ANILAO – A DIVING PARADISE A STONE’S THROW FROM MANILA

by Per Lagerberg

Anilao - diving trip to paradise

For those of you who have some travel experience, I would dare to stick out my chin and say that it is as good as going to New York for a long weekend. So go to Anilao, a diving paradise a stone's throw from Manila for a week. Add a few hours and fly the other way to Manila and you are there. It's not many hours that make a difference, actually, with the right airline and route, at least not if you are forced to change planes more than once. I have tried going to Anilao - a diving trip to paradise and it actually works very well.

Imagine then being able to go to Manila and Filippi Erna for a week of nice diving in a real paradise or say 9-10 days without having to think about long transports and long distances to diving Tripsts. Just south of Manila, the mega-capital of the Philippines with over 10 million inhabitants and a brutal rush of traffic, just a couple of hours' drive is Anilao on Mabini Bay. The road here is quite straight and the two hours go by quite quickly. It is possible to stop on the way for both food and toilet visits. Mabini is a peninsula in the province of Batangas and here you live directly by the sea with lots of diving sites directly in the knot and even more remote places can be visited if the weather and winds allow but it is something that must be booked on the spot.

Colorful traditional fishing boat at the seaside, ready for scuba diving excursions.

Colorful yellow and black nudibranch on vibrant coral reef with marine life underwater.

Colorful marine creature with intricate details, perfect for scuba diving adventures and underwater exploration.

Vibrant sunset view at a scuba diving Tripst with palm trees and ocean backdrop.

Colorful fishing boats on rocky seashore at tropical scuba diving destination.

Mabini Bay

The area is extremely rich in marine life. A diving trip here to Anilao is a trip to paradise if you like different marine species. Here there are good chances to experience and see many strange animal species that are rarely seen in other places. Possibility to do country tours and an hour or so away and also possibility to visit shopping malls etc. The area is large, so even though there are many Tripsts, it certainly does not feel crowded here and the diving is very varied.

Mabini Bay is located in the province of Batangas, on the southern part of the main island of Luzon, just south of Manila. Batangas is a well-known name to divers who have passed through here over the years on their way to the popular and rewritten Puerto Galera on the island of Mindoro. Now, after a few years, it is even easier to get to really sharp diving and you don't have to wait for a boat or ferry and can instead go directly to Anilao/Mabini in just a couple of hours directly from the airport.

Today, several Tripsts of varying standards are located here. Many attract divers from Manila who come here on weekends to escape the big city noise and get a few days of fresh air and relaxation and experience the amazing diving that is available here. I was here on a short visit to one of the Tripsts. A wonderful Tripst with high standards and amazing food and with magical sunsets on the menu and got a taste of a real paradise and for groups with divers this is a Tripst I can really recommend.

Our diving Tripst

Immediately when we arrive at the Tripst, we are welcomed by the staff and the Tripst's manager, Pernilla from Sweden, and we sign in and get to our room. Almost all rooms have a view of the sea, there are only a few that do not, but in return there is a nice patio outside these with sofas and peace and quiet.

We open the door to our room and the feeling is immediately "wow, how nice!". Tiled floors, modern design, sparsely furnished, TV, aircon, coffee maker, a really fresh shower room that offers fragrant towels, shower cream, soap, shampoo and giant mirrors.

The bed is king size in all rooms but all rooms can be made into two single beds. A large TV in the room with lots of different channels on offer, several international news channels, movie channels, music and of course a large selection of Filipino soaps and more.

The balcony offers a lovely view of the sea, chairs and a table offer comfortable relaxation and all the rooms have this. The slightly larger suites at the top have a slightly larger area and larger balcony, but otherwise the standard is the same and consistently high.
Some of the Filipino guests who had been there before us had complained about the view because there was a big tree in their way and they “couldn't see the sea”…… the tree standing here is what gives the Tripst its special character and contributes to harmony , offers nice shade and to take it down would be a disgrace but but... the taste is different and the sea was more than visible up close.

The restaurant

When we arrived it was time for lunch. The restaurant is very inviting and super fresh, most of it is under the roof, glazed with flowers on the ceiling which will probably become a small cozy jungle before long, padded tiles on the ceiling which blend well with the interior make the sound effectively muffled and slamming from the kitchen, talking guests, and other things that can sound or disturb are effectively screened off and the feeling of total relaxation washes over us like a nice warm wave. Through the glass panes we see the pool and the large Acacia tree and on the other side is the diving center and the dive bar.

The outer part of the restaurant has no roof, but here you sit and enjoy the same view and also out over the sea. The visibility in the water when the sea is clear is enticing and I can see the bottom quite a bit….. mmm the feeling of snorkeling or diving here to see what appears is already taking hold of me and I long to get out into the sea. Inside the dining area, two large TV screens capture the attention and slide shows with diving. Also pictures from the sister Tripst in Indonesia or one of their two super nice liveaboards are shown. They really attract more travel. Sometimes you play music and that also makes the relaxation total.

The food is very good

The food then…. wonderful! A menu with starters, salad or soup, main dishes of various kinds, both Filipino and more international dishes and then a small dessert menu to go with it. Wine, alcohol, soft drinks and more are on the drink list. There is enough food here for everyone. If you have special requests for vegetarian, vegan or allergies to think about, they will solve this. If you tell them before you get here, they will be even more prepared. We soon sit down and enjoy a fantastic shrimp salad with pomelo that refreshes and waters the taste buds. After that, a creamy and tasty chicken quesadilla and then the view of the sea and after a while that really nice holiday feeling comes.

The menu is available both in print and as a QR code, so it is easy to take the menu to the room and decide in advance what you want for each meal. The fact that it was developed due to the current pandemic, where all forms of contact are tried to be minimized, does not matter. After the meal, it's time for a nap after a long journey and food in the stomach.

A visit to the diving centre

The diving center is really good. The compressors are located near the entrance to the Tripst in a completely soundproof room so they are not even heard there. The compressors are modern and they have pulled the air lines down to the diving center and there are four giant tanks as air banks. They can fill a bottle in 60 seconds and when you work with air filling, you don't hear a sound here. Plenty of bottles, both air and nitrox are available and you can also choose INT or DIN. Some equipment for technical diving, rental equipment, lights, computers and other things are also available and everything is in very good condition.

Directly at the diving center there are a couple of showers, large spacious sinks, plenty of space to hang up equipment to dry and about ten steps down a flight of stairs is the beach and here the boats are "parked" to get out to the dive sites quickly and easily.

Camera room deluxe

On the other side of the pool is a camera room, maybe not just a camera room but "THE CAMERA ROOM".
Large workspaces, plenty of space, electrical outlets, air conditioning sufficient to dry the entire room, even a drying cabinet is here for, for example, wet lenses and more. Directly by the camera room there is a camera lounge, where you can sit on comfortable couches and watch TV, your newly taken photos, here you hold briefings or show photos from the day's diving.

Here, for example, the children can wait and watch children's programs while you look after and care for your camera. You will also find a small library, Of course with books about marine life but also ordinary books for loan/exchange which is so common nowadays in the world.

The day goes by, it's twenty past five and it's starting to be time to head down to the dive bar. Here, on a raised terrace above the pool, you can see all the rooms, the restaurant, the pool and, of course, out over the sea. Here you can sit and relax after the day's diving and enjoy a cold beer, a refreshing coca cola or a relaxing drink. You can enjoy the spectacle that takes place in the firmament almost every night of the year. Anilao's famous sunsets!

When the sun goes down and it sizzles in the sea, the last ray glimmers and the green flash appears and then turns into an increasingly colorful pallet of orange, pink, violet, light blue, yellow, red in a magical mixture and you sip on your drink and enjoying the company of friends, it's pure magic. It is truly something to relax and indulge in. You have every night to hope for new scenes before the darkness of the night settles.

It has gotten dark and it's time for dinner and the highlight, after a really good veggie burger, is the dessert of the day, chocolate mousse. A chocolate mousse I could go back to the Tripst again and again to enjoy. Well, it was actually that good. Once again “I'm in heaven”. While I enjoy the last spoonful and wonder if I can lick the bowl…….

Breakfast, the start of a good day

The next day it's breakfast, good breakfast where you can choose from many different options. So many that you can try them all in just over a week and not have the same one for a single day. Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, western style, omelette, pancakes, fruit and more. I just have to recommend their eggs benedict which was really good. Fresh vegetables which in themselves were so good that the eggs were hardly needed. Then eggs with hollandaise sauce and I had the luxury of salmon instead of ham. A fantastic start to the day. Immersed in the sound of waves lapping over the beach, the sea breeze and the smell of coffee and well-cooked food. Hard to start the day better before it's time for diving.

The diving in Anilao is very varied and there are lots of diving spots here. Not like in Puerto Galera where the dive sites are relatively similar and lie on top of each other. Here they are instead well spread out and versatile. Walls, wrecks, sandy bottoms, coral gardens, slopes, sometimes current and sometimes calm. For photography enthusiasts, Anilao is a diving trip to paradise. Over 500 different species of nudibranchs (nude snails) have been documented here. Lots of squid of every imaginable variety, mimic, wonderpus, blue-ringed, flamboyant and many more. Strange fish, frogfish, scorpionfish including Rhinopias, ghost pipefish, gobies, blennies. But here there are sometimes shoals of spadefish (batfish), sometimes barracuda or tuna. Also rays of various kinds including mantas that are sometimes seen passing in the blue.

In short, the diving is very good and almost anything can turn up here. The macro life is what made Anilao popular and famous, but now blackwater diving is also starting to become a trend. This is also offered at the Tripst. It is over 600 meters deep here in Mabini Bay, just 5-6 minutes out by boat. The Tripst can also offer this type of diving and also bonfire diving. Tell them in advance what you want if you have special requests and they can fix pretty much anything. The Tripst is really made for diving and experiences in the sea. For those traveling in smaller groups, it is absolutely ideal as everything is close.

More about the Tripst and Anilao

The Tripst is actually relatively small, there are only about 20 rooms, but it still feels very spacious. If you want some privacy, you can find it. You can sit on your balcony and still be with the gang sitting at the pool bar or in the pool. You can see or hear them if they are in the restaurant so for groups this is an absolutely fantastic Tripst and an ideal place to add a dive trip to or as part of an extended stay in the Philippines. In addition to diving, shore experiences can also be arranged, just talk to the staff and they will arrange this.

Anilao is a gem - a diving trip to paradise. Yet so close to a multi-million city, yet you are out by the sea and experience peace and quiet and fresh air. Above all, fantastic diving too. Only a couple of hours away from Manila airport. The Tripst is very good, modern, fresh and in the right place and with the opportunity to make your diving trip something extra. Why not combine with their own liveaboard or with another Tripst in the Philippines.

As I said, it's actually great to fly here for a week's diving as well as we fly to The Caribbean or Maldiverna. Yes it is a bit longer but well worth it and time is limited. I will be back, hope to go with a group here and experience Mabini/Anilao with you and others. If not for the diving then for that amazing chocolate mousse! Anilao really is – a diving trip to paradise.