We weren’t too sure if we should dive at Anda, Bohol as there isn’t much information on the quality of the diving. We were glad we gave it a chance! We dived with Anda Scuba Diving for one week (around 15 dives). Getting there from Panglao was easy enough. We took a private car to Jagna (Peso 3k) and then a trike to Anda (P800).
[Incidentally, we stayed in Jagna for a couple of nights to dive there; it was ok, nothing to really recommend].
ACCOMMODATION:
We stayed at two places:
-Kim’s Garden Inn Resort: Nice jungle setting but need a scooter to get to diving and into town for eating, as there is no lunch or evening meal served.
-Three Little Birds (recommended): Nice and affordable resort nestled behind a couple of more expensive beach resorts. Has a pool, restaurants, nice staff, and just a stones throw from the dive centre.
ANDA:
Anda is a small and mellow place. It’s very different to Panglao. You will definitely be able to relax here. You can find good food and beaches, but don’t expect to party hard.
DIVING CENTRE
We got a scooter and checked out three diving operators and decided to go with Anda Scuba Diving. The dive centre was very well designed, incredibly organised, and the explanation of their services gave us some assurance we’d had a good experience. They are also well priced, despite being within the grounds of an upmarket resort (Islandview Resort).
Anda Scuba Diving is owned and operated by a very lovely French couple. They are very hands-on and lead dives themselves. The dive centre is one of the best we have ever seen. They designed it themselves and it’s very well done. I’ve not seen one as well organised as these guys. It’s a smaller centre, just one boat. They do a max. of 4 divers per group.
They offer 3 day dives per day on single trips, as the dive sites are very close. Can also night dive of course. They have a comfortable boat to get you to the dive sites. It’s not the traditional, banca-type, but a covered wide speedboat with plenty of room. The boat holds probably 8 customers at maximum.
Briefings were very good and also included environmental care. They are actually very good at reminding divers to not touch and maintain good buoyancy. Two other divers were touching corals etc way too much for their photography and it was good to see them being asked to be more careful. Everything runs on schedule (did i mention how organised these guys are?)
Dives are planned to 1 hour, and the guide will take up divers with fast consumption rates for the boat, and then come down to resume the dive so you will get your 60 minutes (gas allowing).
DIVING:
Anda is pretty much a coastal reef/wall and there are no pinnacles or other further offshore sites. There is plenty to see, including frogfish, more turtles than you need, and plenty of nudis and macro life. They are very good at finding things to show you.
Even though there are not a great variety of dive sites types (no wrecks, pinnacles etc), there is diversity of sites along the reef/wall. We loved the macro stuff, and the night dive was one of the best we have ever done.
FINALLY:
Do we recommend Anda? We loved it here! The diving is pretty good and we loved the more mellow vibe from being away from the main tourist areas such as Panglao. I don’t think i would travel to the Philippines just to dive Anda, but if you diving other places and have a few days to spare then Anda is very worth considering. I highly recommend to dive with ‘Anda Scuba Diving’; one of the best small dive centres we have experienced.
