Trip Report Anilao Trip Report (Buceo Dive Resort)

[hedonist222]

Buceo Anilao Trip Report​

I spent 11 nights and 10 diving days in late August of 2022.

I took a direct flight from Abu Dhabi to Manila on Etihad Air.

I arranged airport pick up and drop off through them. A little pricey at $240 but convenient. Vehicle is a typical Japanese mini van.

Total journey time of about 2.5 hours with traffic in some areas.
2 hours of highway at 90 to 100 kph and 30 minutes of winding roads at 20 to 40 kph.
Buceo is at the tip of a semi-peninsula and has no car access.
Transportation is through a nearby shore via dive boat - 5 minutes away.



A Spanish couple happened to arrive at the same time I arrived - around 7 pm.

Dave received us at the reception. Luggage was sent to room. Asked if we’d like dinner.

The rooms are very basic.

The property is built on a hill with many levels of terraces. Perfect! Because I am doing because I’m doing physiotherapy for a broke femur/knee and obviously being on vacation, any planned physio is a little out of the way. So the myriad of steps were perfect.
The rooms are on different levels.

Next morning I found my way to the restaurant - which in typical far east asian style is an open area with no windows or quartered-walls.

Breakfast starts at 7 am.
Breakfast is a live egg station, a buffet of some meat (sausage, ham, bacon) and rice. Two types of fresh fruit, long-life milk, cereal, and toast. And one fresh juice and, strangely, either powdered or juice from concentrate.
On weekdays when there aren’t many guests, theres no buffet. They bring out whatever you ask for from the above.


Buceo offers either an all-in dining option or breakfast only with other meals from the menu.
The menu is either Philipino food, italian pasta (cream or tomato), some seafood, some salads, and sandwiches.
Not to be negative but the food wasn’t very good and rather pricey - but thats subjective.

Crispy squid and garlic rice - I had this 14 times over the 11 days

squid stuffed with onion and sweet peppers & garlic


Chicken kiev

Spaghetti in cream sauce and mushrooms - and local chillies I found growing in the yard across my room

 

[hedonist222]

Dive schedule is as following:
Dive 1: 8 am
Dive 2: 11 am
Dive 3: 3 pm
Night Dive: 6 pm

Because the property is built on terraces, the gear room is on this level, the camera room is on the middle level and the reception is on the top level of this photograph.

A guide is assigned to up to 4 divers. I opted for a private guide from day one and during the weekdays, I paid for a second dive guide. What a great experience. On weekends, they needed their guides for the Manila crowd.
One small issue is that the quotation I received and paid for prior to flying to the Philippines was a little unclear. I thought I’d paid for a room for 11 nights, and 10 days of diving with a guide. Turns out they’d billed me for a room for 11 nights and only 5 days of diving and a guide. When I decided to get a second guide, I calculated the cost based on the rate I paid - which I thought was for 4 dives a day for 10 days. I do read the fine print but while I asked for 10 days of diving, they thought it best to charge me for 5 - since they weren’t sure I’d dive all 10 days.
So the cost of the second guide came as a surprise. For reference, a guide is $15 per dive. So $60 a day for 4 dives a day. The dive itself costs $31 with air, and $36 with nitrox.
So a single dive with shared guide (could be you and just another or up to 4 divers per guide) is $36. A private guide is an additional $15.
In hindsight, I would have still opted for a paid second guide.

Nitrox was consistently between 31 and 32%. Analyzed in front of you every morning. Then tanks labeled with name and percentage.

The dive center assistants are more than happy to unpack your gear and set it up for you.
They assign you a stall and stick a name tag over it.
I think in my 17 years of diving, I’ve never had anyone set up my gear for me.
I did it myself the first day, then the second day my guide sort of coerced me into letting him do it - I let him but was nearby.

We did two tanks every morning and therefore did not return between dives one and two.
We usually returned from the first two dives by noon. And usually had 3 to 2.5 hours for lunch and rest before the third dive.
Back from third dive usually by 4:45 to 5 pm.
Not enough time to shower, dry and change into clothes. So I usually just relaxed in the pool.

The dive center assistants will rinse your gear and hang up for drying at the end of the day. They don’t dunk or let it sit in fresh water though. Like I said, I’m not used to not assembling or putting my gear away - so I checked the gear at night and found they hadn’t attached the first stage regulator dust cap.

Day one was like the picture above. Blue skies and beautiful strokes of clouds.
The next day it looked like this:

It was pouring. Raining cats and dogs. We were soaking wet from the briefing before we got on the boat! It got so bad that the coast guard called off all marine movement for the rest of the day. At that point we’d only done two dives. It was due to tropical storm Florita that was passing about 300 km north of Batangas.

Fortunately the next day the coast guard was okay with boats going out but not crossing the strait.

Which is fine because we hadn’t explored those muck sites yet. It was still pouring and continued to pour for the next two days. Not a show stopper when muck diving is on the agenda, right?

Guides like to stick next to each other. They’ll venture apart but generally stay in close vicinity.
On one particular dive day, my guide asked if it was ok if we went back to a site from yesterday. One of the other divers wanted to go back to a rhinopias we found the day before. I was slightly hesitant because I wanted to cross over to the other side of the strait and explore those sites - lest we get another weather alert and have to remain shore-side. Guide picking up on my hesitance suggested we go to that site but explore the northern portion that we had not done the other day. So we ventured off!



Evenings are pleasant. Most of us are in the restaurant for dinner by 8.
Chat a bit and then head to bed.

 

[hedonist222]

Here are some closing thoughts.
Would I return to Anilao? In contrast to North Sulawesi (Bangka and Lembeh), no. I’d rather head back there. Bangka was phenomenal for non-muck and Lembeh, while slightly crowded for early an December excursion, is excellent for muck. But Anilao is easy to get to when you don’t have time to travel further. I can be in Anilao in exactly 12 hours from the moment I walk out my front door.
I think I saw 95% of whats critters considered “must see” in Anilao in the 10 days of diving. The only thing we didn’t find was a pygmy frog fish and bumblebee shrimp, blue ring and mototi octopii.

Would I recommend two guides? Absolutely.
Not only because you’re doubling chances of finding things, but guides are human and have their strengths and weaknesses for spotting things.


I had a permanent guide with me from day one and a few days of one guide and then the rest with another.
If you opt for no guide or a single guide, I would strongly suggest you retain that guide throughout the trip. Because the guide will remember you saw and took three millions pictures of that Saron shrimp and will likely not look for another one or point it out along the way. If you get a new guide, they dont know what you’ve seen and will search for everything and show you everything you’ve already seen. This happened on a trip to Lembeh for a day or two - but then asked for a permanent guide.
Also, sometimes you will just not be able to get the shot you want. Either because of current, backscatter, the critter scurried into a tight spot. My guides were excellent in that sense. I’d signal, I give up, lets carry on - theres no point in wasting time with that critter. So the next days if they see it, they’ll point it out for another photo op. So having two guides just amplified your chances if seeing new things or getting another chance at photographing something.

I experienced three guides personally, but by virtue of guides keeping close proximity to each other, they also showed each other things they found after their divers got their fill of photographs. So I experienced my three and another two. Buceo has really good guides. I realize that assessing guide competence is determined by my own skill, but what I mean by good guides is firstly, they were relentless in hunting. From the moment we descended and till we ascended they were all continuously hunting. Another facet of why I think they were good is that they weren’t pointing out your common stuff as “fillers”. Everything they pointed out was unique and uncommon. For example, there were many black and white and solid black, and brown’ish feather stars in the area that period. They pointed out the usual symbiotic critter but when we chanced upon this area that was filled with yellow feather stars, Romnick left no feather star unturned. Hunting for yellow symbiotic creatures. No monotony or “my job is point things out like a robot”.

I initially planned on spending 5 days at Purta Galera and then 5 days at Anilao but decided against it in case I get stuck on Puerto Galer because of storms. I also didn’t want to lose one day of not diving. I hadn’t traveled since late 2019!

Would I return to Buceo? I don’t know. It appears they are in the epicenter of Anilao.
10 Koala is about fifteen minutes away, 01 Red Rock is also fifteen minutes away. 32 Daryl Laut is about 20 minutes away. 38 Apol’s point is about fifteens minutes away. We covered everything from 01 to 10 on the coast and almost everything from 32 Daryl Laut to a little beyond 38 Apol’s point. Maybe there is more to Anilao than this area? I’m unsure.

I had a great time and highly recommend Anilao for some great specialty diving.


