Parla
Registered
The purpose of this diving trip was to improve the level of our photograps with our camera setups. We both have a TG-6 with Inon S2000 strobe and BigBlue torch (originally it was me with 2 strobes and my husband with the torch).
We had booked a 3-day photography course at Anilao Photo Academy (APAhttps://www.facebook.com/anilaophotoacademy). The third participant cancelled so it was only me and my husband in the knowledgeable hands of Tim Ho. The program was very straight forward: theory followed by two dives where we had a dive guide helping us find things to shoot and Tim watching, commenting, helping us get good (and better) photos. A third dive with the DG and in the evening we went through the photos we had taken during the day.
We are so happy we took the course as that put our photo shooting skills to a totally new level. We had done 4 trips with our cameras (with me having problems with my other strobe) and I was getting really frustrated. Tim taught us some basic tips and we now have a nice setup that works well for both of us.
Watching somebody take excellent photos is also a good way to learn and some of the ways to take photos that Tim showed us were very good tips for upcoming dives. We also did a Blackwater dive, wow what an experience. My photos are nothing to talk about, but the dive itself was so amazing. I could do another one without my camera and just enjoy the space soup feeling.
At APA, there are 12 rooms and they are clean and big, there is plenty of space for your camera gear in the room, and there is also a sizeable camera area downstairs next to the dining area. There is also gear you can try but for me it was enough to focus on my TG-6 and the light and my strobe.
For the last 4 nights we had booked a room at Amor Laut Resort (Bei Facebook anmelden), a resort less than 5mins away from APA. We had a very nice room with a big living room (living room table was very good to spread our cameras out). The room had a little patio, and the resort has two swimming pools and a restaurant. Breakfast was included in the price and there were several choices and they were good sizes for divers. I would recommend Amor Laut to couples or families that have non-diving people as the pool area was nice and the resort was more spacious that APA (which focuses solely on UW photography). We were picked up in the morning by the dive boat as we continued diving for 3 more days with APA.
APA is located near the pier so there is not much around, and it is a brisk 30-minute walk to Mabini town. Rina from APA had organised for a van to pick us up and we used the van to return to Manila (due to the approaching typhoon we had a change of plans). Very smooth and safe ride.
After 3 nights in Manila the ferries were operational again. We took the Starlite overnight ferry from Batangas to Romblon. We were met by Charo from Sunset Cove Beach and Dive Resort (Sunset Cove Beach & Dive Resort | Romblon) and we were taken over to the resort which is located on a small island called Alad, a 20-minute boat ride from Romblon.
Sunset Cove is a small resort with 7 rooms. When we arrived, we were 7 divers in total so it felt really cosy. We had all our meals at the resort. There is a small village behind the resort but we forgot to venture out for a beer as we were so focused on the photos. We had the largest room which had a living room next to the bed. They also have a nice swimming pool.Ronny is working on a better camera table with necessary equipment so that will be a nice feature for future guests.
We were 4 divers and 2 DG on the boat so again a very private feeling. Only once there was another diving boat from another resort at a dive site at the same time. One day we had a great day trip to Cobrador island where we had a BBQ lunchbetween dives, and Ronny, Charo and their son joined us.
After 8 nights we took another night ferry back to Batangas to fly out via Manila. The driver organised by Sunset Cove was equally driving smoothly and safely.
The marine life in both Anilao (we had been there once a year ago) and Romblon was amazing. We saw so many things, and as I finally got good photos of so many nudies, shrimps and crabs, I was really pleased with our choice of dive locations, not to mention the photo course. In Anilao we saw (in no particular order) a blue ring octopus, loads of colourful nudis and sea slugs, a bobbit worm, a psychedelic nudi, a flamboyant cuttlefish and sheep nudis, and plenty more.
Romblon had some critters we had not seen before: a tiger nudi and a butterfly nudi, Bubble placida, Melibe digitata, spiny tiger shrimp, two different hairy shrimps and a Lembeh sea dragon (not to mention all the tiny stuff we didn’t end up getting good enough photos for ID).
We had planned to go to Tablas on our way to Romblon but due to the typhoon we had to skip it. We are hoping to do that part next year.
Big thumbs up for both resorts for their professionalism. Rina (APA) and Charo and Ronny (SC) were all very friendly, easy going and helpful. They helped us organise the missing parts of our travels and were great fun. We had an excellent holiday, and have now tired our friends with FB posts about Anilao and Romblon.
We had booked a 3-day photography course at Anilao Photo Academy (APAhttps://www.facebook.com/anilaophotoacademy). The third participant cancelled so it was only me and my husband in the knowledgeable hands of Tim Ho. The program was very straight forward: theory followed by two dives where we had a dive guide helping us find things to shoot and Tim watching, commenting, helping us get good (and better) photos. A third dive with the DG and in the evening we went through the photos we had taken during the day.
We are so happy we took the course as that put our photo shooting skills to a totally new level. We had done 4 trips with our cameras (with me having problems with my other strobe) and I was getting really frustrated. Tim taught us some basic tips and we now have a nice setup that works well for both of us.
Watching somebody take excellent photos is also a good way to learn and some of the ways to take photos that Tim showed us were very good tips for upcoming dives. We also did a Blackwater dive, wow what an experience. My photos are nothing to talk about, but the dive itself was so amazing. I could do another one without my camera and just enjoy the space soup feeling.
At APA, there are 12 rooms and they are clean and big, there is plenty of space for your camera gear in the room, and there is also a sizeable camera area downstairs next to the dining area. There is also gear you can try but for me it was enough to focus on my TG-6 and the light and my strobe.
For the last 4 nights we had booked a room at Amor Laut Resort (Bei Facebook anmelden), a resort less than 5mins away from APA. We had a very nice room with a big living room (living room table was very good to spread our cameras out). The room had a little patio, and the resort has two swimming pools and a restaurant. Breakfast was included in the price and there were several choices and they were good sizes for divers. I would recommend Amor Laut to couples or families that have non-diving people as the pool area was nice and the resort was more spacious that APA (which focuses solely on UW photography). We were picked up in the morning by the dive boat as we continued diving for 3 more days with APA.
APA is located near the pier so there is not much around, and it is a brisk 30-minute walk to Mabini town. Rina from APA had organised for a van to pick us up and we used the van to return to Manila (due to the approaching typhoon we had a change of plans). Very smooth and safe ride.
After 3 nights in Manila the ferries were operational again. We took the Starlite overnight ferry from Batangas to Romblon. We were met by Charo from Sunset Cove Beach and Dive Resort (Sunset Cove Beach & Dive Resort | Romblon) and we were taken over to the resort which is located on a small island called Alad, a 20-minute boat ride from Romblon.
Sunset Cove is a small resort with 7 rooms. When we arrived, we were 7 divers in total so it felt really cosy. We had all our meals at the resort. There is a small village behind the resort but we forgot to venture out for a beer as we were so focused on the photos. We had the largest room which had a living room next to the bed. They also have a nice swimming pool.Ronny is working on a better camera table with necessary equipment so that will be a nice feature for future guests.
We were 4 divers and 2 DG on the boat so again a very private feeling. Only once there was another diving boat from another resort at a dive site at the same time. One day we had a great day trip to Cobrador island where we had a BBQ lunchbetween dives, and Ronny, Charo and their son joined us.
After 8 nights we took another night ferry back to Batangas to fly out via Manila. The driver organised by Sunset Cove was equally driving smoothly and safely.
The marine life in both Anilao (we had been there once a year ago) and Romblon was amazing. We saw so many things, and as I finally got good photos of so many nudies, shrimps and crabs, I was really pleased with our choice of dive locations, not to mention the photo course. In Anilao we saw (in no particular order) a blue ring octopus, loads of colourful nudis and sea slugs, a bobbit worm, a psychedelic nudi, a flamboyant cuttlefish and sheep nudis, and plenty more.
Romblon had some critters we had not seen before: a tiger nudi and a butterfly nudi, Bubble placida, Melibe digitata, spiny tiger shrimp, two different hairy shrimps and a Lembeh sea dragon (not to mention all the tiny stuff we didn’t end up getting good enough photos for ID).
We had planned to go to Tablas on our way to Romblon but due to the typhoon we had to skip it. We are hoping to do that part next year.
Big thumbs up for both resorts for their professionalism. Rina (APA) and Charo and Ronny (SC) were all very friendly, easy going and helpful. They helped us organise the missing parts of our travels and were great fun. We had an excellent holiday, and have now tired our friends with FB posts about Anilao and Romblon.
