Coming off my Jan blackwater trip in the Similans, I was hooked and wanted to do it again, this time with the right camera gear. Alex Tyrell who was the photo pro on the Thailand trip was pulling together another trip in Anilao in April, and I decided to join last minute. It was hosted at Crystal Blue Resort (CBR) where Mike Bartick, another photo pro and the guy who wrote the book 'The World of Blackwater' was based. This was my 3rd trip to Anilao (1st in 2019 w Buceo, 2nd in 2022 w Blue Ribbon) and by far the best.
Pictures here: Anilao Blackwater (Apr 2024)
Upgraded my A7C to A7R5 and it was such a night and day improvement. Most blackwater shots were with the Canon 60mm macro on metabones IV but I also used the Sony 90mm - I actually liked the 90mm better but was afraid to use it in case a blanket shows up.
It was a blackwater trip and the typical day was a talk at 9.30am, morning dive at 11am, and 2 blackwater dives (going out at 7pm / returning ~midnight). I opted to maximise my time and do 2 morning dives, one at 8am and the 2nd at 11am. Mike gave daily talks on what we expect to see on the blackwater dives, with details of what to look out of, how to find critters, typical behaviour and best ways to shoot them, etc. It was a run-through of his book (which he also gave each of us a copy of for free) and quite interesting, mostly natural history based rather than photography based (although there was a daily image review as well). The official package was 7 days of diving - I did 13 day dives and 14 blackwater dives. Some guests opted to stay longer and did a few more. It was a group of 7 overall - all with big cameras, and mostly older (50-60s?).
CBR was very nice, probably the nicest out of the 3 resorts I've been to in Anilao and the best laid out especially for a photographer. 3 huge camera only rinse tanks, 3 drying station with air guns, indoor AC'ed camera room with individual charging strips (w universal plugs) located just above the dive deck and just below the restaurant. Rooms are a bit further up from the restaurant so no escaping the stairs but it is certainly a lot less than at Buceo. Food was really good, buffet style and a lot of choices (even for vegetarians), much better than at Buceo and Blue Ribbon. Staff was very helpful, dive crew did everything for you, and massages are cheap (I paid ~$65 for 4.5 hours) and pretty good. Wifi is super fast and available through the entire resort, good enough for remote work and video calls.
CBR is more expensive - my package of 7 nights/27 dives on nitrox w private guide/return private transfers ran close to $4k, and Buceo quoted me <$3k for the same dates/package. I almost went back w Buceo since I remembered their guides were good but they could not give me the same guide for my entire stay and only do 1 blackwater dive/day (and need minimum 2 people to go), so I went w CBR. I would say the clientele of CBR definitely skews older and more experienced, a lot more photographers, and it felt like more Americans. Buceo was a mix, and Blue Ribbon (cheapest) was mostly beginners/fun divers.
I had Jerome as my private guide and he was really really good. Found me almost everything I'd asked for on the day dives. Everyday he asks what do I want to photograph and we go to the site with best chance to see that subject, and 90% of the time he will find it. I had the boat to myself for most of my 8am dives, and the times I had wanted to see something specific / different than the other guests they swapped folks on the boats around so we can both go to the best site for each of our subjects - that was really above and beyond. In my 13 day dives I'd requested for and received flamboyant cuttlefish, hairy frogfish, giant frogfish, painted frogfish, hairy squat lobster, harlequin shrimp, tiger shrimp, yellow and pink pygmy seahorses, thorny seahorse, ornate ghost pipefish, bearded goby, pink eyed goby, rhinopia, coconut octopus, mimic octopus (we found but it went under before I got a shot). Countless nudis of all sizes and colours including my favourite Shawn the sheep. I was running out of things to request for by the end (asked for blue ring since I saw last time in PG but was told they haven't seen it here). Private guide is really expensive ($40/dive) but worth it if you want to really take your time and/or have someone hold your snoot for you. I was able to take 10-20min w some of the critters and really play with lighting and snooting.
