Diving Anilao: Macro, Blackwater and the Best Critter Sites

Anilao is the Philippines’ macro capital, and for critter hunters and underwater photographers it is close to hallowed ground. A short drive from Manila, its muck and reef sites hold a density and variety of small marine life that rivals anywhere on the planet, and in recent years it has also become one of the world’s premier blackwater-diving destinations. If your idea of a great dive is spending twenty minutes photographing a single nudibranch, Anilao is built for you.

This guide covers the critters, the diving, when to go, and how to reach it. For the wider country picture, see the Philippines diving guide.

When to dive Anilao

Anilao dives well all year, and the critters are there in every season, so there is no wrong time to visit. Conditions are calmest and clearest during the dry northeast-monsoon months, roughly October to May, which is the most popular stretch. Because the appeal is macro rather than seasonal big-animal aggregations, you can plan an Anilao trip around your own calendar far more freely than a destination like Tubbataha.

The diving

Anilao is muck diving first. Sites like Secret Bay, Basura, and the aptly named Anilao Pier are sandy and silty rather than scenic, and that is the point — they are where the strange, camouflaged creatures live. Guides here are expert spotters, turning up subjects most divers would swim straight past. Alongside the muck there are healthy coral sites, such as Twin Rocks, for a change of pace. The dives are mostly shallow, sheltered, and relaxed, which leaves you free to work slowly on a subject.

The other draw is blackwater diving: night dives over deep water, with lights hung beneath the boat pulling up a drifting parade of larval fish and juvenile cephalopods from the depths. It is advanced, disorienting, and unlike anything else in diving, and Anilao is one of the best places on Earth to try it.

Marine life

The muck cast is the reason to come: nudibranchs in bewildering variety, hairy and painted frogfish, ornate ghost pipefish, blue-ringed and mimic octopus, and flamboyant cuttlefish. Blackwater dives add creatures rarely seen anywhere — transparent larval fish, paper nautilus, and juvenile open-ocean animals drifting up in the dark. It is a destination measured in species-per-dive rather than sweeping vistas.

Getting there

Anilao’s location is a major advantage. It sits in Batangas, about two to three hours by road from Manila, so unlike most top Philippine sites it needs no domestic flight — you can land and be diving the same day. Almost everyone stays at a dedicated dive resort along the coast and dives from the resort’s boats, with sites just minutes away.

Shooting Anilao

Anilao is a macro photographer’s destination above all, and even at close range water shifts color, so shots benefit from correcting afterward. It is worth understanding why underwater photos look blue and choosing the right underwater photo editor for the edit. Our camera guides cover macro gear, including the strengths of a dedicated compact like the OM System TG-7, and the before-and-after gallery shows the results.

Plan your trip

For how Anilao fits the wider region, see the Philippines diving guide and the month-by-month Southeast Asia diving calendar. The full dive destinations hub collects every guide on the site.