I returneth from nearly a month away diving in Anilao and Lembeh. Anilao was pretty epic, and I can see now why people rave about it so much. My first trip there at Christmas was hampered by the typhoon, but this return trip met my expectations and then some 
As with my last trip there, I stayed at Buceo Anilao. I enjoyed it there it the first time, despite the typhoon disruptions, and was willing to give it another go. On the resort side, the food remains a bit average, but that seems to be a Philippines issue in general from my experience, not specific to this resort. Always plenty of hot water, good aircon, and they were trialling an upgrade to the wifi (it was good).
Diving was mindblowing. I don't think it has quite the same biodiversity as Lembeh, but I strongly believe it has a higher biodensity. I have seen way more critters in Anilao than I have seen in Lembeh, but the types of critters aren’t necessarily as diverse in species. Did 4 dives every day with my awesome guide Romnick that I had last time. Again, he is brilliant, and I can’t recommend him as a guide highly enough.
Knocked a few critters off my bucket list too! It's taken me over 20 years (I don't know how I managed to miss them all the time), but I've finally seen a mimic octopus, and not just another "a mimic! no...wait...wonderpus. dammit!" incident.
Pics on my blog...
As with my last trip there, I stayed at Buceo Anilao. I enjoyed it there it the first time, despite the typhoon disruptions, and was willing to give it another go. On the resort side, the food remains a bit average, but that seems to be a Philippines issue in general from my experience, not specific to this resort. Always plenty of hot water, good aircon, and they were trialling an upgrade to the wifi (it was good).
Diving was mindblowing. I don't think it has quite the same biodiversity as Lembeh, but I strongly believe it has a higher biodensity. I have seen way more critters in Anilao than I have seen in Lembeh, but the types of critters aren’t necessarily as diverse in species. Did 4 dives every day with my awesome guide Romnick that I had last time. Again, he is brilliant, and I can’t recommend him as a guide highly enough.
Knocked a few critters off my bucket list too! It's taken me over 20 years (I don't know how I managed to miss them all the time), but I've finally seen a mimic octopus, and not just another "a mimic! no...wait...wonderpus. dammit!" incident.
Pics on my blog...
We were there at the exact same time (the couple of french Canadian, I was the pasty white guy, hard to miss). I'll try to get down to it and post a few words but I definitely feel the same way about Anilao and Buceo - it was a fantastic experience overall.
