19th February 2016
I proceeded to the nearby stairs in front of the McDonald’s and climbed up to the MRT Station. There were guards who did the security check for those who would board the train. It was quite troublesome since I carried a 40litres backpack. So, I had to literally glance my stuff to them. The fare bound to Gil Puyat Station costs PHP16.00 only. The trip took less than 10 minutes. I exited the MRT platform and headed to Buendia Bus Terminal. The bus to Batangas took about 3 hours for a fare of PHP157.00.
Once I reached Batangas, I took jeepney to Mabini. The fare was PHP40 and the travel time was around 40-50 minutes.
From Mabini intersection, I took tricycle to Anilao Backpackers where I stayed for the rest of my trip in Anilao.
Once I reached Batangas, I took jeepney to Mabini. The fare was PHP40 and the travel time was around 40-50 minutes.
From Mabini intersection, I took tricycle to Anilao Backpackers where I stayed for the rest of my trip in Anilao.
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| This is the intersection that you have to get off the jeepney and take tricycle |
It was fun and wonderful thinking that I finally stepped my foot in Anilao after taking a few mode of public transports; bus, train, jeepney, and tricycle.
I was welcomed by the owner of Anilao Backpackers, Ate Jho. I had a short brief on my diving schedule before I called it a night.
20th February 2016
After I had my light breakfast, I was given a short brief by Kuya Jess, Ate Jho’s husband, the dive master. My first dive was a shore dive just in front of the Anilao Backpackers. The dive site was called Basura. The seaweed-covered floor greeted me as I entered the water. As I went deeper, the visibility became better and we could see as far as 20 meters. Kuya Jess was a good spotter. He pointed me mantis shrimp, nudibranch, school of butterfly fish, lion fish, trumpet fish and flamboyant sea slug. We dove for 64 minutes and went as deep as 20 meters. I realised that water was colder than I expected them to be. Then, I was told that the water temperature in January and February could go down to 22°C.
As I came back from the morning dive, I was introduced to the Bruneian divers; Simon, Sandy and Livie as well as Sterwina, a Sarawakian girl. I would be joining them for the rest of my diving trip in Anilao. Even though I would be joining them, Ate Jho still provided me a dive master which would be one on one with me.
My second dive site was a boat dive to Sombrero Island. Kuya Jess pointed me an electric fire clam, porcelain crab, crinoid shrimp, squat shrimp and nembrotha nudibranch. The maximum depth we went was 22 meters and the dive lasted for 55 minutes.
We had our lunch break at the island. Lucky that I brought my own spicy fried dried anchovies. I could not eat the provided dishes. So, I just took a portion of rice and shared my spicy fried dried anchovies with my Bruneian and Sarawakian friends.
We went to our third dive at Betlehem. We managed to spot porcupine pupperfish, bat fish, emperor snapper, moray eel and trumpet fish. I sighted some unknown fishes too. The dive lasted for 68 minutes and we went as deep as 18 meters only.
21st February 2016
We went to three different dive sites today; Sunview, Koala and Anilao Pier.
Since Kuya Jess got something else to do, I had Justine, Ate Jho’s son as my dive master. We started our dive at Sunview where we could see scattered rocks with lots of sea fan. The range depth is around 10 to 25 meters. I really had a good dive here. It was easy dive with weak current. I enjoyed the colorful coral and sea fan.
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| Justine, my dive master |
My second dive was at Koala where the range depth was 5 to 18 meters. Here, I sighted my very first pygmy seahorse. One of them was pregnant.
I did a night dive for my third dive of the day. The dive site was at Anilao pier. As the day was getting darker, we walked down the pier. We put on our fins and got into the water. This dive was the highlight of my Anilao trip. Even though I was feeling nervous, I managed to calm myself and enjoyed the night dive. I sighted hairy frogfish for the first time. Other than that, I saw blue crab, lionfish, mimic coconut octopus, squid, cuttlefish, devil stonefish, commensal shrimp and robust pipefish. Since it was a shallow dive, we dove for 88 minutes and went deep as 9.4 meters.
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| Pregnant Pgymy Sea Horse Photo courtesy of Simon |
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| From left: Livie, Farah, Sandy, Simon and Sterwina |
22nd February 2016
On my third day of diving, I went to Batok Point, Darilaut and Dakida.
Darilaut has a little bit of wreck diving. It used to be a parking place of a big floating casino during the 70’s. Somehow, it sunk and they salvaged the hull and some valuable parts of the ship. The big frames was left sunken. We spotted a school of bat fish, lembeh sea dragon and pipefish. We went as deep as 20 meters and dove for 63 minutes.
Since we were going for a sunset dive, we had our surface interval at Sea Spring Resort and dipped ourselves in natural hot spring.
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| From left: Sterwina, Farah and Livie |
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| From left: Sterwina, Simon, Farah, Ian and Livie |
We were spoiled with good dinner by the host, Ate Jho. They served us ube ice cream and buko pandan ( a local filipino delicious dessert).
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| The delicious Buko Pandan |
I had breakfast and bid everyone goodbye before I left Anilao.
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| From left: Livie, Ian and Farah |
Fast Facts:
- The best diving season in Anilao runs from November to May
- Anilao is a heaven for macro lover
- As at February 2016, Anilao Backpackers offer a great deal for stay and dive package
Hi, just wanted to ask if you have a budget/itinerary for this trip? Doesn't have to be detailed if you don't have one but just to have an idea of it.
ReplyDeleteHi Dion,
DeleteI spent about 15,000 peso for public transportation from Manila-Anilao-Manila, 12 dives together with rental equipment, meal and accommodation for 4 nights.