Anilao Diving (9-11 May 2025)

Why Anilao?  

Though Philippines is one of the biggest countries in ASEAN, I never thought of Philippines as a vacation destination. I wonder why. 

I have never heard of Anilao until March this year. For foreigners, Anilao is definitely not as famous as Boracay, Palawan etc. Who would have imagined, at a place about 2 hours away from Manila, hide a paradise for Macro diving? I would not have researched about it if not because of Jeff’s Instagram posting last March 2025. The more I googled about Anilao, the more I am convinced that it is a place worth exploring. 

Little known to foreigners, Anilao is where the Diving industry started in Philippines. With recent frequent business trips to Kota Kinabalu, all I have to do is to extend the trip from KK to Manila over the weekend. And Manila is little less than 2 hours from Kota Kinabalu by flight.

The trip highlights 

The trip would have been more challenging, if not because of the presence of a local friend.  

Why? I went to Philippines assuming that credit cards are widely acceptable. I also assumed that Grab E-hailing services have extensive coverage in the whole of Philippines. I was wrong for both these assumptions. 

• Credit cards are not widely acceptable, e-wallet are not widely acceptable.
• Grab has extensive coverage in the metropolitan of Manila, but going beyond that, you might receive message “Service not available in this region”

 Then, how did I survive? 

• Cash is still the king. While Gcash is quite a common payment channel in Philippines, foreigners can’t use Gcash. Luckily my local friend has a WISE account (where I could transfer money to) and WISE card, which was then used to withdraw cash from the ATM for daily use.
• Other than Grab, we still have JoyRide apps, that offer services all the way to Anilao. Though most dive shops in Anilao offer private car transfer services, I thought of trying public transport for more flexibility. Price wise, a private car transfer between Manila – Anilao costs around 6000php; whilst Private car e-hailing costs around 3400 – 3600php. But, keep in mind to have cash ready to pay the JoyRide driver.

On the dives, I signed up with boat dives for the first day, and shore dives for the second days. After going through the first day, I opine that all the boat dives could have been done directly from the shore, if we are able to carry the BCD and the heavy tank down the staircase from the road. That could be the reason, why a boat dive is a preferred option. Anilao isn’t the most affordable diving location in Asean for sure, but this could be the case of Quality over Quantity. Unlike Malaysia dive spots like Perhentian/ Tioman/ Tenggol, where each boat easily carry 8 divers per trip, the dive shop that I went cater for small number of divers only. As expected, the diving trips focus heavily on spotting Macro creatures, and they didn’t disappoint. Emperor shrimp, mantis shrimp, squat/ sexy shrimp colonies, lots of nudibranchs. The warm water temperature makes the diving trips very pleasant. All my dives were done without donning wet suit.

To ensure I recover well to work on Tuesday, I consciously chose to limit myself to 2 shore dives on Sunday only. Following that, a return trip to Manila, and 2 days stay in Azure Residence. 

My transports, accommodation, and F&B 

• Transport: AirAsia KK – Manila – KK (RM685 with additional 7kg handcarry baggage) ; Grab E-hailing within Manila Metropolitan; JoyRide for trips Manila – Anilao – Manila (3600php one way); Motor Tricycle in Anilao provincial town (10 php to 25 php)
• Accommodation: First night in Manila – MyStay BGC East Hotel (RM82); 2 nights in Anilao a resort next to Anilao Dive & Resort / Sea House (3500php/ night); 2 nights in Manila – Azure Urban Resort Residences (RM307 in total).
• F&B – food prices are comparable with Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu prices. On the final night in Manila, tried the seafood market in Dampa Seaside, where you buy the seafood from the stall and bring it over to the restaurant along the road for cooking (加工), quite similar to the trend in Semporna. Again, you can hardly find stall and restaurants that accept credit card.

My 3 Plus and 2 Minus:-

3 things I like about this trip: 

• Very professional and ethical dive centre. I literally get one Dive Master for myself, throughout my 5 dives with the centre. Robin the Dive Master, tried his best to spot the macro creatures. On top of that, he has been very kind to share me the trick to take a good macro shot under water.
• A local friend as a guide. Like it or not, a local who is able to speak the local language is always able to make the trip smoother. 
• The fresh crab we bought from the Seafood market, and the perfect cooking by the restaurant run by a Chinese.

 2 thing I would do differently if I can turn back the clock:  

• Surely, bring cash
• I would have stayed longer, to learn more about Philippines Manila and Anilao

A surprise learning from the trip 

“Why did you enjoy diving?” asked many friends. 

My answer remains the same “Each dive, one hour of total peace and calm, away from unnecessary noises and distractions”. Off course I enjoy viewing all the underwater world too.   

During the 2^nd day shore dives, I went into the water without having much expectations, perhaps still little bit bothered by a debt recovery letter that came 1.5 years late. Yet, to my surprise, I found a few colonies of squat/ sexy shrimp at places that would not have caught the attention of most divers/ dive masters, a place that’s just 10m away from beach.

• Life is full of surprises. Sometimes it came as a test to you, sometimes a pleasant joy. If we are constantly bothered by unpleasant surprises / news, the joy of enjoying what the universe offers us, could have been killed. 2 years back, such a testing news would definitely drag me down. Perhaps I have gone through a lot more tests throughout these 2 years, that I have learned to cope, learned to accept and learned not to let the challenging news spoil the joys the universe offers.

• Most shops close at 7/8pm in Mabini town. The motor tricycles, even when you flagged them for a ride, they would tell you “I am off duty already”. Lights off early, while you can still feel the sea breeze and the sound of wave splashing to the shore. Without lights, the stars become even more visible in the dark sky. Forced to accustom to the lifestyle of the Anilao/ Mabini folks, I slept early too. In a world full of digital contents and distraction, we constantly feed ourselves with such contents, and at the end overwhelmed with what are really just noises. Perhaps we need to consciously make time to get back to Basic, and live our life again.