Anilao
The Lembeh Straits in Northern Sulawesi has become synonymous with high quality muck diving and every serious macro enthusiast heads there at least once a year to home in on the latest finds. Whilst Lembeh turns up the occasional new critter every once in a while, generally we are seeing the same old critters posted on internet sites time after time
Time for a change?
I thought so, and took up the invitation to visit the Philippines through Digidiver mates Gutsy Tuason and Doy Tan a few years ago, so it was all booked and we headed off towards Solana resort.
Getting there is done through Manila, followed by a 3hr minibus ride (depending on prolific traffic). We waved the metropolis high-rise and equally high billboards goodbye, relishing the more endearing sites of lush green countryside along fairly good highways, heading south. Very similar countryside to that of Northern Sulawesi and Borneo, with similar houses, villages and crops
Approaching the coast the road curves around the large bay, which is Basura Another great muck diving location (More another time). The road follows the ragged outline of the coast south-east into the peninsular district of Mabini, west of Batangas City.
First impression Gorgeous location
not too dissimilar to Lembeh coralline sites. Having several long and short islands off the coast creates a long, but much wider channel. The shallows vary in topography from broad shallow expanses of coral though classic reef to gently sloping sandy sites.
Certainly cleaner than Lembeh for sure, but the adjacent beaches are still traps for the odd plastic bottles, and multi-coloured flip-flops that originated from God-knows where...
The coastal layout
About seventy meters out from Solana the broad, shallow expanse drops abruptly onto an extensive array of coral formations filled with an interesting array of reef life and a very active population of schooling fish. This coralline reef structure extends south along the coast, but narrows and steepens at the dead palm area. This more inclined site is absolutely beautiful on a sunny day and is the place to look typical reef dwellers but famous for the orange pygmy seahorses at around 22-23m. A couple of years of over-popularity have carved knee and hand holds into the areas adjacent to the gorgonian, but not quite as polished as Lembehs Nudi Falls for sure. This site can be a little difficult during tidal changes, making the exposed position of the gorgonian uncomfortable and pointless to be at. Instead a long drift along the gapless coral, anemones and whips is a much better option
This is generally, a very good site for observing the smaller, schooling fish, symbiosis and reef networking.
Twin Rocks aptly named because of two prominent coral formations that stand away from the main reef has proven a great site for frogfish, eels and nudibranch. However, the large resident school of Jacks has made it very popular with many visitors, but hazy visibility here can often prevent the full spectacle.
Heading south towards the large rock promontory (Mainit), the coral thins to a sparse population, changing to pink coloured seaweed and scattered carpet anemone species atop a gritty substrate. This whole section of coast has been shaped by strong currents; generated by squeezing a vast amount of water into the head of the channel. We photographed a pink Rhinopias here, which blended perfectly with the pink seaweed. At the point of the promontory (Mainit Rocks); broken, jagged rocks testify to the power of the water, which form strong eddies and washing machine spirals. Huge schools of fish can be seen all over the area, and this makes it a very popular place for the local fishermen too. Safe diving is done here at slow or slack periods and of course when fishermens hooks are not in the water.
Not-So Secret Bay
After the promontory and rocks the scenery opens up into a large bay, adjacent to the larger Batangas Bay
Here we find one of the most special of places Secret Bay. So special, twenty of our twenty-five dives were here.
So, whats so special?
Well here we can draw certain similarities to Lembeh sand sites in regards to the topography, with limited coral growth, but generally, very much cleaner I might add.
The large site gently drops away from the beach to around 12m, and then steepens slightly before leveling of at around 23-25m in what looks like the shallow neck before the deeper channel. The light is quite dim creating a surreal contrast effect with the yellow and white coral bushes that makes them appear to fluoresce. Current here can become apparent, but nothing too strong or too worrying during our dives.
Flat expanse, not much here
is a common, but short misconception for sure, but be advised nothing too large lives here Think small.
Every few meters things began turning up, nudibranchs, crabs, and stomopod species in what seemed like an unnatural amount and variety. We were lucky enough to see both the Peacock Mantis and the much smaller Tawny Mantis carrying eggs. Some of the Peacock were quite accommodating regarding poses, patience and personal space. Did I mention small? One exception is an individual Giant Mantis that must weigh in at least 5 kilograms with a hole you could fit a pony bottle inside!
Down towards the 20m area amid the branches of several white coral bushes we discovered some really interesting critters in the shape of saw-blade shrimp. Eight out eleven of these attractive individuals were carrying eggs externally, but tight into their bodies. Another nice find was a small green & white xenocrab, which we nicknamed Winky due to the fact it only had one eye.
If you like hawkfish and whip gobies, there are several white and yellow coral bushes at around 23m that are photographers Christmas trees
I counted five species of hawkfish; including the long-nosed and pixie varieties, and two species of goby. Plus cowries, and of course nudibranchs ranging in size from a couple of millimeters all the way up to a 15cm Ceretosoma that was literally hurtling along Obviously late for a meeting.
Blue ring octopuses are frequent, though not a common sight around this bay, and we were actually lucky enough to observe several females with egg clutches. Several other species of octopus there include the mimic and occasionally a wonderpus. The nicely coloured day octopus can be observed scuttling from rock to rock looking for crabs, which are in plentiful supply. Cuttlefish ranging from a few centimeters up to 25cm are quite common too. In just six or seven meters of water there seems to be a plethora of miniature life amid the course substrate. Some of the smallest scorpionfish I can remember seeing were found nestled between pebbles, some of them were absolutely beautiful too; one example measuring in at just 2cm was almost pure white.
One of the most intriguing sights for me was the one involving a solitary Risbecia Trioni nudibranch, with two red emperor shrimps squatting upon it
It never really seemed to wander far, and we saw it almost every day. Quite outrageous 
The list goes on and on
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The really one-off spectacles
We thought we were in luck by seeing a nice pair of white/red ornate ghost pipefish, but we were in for a really rare treat A hairy ghost pipefish!!! In my life I have only seen one before, about ten years ago in Lembeh. Here was an example in bright red and about 15 cm long. It got quite use to us watching it and hunted and caught food as though we were not there.
Secret Bay has a huge population of frogfish ranging in size from a few millimeters to around 15cm including the hairy striated variety which could often be seen stalking and catching small cardinal fish. In turn the smaller frogfish are preyed upon by the not-so-clever lizard fish
Weve all seen photos of them catching oversized meals. Here in the last moments of a dive we found one small lizardfish having caught one such unwary frogfish. A ridiculous looking situation, made more so by the frogfish puffing itself up. Not sure what the outcome was, but it certainly looked like stalemate to me.
Caban Island
Across the channel from Anilao is Caban a small island which again encompasses some excellent dive sites.
Kirbys Rock for example reminds me very much of the steeper Bangka reef walls in Northern Sulawesi. Quite pristine and pretty coral formations, huge anemone species and lots of rarer nudibranchs with the extra surprise of finding Hippocampus Pontohi! On a clear water day this site is quite captivating.
Around the corner in the small channel between the two islands are the remnants of a wreck
Exactly what its a wreck of is not that apparent, but all the same it is a dive not to be missed. The open steel structure drops gently from about 11m to around 30m and is filled with interesting critters, and a splendid school of batfish. A large black coral has a pair of long-nosed hawkfish and a mushroom coral with a couple of pipefish living in between its tentacles. Off the shallow side of the wreck is a small wall, at the base of which yellow-banded jawfish reside, but the real treat is the amount of nudibranchs that call this place home Incredible variety!
More here -
www.bobwhorton.shutterfly.com/anilao2009
But what to do, maybe with less divers around.... we would have the place alll to ourselves :bsmilie:
