Anilao in December!

[fuggler]

I'm coming home again! So last year, we had a great time in PG and Bohol. This time, we only have a week from Dec. 25-31, so we're staying in Anilao. I picked Aquaventure because out of the 6 package quotes I got, they were the most affordable with unlimited shore diving (and WIFI?). I have a few questions that I hope you guys can help me with:

1. Roundtrip transfer is 7600 pesos. Grabe naman. What are my other options? Are there private buses or "for hire" drivers that go to Anilao? (that won't charge so much)

2. I'm sending full payment for the lodging/eating portion of our trip. The way Aquaventure breaks down their dive cost (separate DM fee, boat fee?!, conservation fee) left me thinking I shouldn't pay for the dive part until we're done diving. Am I right? Does the boat fee go down if there are more divers? (If so, any of you guys wanna join us?!)

3. To those who have stayed at Aquaventure, can you describe a typical day of diving? Do they have a schedule/how flexible are they? Is the house reef any good?

4. Which dive sites would you recommend if I like weird critters and colorful walls? If I see a mandarin fish and a rhinopia, I'm instantly a happy fuggler.

 

[blue steal]

I am sure you will get many responses to your questions here.
You could try the regular bus to Batangas and take jeepney from batangas to mabini or anialo. cost would prbably be around 200P. check with makdiver, kiko offers a shuttle from manila area to anialo for I think 750P each way.
Aquaventure is an okay place. they have a good restaurant, nice pool, showers, lockers, rinse tanks. Room are plain, AC is extra $6 day and most rooms do not have a view, only 2 or 3 do.
DM & boat costs do go down the more people you can split the costs with, but the problem is that there is usually very few people staying during the week and when the weekend comes around it is full and sometimes it is difficult to even get a DM. There is wifi, but the shore diving is not that great, twin rocks down by planet dive has excellent shore diving.
Most diving starting in the morning and is a 2 tank dive with a SI on a beach somewhere. Cost depends on how far you take the banka, example sombero island and tinloy are more expensive than say twin rocks or place 15-20 minutes from aquaventure. Most diving is done by noon.
There are many dive sites and during the course of a week you will probably dive quite a few of them.
Hope this helps somewhat, Have fun.

 

[fuggler]

Thanks for the info! I just emailed makdiver about the roundtrip transfers. I hope they still offer the service.

 

[Karl_H]

The round trip cost mentioned for Anilao sounds like a good rate - most places tend to charge a little more! the best option would be as blue steel recommends and get the semi-private transfer

Diving wise I'd but Anilao head and shoulders above Bohol for critters - if you liked Bohol you'll love Anilao! If you have a full week you'll get to see most of the good sites but be warned at that time of year the water is COLD!!!! You may need to break through a fair bit of ice to get into the water at the icy grip of around 25C takes hold! In all seriousness Aquaventure is likely to be a good choice as quite a few resorts have no hot water which isn't too pleasant at that time of year

The main site for critters is always going to be secret bay, diving there can be a little hit and miss but give it a few tries and you'll get a lot more hits than misses. Rhinopias do exist there it's just you need a bit of luck to find them! Dusk and early morning dives are the best times to check out secret bay.

Mandarin fish tend to be seen at the Daryl Laut site over the channel, it's worth a trip as in addition to the mandarin fish the wreck there can look great in pictures. There's also a few mandarin fish at the end of the Dead Palms site - there is a lot of shallow staghorn corals so it's easy to find a spot there - it's also a lot easier to get back to the resort in the dark as there is no need to cross the channel.

I'd strongly recommend checking out Koala more than once, for me this is the most under rated site in Anilao and usually has a few surprises - there's also pygmy seahorses at around only 12m in depth. Beatrice Rock and Bahura are also well worth a visit while Twin Rocks is usually a good site - the down side is there's often more divers than fish (and there's a lot of fish!) at Twin Rocks if you hit a busy period!

If you're feeling adventurous there is also the option of a day trip to Verde Island from Anilao, or even a trip to some of the PG sites.

Have fun!

Karl

 

[fuggler]

If it's feasible from AV, we'd like to go to Verde Island again. The Verde Wall was the highlight of our trip last year. We also got a family friend's driver to drive us to and from the Batangas pier to get to PG. I'm pretty sure I gave him less than 5000 pesos. I might just have to bug him again.

Thanks for the site recommendations. Gonna start youtubing for some Anilao videos.

 

[jigo]

5000 tip? i dont think you'll have trouble finding a driver. lol

 

[blue steal]

MAKdiver offers a verde island trip, but it's a long day in a small banka and the cost is $100. Food not included. Verde is better done from mindoro for 1/2 the cost and much faster.
I always enjoy going across to tinloy/maricaban to dive, because I enjoy wall dives, but it will add maybe 300P to the banka cost.