Any suggestions in Anilao for 5 dives per day?

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FloridaSun

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Location
West Palm Beach
# of dives
200 - 499
I'm looking to plan a trip back to the Philippines in April (I was in Malapascua about 2 years ago).

I've been spoiled by my trips this year with a private dive guide and 5 dives per day in Tulamben and Lembeh.

I've seen a few Anilao dive resorts offering 4 dives per day. Do any offer 5?

Another idea I've been kicking around is to do a trip to Romblon. Can anyone compare it to Tulamben/Lembeh?

Thanks!
 
We've done 5 at Aiyanar, but we preferred 3 long day dives (75-90 mins) and one night dive as a Big Day. Number of dives has never been an objective.
 
Yes, I realize the number of dive isn't the objective. However, I'm traveling without my wife so I'm not really looking to do much lounging. I'm more concerned with improving my uw photography skills.
 
I've been in Anilao with Buceo Anilao and I think it's possible to do 5 dives a day. Also had a private guide and liked it a lot. Same with me, i'm spoiled. A group of 4 divers is a big group for me ;-)..
 
Most places in Anilao do not restrict dive times to one hour, so dives of 70-80 minutes are very common. So if your air consumption is reasonably good, and you stay reasonably shallow, you will use your time much more efficiently by doing 3-4 dives per day rather than trying to cram in 5 dives per day. I once did a few days of 5 dives per day in Dumaguete because Atlantis had this "unlimited diving" deal that I tried. But it was actually rather silly, as you basically had to get out of the water after 50-60 minutes to allow enough surface interval to do the next dive, even if I had plenty of air left. So it is much better to do 3 or 4 longer dives than 5 shorter dives. And of course it should go almost without saying that if you are spending that much time underwater, staying relatively shallow and using Nitrox is a must.
 
Aquaventure Reef Club... I've done six in a day with them, if you can handle it physically and within your NDLs, they'll make it happen...

These guys are great to work meals around your diving schedule, and generally the daily schedule is

8:30 out for 2 dives, back by 11:30 or 12:00

Lunch

Out at 2:00 pm for 2 afternoon dives, back by 4:30 or 5:00

Out at 5:45 for a night dive (this is your limiting factor as they generally need four divers to make the call)...

For my sixth dive, we often will get up and do a dive at 6am off the resort to a helicopter wreck or along the slope... the helicopter wreck sits at 30m, and I love diving the place, there's always something strange going on there...

First time I dove it, there was a family of lion fish hanging out, mating pair that literally just sat on the side of the helicopter and starred back at you while 4-5 juveniles floated around under the belly between the skids...

This last trip, the juveniles were hiding in a little sunken skiff next to the helicopter, one of the adults was dead, the other kind of hovering around it guarding the carcasss (when we went down again two days later, no carcass to be seen)... one of the comical things we saw was on the edge of the skiff, there was a large crack in the hull, and spaced out about 4 inches apart a trio of young eels about the thickness of a garden hose with little white beady eyes... they would poke their heads out in unison, and then back into the hull as you approached... also there is a pretty good school of decent sized bat fish patrolling the wreck these days... the hover a little ways out into the 40m range, then come circling in towards the wreck when you have your back turned... there is a large tire pile set up as an artificial reef, and environmentalists will complain that coral won't grow on them, but there's plenty of wildlife going on in and around those tires... like I say, a fun morning dive...

So, that would be my choice, I'll be going back, I've tried more high scale places like El Pinoy, but Aquaventure still gets my vote for their service and the overall family feel of the operation... you really feel like you are hanging out at your favorite uncle's place...

---------- Post added October 10th, 2015 at 12:10 AM ----------

Aquaventure Reef Club... I've done six in a day with them, if you can handle it physically and within your NDLs, they'll make it happen...

These guys are great to work meals around your diving schedule, and generally the daily schedule is

8:30 out for 2 dives, back by 11:30 or 12:00

Lunch

Out at 2:00 pm for 2 afternoon dives, back by 4:30 or 5:00

Out at 5:45 for a night dive (this is your limiting factor as they generally need four divers to make the call)...

For my sixth dive, we often will get up and do a dive at 6am off the resort to a helicopter wreck or along the slope... the helicopter wreck sits at 30m, and I love diving the place, there's always something strange going on there...

First time I dove it, there was a family of lion fish hanging out, mating pair that literally just sat on the side of the helicopter and starred back at you while 4-5 juveniles floated around under the belly between the skids...

This last trip, the juveniles were hiding in a little sunken skiff next to the helicopter, one of the adults was dead, the other kind of hovering around it guarding the carcasss (when we went down again two days later, no carcass to be seen)... one of the comical things we saw was on the edge of the skiff, there was a large crack in the hull, and spaced out about 4 inches apart a trio of young eels about the thickness of a garden hose with little white beady eyes... they would poke their heads out in unison, and then back into the hull as you approached... also there is a pretty good school of decent sized bat fish patrolling the wreck these days... the hover a little ways out into the 40m range, then come circling in towards the wreck when you have your back turned... there is a large tire pile set up as an artificial reef, and environmentalists will complain that coral won't grow on them, but there's plenty of wildlife going on in and around those tires... like I say, a fun morning dive...

So, that would be my choice, I'll be going back, I've tried more high scale places like El Pinoy, but Aquaventure still gets my vote for their service and the overall family feel of the operation... you really feel like you are hanging out at your favorite uncle's place...
 
I've been in Anilao with Buceo Anilao and I think it's possible to do 5 dives a day. Also had a private guide and liked it a lot. Same with me, i'm spoiled. A group of 4 divers is a big group for me ;-)..

Hi Andreni
As far as I know Buceo Anilao Beach & Dive Resort offers 4 dives a day, but no time limit on each dive. Except for surface intervall time and 20 bar security air left. You can hire a private guide, with a small surcharge and advance notice to the resort.
All the best
Dive Traveller
 
I remember Aquaventure used to offer unlimited shore dive. Not sure if it is still the case so please enquire.
 
re romblon: spent a day diving the best on offer there earlier this year as part of a 'round mindoro' liveaboard. was underwhelmed. my impression is the area was until recently heavily overfished and bombed. there are efforts underway to establish protected areas in the hopes of drawing dive tourism. unfortunately, they are a day late and a dollar short, and i'm not expecting big things any time soon.

romblon itself is an interesting and comfortable place, marble quarry notwithstanding. too bad about the diving. imho, give it a pass. in otherwords, if you are expecting tulamben, you will be sorely disappointed, especially with the effort required to get there.
 
Last time I dived with Crystal Blue two years ago the shortest dive I did was 70 min, most were 80+ min, good shore diving too, no reason why you can't spend nearly 6 hrs in the water with only 4 dives per day.

CB were blending their nitrox so you can easily ask whatever works for you, I usually only do three dives per day (two boat dives in the morning and one very long shore dive after lunch) and spend a lot of time sorting out the pics on my computer for the rest of the day
 

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