Mike was the first to do blackwater dives in Anilao and I think CBR is still the only resort that does 2x blackwater dives every night. Each boat (usually only 2-3 guests + their guides) has their own downline so it was much less crowded than the trip I'd done in Thailand. It was a very smooth well-run operation. We did most of the blackwater dives in Janao Bay which was a pretty long 30min+ boat ride away, that would be the only downside vs say Anilao photo academy which is right in the bay (one of the other guests stayed there for a week before CBR and said it was good also). I definitely saw a lot more this trip than the first time I've tried blackwater in Thailand, not sure if it's a better location, the fact that I had a private guide finding stuff for me this time, or because I'm more familiar and did not waste time photographing jellies (probably all 3). In my 7 nights of double blackwater we've found wonderpus twice, paper nautilus both male and female countless times, 3 kinds of squids including a really cute golden one (but no diamond squid), juvenile African pompano, soapfish, flounder, lionfish, mantis shrimp, snake blenny, some sort of snail?. The other boat saw blanket octopus on 2 nights and long-arm octopus once, but I sadly missed out. Blackwater diving can be pretty hit or miss, on one night we had absolutely nothing, and it can be pretty tiring, as by the time you're back to the resort it's usually 11.30pm so I was usually in bed ~1am. Most days everyone went down for an afternoon nap after lunch.
Water temperature was mostly 27 degrees, with some thermoclines down to 26 degree. I opted for my drysuit w xerotherm undergarments and was nice and comfy, but it is a pain on the blackwater dives where you need to change depth quickly. Manageable, but annoying. Mild current on most dives except for one where we had to abort the dive at 40min due to a ripping down current. Most dives ended at 60min but you could stay longer - I came up w ~70-80bar most dives but was good to end at 60min since I was usually hungry or needed to pee at that point, and we had almost always already found what we were looking for. The blackwater dives you can't really stay longer since it's already close to midnight by the time we get back, unless you do only 1.
Overall a great trip, and I can already see myself going back next year. Anilao is now only a 2 hour drive away from Manila airport (vs 3 before). I will be in Lembeh in May and will compare again but as of now the two are equally tied for my top macro dive spot.
Pictures here: Anilao Blackwater (Apr 2024)
Upgraded my A7C to A7R5 and it was such a night and day improvement. Most blackwater shots were with the Canon 60mm macro on metabones IV but I also used the Sony 90mm - I actually liked the 90mm better but was afraid to use it in case a blanket shows up.
It was a blackwater trip and the typical day was a talk at 9.30am, morning dive at 11am, and 2 blackwater dives (going out at 7pm / returning ~midnight). I opted to maximise my time and do 2 morning dives, one at 8am and the 2nd at 11am. Mike gave daily talks on what we expect to see on the blackwater dives, with details of what to look out of, how to find critters, typical behaviour and best ways to shoot them, etc. It was a run-through of his book (which he also gave each of us a copy of for free) and quite interesting, mostly natural history based rather than photography based (although there was a daily image review as well). The official package was 7 days of diving - I did 13 day dives and 14 blackwater dives. Some guests opted to stay longer and did a few more. It was a group of 7 overall - all with big cameras, and mostly older (50-60s?).
CBR was very nice, probably the nicest out of the 3 resorts I've been to in Anilao and the best laid out especially for a photographer. 3 huge camera only rinse tanks, 3 drying station with air guns, indoor AC'ed camera room with individual charging strips (w universal plugs) located just above the dive deck and just below the restaurant. Rooms are a bit further up from the restaurant so no escaping the stairs but it is certainly a lot less than at Buceo. Food was really good, buffet style and a lot of choices (even for vegetarians), much better than at Buceo and Blue Ribbon. Staff was very helpful, dive crew did everything for you, and massages are cheap (I paid ~$65 for 4.5 hours) and pretty good. Wifi is super fast and available through the entire resort, good enough for remote work and video calls.
