that really is upsetting. We stayed there pre-COVID and had a good time. But, as JMC says, to go all that way and not have a good time, is so disappointing.

Good though that you went back to the images. Some nice ones for sure.

8 hours ago, JMC22 said:

A resort you might want to consider, if you haven't already been there is - Alam Batu in Bali

Before 2023, I was in Bali several times (Pemuteran area, Padang Bai area, Tulamben, Nusa Penida, and a few more). I can always go to Pemuteran on a low budget because a good friend of mine runs a dive center there. I simply wanted to see something different, and Anilao was recommended to me several times, especially for macro and blackwater diving.

5 hours ago, TimG said:

We stayed there pre-COVID and had a good time.

I assume it was very good there at least before 2023 – several acquaintances have reliably assured me of this.

With such macro-specific spots, a lot depends on the guide, as I've experienced many times.

5 hours ago, TimG said:

Good though that you went back to the images. Some nice ones for sure.

Thanks!

Two more from day 2:

Halgerda batangas

Nembrotha kubaryana

Edited October 17Oct 17 by waso

13 hours ago, JMC22 said:

A resort you might want to consider, if you haven't already been there is - Alam Batu in Bali

What is the house reef diving and dive operator like there? I just took a look at their website and it seems like it might suit me.

Just now, CCRphoto said:

What is the house reef diving and dive operator like there? I just took a look at their website and it seems like it might suit me.

I really enjoyed the dive operation, housing, food & abundance of macro critters there - groups when I was there were 4 per dive master, all the dive sites are close to the resort.

We were doing 3 dives a day with optional night dives - I never needed to do any house reef dives

Edited October 17Oct 17 by JMC22

10 hours ago, JMC22 said:

I really enjoyed the dive operation, housing, food & abundance of macro critters there - groups when I was there were 4 per dive master, all the dive sites are close to the resort.

We were doing 3 dives a day with optional night dives - I never needed to do any house reef dives

Cheers!

One forgotten Disc Anemone Shrimp (Pliopontonia furtiva) from day 1

Day 3:

Mimic Octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus)

Banded Tozeuma Shrimp (Tozeuma armatum)

Emperor Shrimp (Zenopontonia rex) on a Sea Cumcumber

2 hours ago, waso said:

One forgotten Disc Anemone Shrimp (Pliopontonia furtiva) from day 1

Day 3:

Mimic Octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus)

Banded Tozeuma Shrimp (Tozeuma armatum)

Emperor Shrimp (Zenopontonia rex) on a Sea Cumcumber

Wahrmut,

Love that last Emperor photo! Brilliant!

Evan

6 hours ago, ACHiPo said:

Love that last Emperor photo! Brilliant!

Thanks @ACHiPo!

That was made with the Nauticam SMC1 (uncropped).

Still day 3:

Hairy Shrimp (Phycocaris simulans) with SMC2

Feather Star Shrimp (Hippolyte catagrapha) with SMC1

Peacock Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus)

Edited October 21Oct 21 by waso

8 hours ago, waso said:

Still day 3:

Hairy Shrimp (Phycocaris simulans) with SMC2

Feather Star Shrimp (Hippolyte catagrapha) with SMC1

Peacock Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus)

Three winners!

Wow, you have really good images here!

Thanks for sharing.

@ACHiPo @canislupus Thank you both very much, guys!

Unfortunately, I currently have little time to review and develop images.

Therefore, this thread will take a while to complete.

Even if you won't recommend the diving operator, I thhink you've made a good recommendation for the area :) .. Nise shots with lovely compositions.

8 hours ago, Rune Edvin Haldorsen said:

Even if you won't recommend the diving operator, I thhink you've made a good recommendation for the area :) .. Nise shots with lovely compositions.

Thank you so much!

I know that with a good guide, even much more would have been possible, as Anilao is a great area for macro photography.

It is especially famous for Blackwater, which unfortunately didn't happen at all in my case and I was very disappointed.

Two more from day 3:

Longnose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus), appr. 5% crop

Hypselodoris tryoni

I have no idea what happened to one of the rhinophores.

Still day 3:

Zanzibar Whip Coral Shrimp (Dasycaris zanzibarica)

Hypselodoris apolegma

Due to excessive workload at my job, I barely have time to develop photos.

Two last photos from day 3:

Feather Star Shrimp (Hippolyte catagrapha) with SMC1

Peacock Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus)

Great shots!

I really like your style, very sharp images, with excellent depth of field and focus.

Very well done.

19 hours ago, canislupus said:

Great shots!

I really like your style, very sharp images, with excellent depth of field and focus.

Very well done.

Thanks a lot, @canislupus !