Addendum 1

Dave, one of the co-owners, is always around. I like that. He's usually around at setup and briefing, and on arrival. Same with dinner time. His son Dood is an instructor and also usually around.

They are pretty attentive to needs as well.
They were more than happy to bring me some fresh lapu lapu (grouper) from the market when I asked one day. The Orange Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides) is a fish we have every week here in the UAE.

I also asked for excursion ideas on day of check out. My flight was at 6:30 pm, so was hoping to maybe see something along the way. Dave suggested a really nice day-trip to Mount Taal. But I decided to instead have lunch at Sofitel's lunch buffet. Dubai-grade fare and quality! I mean it was well worth heading past the airport, having the driver wait, and enjoying the buffet.

 

[Tippytoes12]

Thanks for an excellent trip report. I had a return trip to Buceo Anilao in March,
first Asian macro dive trip since Covid and I loved it so much. The staff there are all soo nice. And agree wholeheartedly that the guides and boat crew are some of the very best compared to top drawer destinations Ambon and Lembeh. My guide was JohnLloyd and I 2s in a group with a lovely American Couple. The other group on the boat was guided by Enzo, who usually had just 2 divers. I liked the way we all dived in one large buddy group with two pairs of eye. In the Philippines in general we tend to fine a few things that we like to eat and then stick to them. The stuffed squid and the tuna were great. There had been a typhoon before my visits and some of the critters were washed away. But otherwise I was delighted with my spots, I found Anilao a tiny bit productive than Lembeh, but the ease of access from an international hub more than made up.

Thanks again for doing the report !

 

[Centrals]

1. US$240.00 for the transfer, was it single or round trip?
2. Surely if the customer asked for 10 days of diving then the quote should be based on 10 days. Any experienced operator would had made it clear in the beginning that anything less than 10 days of diving would incur additional cost.

 

[hedonist222]

Thanks for an excellent trip report. I had a return trip to Anilao in March,
first Asian macro dive trip since Covid and I loved it so much. The staff there are all soo nice. And agree wholeheartedly that the guides and boat crew are some of the very best compared to top drawer destinations Ambon and Lembeh. In the Philippines in general we tend to fine a few things that we like and then stick to them. The stuffed squid and the tuna were great. There had been a typhoon before my visits and some of the critters were washed away. But otherwise I was delighted with my spots, I found Anilao a tiny bit productive than Lembeh, but the ease of access from an international hub more than made up.

Thanks again for doing the report !

Were you also at Buceo Dive Resort? Which guide did you have?
They too were saying a rather-recent typhoon washed away a lot of critters. Also, I apparently went in low-season - because its warm, critters venture deeper.

1. US$240.00 for the transfer, was it single or round trip?
2. Surely if the customer asked for 10 days of diving then the quote should be based on 10 days. Any experienced operator would had made it clear in the beginning that anything less than 10 days of diving would incur additional cost.

Yes, $240 for a round-trip.

Yes, my logic as well. But like I said, they presumed I would infer this from the quote. That they charged me up front for 10 nights and 5 days of diving because they weren't sure how many of the 10 nights/days I would dive. Which makes sense from their perspective, but it should have been pointed out in the quotation. I would've paid anyways - just didn't prefer the surprise.


Also, I've edited the end of the 3rd post with more reflections.

 

[Centrals]

I never enjoy "surprise" on holiday especially the "issue" could had easily settled much earlier.
Answer what the customers required and never ever assumed or presumed. If in doubt, ask. How difficult can it be?
@hedonist222
Did you raise the issue with Dave?

 

[Tippytoes12]

Were you also at Buceo Dive Resort? Which guide did you have?
They too were saying a rather-recent typhoon washed away a lot of critters. Also, I apparently went in low-season - because its warm, critters venture deeper.



Yes, $240 for a round-trip.

Yes, my logic as well. But like I said, they presumed I would infer this from the quote. That they charged me up front for 10 nights and 5 days of diving because they weren't sure how many of the 10 nights/days I would dive. Which makes sense from their perspective, but it should have been pointed out in the quotation. I would've paid anyways - just didn't prefer the surprise.


Also, I've edited the end of the 3rd post with more reflections.

 

[Tippytoes12]

Edited above to include the names of the guides. We only missed out on blue rings and rhinopia. But did see a matoto and there were masses of mimics, flambos and hairy octopus.

 

[Centrals]

@hedonist222
Any "blackwater" diving?