CBR is more expensive - my package of 7 nights/27 dives on nitrox w private guide/return private transfers ran close to $4k, and Buceo quoted me <$3k for the same dates/package. I almost went back w Buceo since I remembered their guides were good but they could not give me the same guide for my entire stay and only do 1 blackwater dive/day (and need minimum 2 people to go), so I went w CBR. I would say the clientele of CBR definitely skews older and more experienced, a lot more photographers, and it felt like more Americans. Buceo was a mix, and Blue Ribbon (cheapest) was mostly beginners/fun divers.
I had Jerome as my private guide and he was really really good. Found me almost everything I'd asked for on the day dives. Everyday he asks what do I want to photograph and we go to the site with best chance to see that subject, and 90% of the time he will find it. I had the boat to myself for most of my 8am dives, and the times I had wanted to see something specific / different than the other guests they swapped folks on the boats around so we can both go to the best site for each of our subjects - that was really above and beyond. In my 13 day dives I'd requested for and received flamboyant cuttlefish, hairy frogfish, giant frogfish, painted frogfish, hairy squat lobster, harlequin shrimp, tiger shrimp, yellow and pink pygmy seahorses, thorny seahorse, ornate ghost pipefish, bearded goby, pink eyed goby, rhinopia, coconut octopus, mimic octopus (we found but it went under before I got a shot). Countless nudis of all sizes and colours including my favourite Shawn the sheep. I was running out of things to request for by the end (asked for blue ring since I saw last time in PG but was told they haven't seen it here). Private guide is really expensive ($40/dive) but worth it if you want to really take your time and/or have someone hold your snoot for you. I was able to take 10-20min w some of the critters and really play with lighting and snooting.
Mike was the first to do blackwater dives in Anilao and I think CBR is still the only resort that does 2x blackwater dives every night. Each boat (usually only 2-3 guests + their guides) has their own downline so it was much less crowded than the trip I'd done in Thailand. It was a very smooth well-run operation. We did most of the blackwater dives in Janao Bay which was a pretty long 30min+ boat ride away, that would be the only downside vs say Anilao photo academy which is right in the bay (one of the other guests stayed there for a week before CBR and said it was good also). I definitely saw a lot more this trip than the first time I've tried blackwater in Thailand, not sure if it's a better location, the fact that I had a private guide finding stuff for me this time, or because I'm more familiar and did not waste time photographing jellies (probably all 3). In my 7 nights of double blackwater we've found wonderpus twice, paper nautilus both male and female countless times, 3 kinds of squids including a really cute golden one (but no diamond squid), juvenile African pompano, soapfish, flounder, lionfish, mantis shrimp, snake blenny, some sort of snail?. The other boat saw blanket octopus on 2 nights and long-arm octopus once, but I sadly missed out. Blackwater diving can be pretty hit or miss, on one night we had absolutely nothing, and it can be pretty tiring, as by the time you're back to the resort it's usually 11.30pm so I was usually in bed ~1am. Most days everyone went down for an afternoon nap after lunch.
Water temperature was mostly 27 degrees, with some thermoclines down to 26 degree. I opted for my drysuit w xerotherm undergarments and was nice and comfy, but it is a pain on the blackwater dives where you need to change depth quickly. Manageable, but annoying. Mild current on most dives except for one where we had to abort the dive at 40min due to a ripping down current. Most dives ended at 60min but you could stay longer - I came up w ~70-80bar most dives but was good to end at 60min since I was usually hungry or needed to pee at that point, and we had almost always already found what we were looking for. The blackwater dives you can't really stay longer since it's already close to midnight by the time we get back, unless you do only 1.
Overall a great trip, and I can already see myself going back next year. Anilao is now only a 2 hour drive away from Manila airport (vs 3 before). I will be in Lembeh in May and will compare again but as of now the two are equally tied for my top macro dive spot.
