Anilao — Best of Both Worlds Text and Photos by Steve Jones
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The Philippines’ Anilao — Best of Both Worlds Text and photos by Steve Jones 32 X-RAY MAG : 64 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO travel Anilao Anilao’s offshore dive sites come alive as the current streams over them PREVIOUS PAGE: Stunning seascapes are part and parcel of Anilao diving The Philippine destination of is encrusted so densely in brightly Anilao has been described as coloured crinoids that hardly a single the “center of the center of centimeter remains unoccupied. The scene is simply stunning, yet I am in marine biodiversity” yet until a destination known for its critter life now has largely remained rather than stunning seascapes. It unknown to European and would seem that Anilao is indeed a American divers. This charm- destination with multiple charms, with reefs awash with colour and sandy ing location has even more shorelines that crawl with the weird to offer than staggering critter and the wonderful. life. Peculiarly, Anilao has managed to remain largely off the tourist map The water beneath me literally boils in outside of the Philippines until very a plethora of purple as anthias dance recently. Social media has played a in the mild current. Beneath them large part in generating interest in this the reef known simply as Beatrice area, with images of rare marine life Jacks, schooling above Twin Rocks Hypselodoris emma nudibranch 33 X-RAY MAG : 64 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO travel Anilao Coleman shrimp (above); Frogfish can be found in a range of colors (left and top center inset) taken by a group of dedicated pho- in on inhabitants that my own eyes tographers, drawing in more image- would have missed. He started with makers like bees to a flower. Word a species of shrimp I had not seen started to get out that this place before, but after only a few clicks of was special, with it being described my cameras shutter, his enthusiasm as “another Lembeh Strait”—that distracted me toward his second sub- Indonesian destination famed for its ject, a painted frogfish. He started high density of weird critter life. High pointing out critters quicker than I accolades indeed! could photograph them—obscure species of scorpionfish, unusual crus- Hidden charms taceans and more variety of nudi- Our Bangka, an outrigger style boat, branchs than I think I’ve ever seen on motors along down the beauti- any one dive. Every rocky outcrop on ful coastline towards “secret bay”, this otherwise barren looking seabed which is not really so much of a secret seemed to host an entire micro-eco- anymore as this is site has already system, and a 90-minute dive was not become renowned for its critter life. long enough. At first it appeared somewhat lunar- After an hour on the boat, we dived like, but it didn’t take long before the again on the same spot and were sharp eyes of the dive guide zeroed rewarded with a whole new range of Anilao’s seascapes perfectly compliment the outstanding critter life 34 X-RAY MAG : 64 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO travel Anilao THIS PAGE (CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE): Some of the resident octopus population include wunderpus, blue-ringed octopus, coconut octopus and day octopus species. It’s difficult to imagine where you can either switch off a more productive dive site, yet, and relax or get totally immersed as our boat sped back towards in the diving—or, of course, do a Aiyanar Beach and Dive Resort, I bit of both. know there were more than 50 in Anilao village has a shallow seabed the region waiting to be explored. in front of the beach covered in sea- grass. This is the sort of dive site I would Together alone avoid in most destinations, but when in This destination is commonly critter rich territory, this sort of site can referred to as Anilao, however, be surprisingly good. the dive resorts actually spread Sure enough it was not long before for miles up the coastline from the we soon found mimic, coconut and small Anilao village in a way that wunderpus octopus. Tiny and vulner- doesn’t make the place feel at all able looking filefish hovered cautiously overcrowded. In fact, other than amongst the sea grass whilst species of excursions, most holidaymakers shrimp scuttled between burrows, using tend to stay within their resorts. discarded human cans to hide behind, This is a quiet place where relax- cans which were themselves occupied ation is the name of the game— by sheltering fish. there is no evening social scene, Every hole, whether man-made or other than what’s going on within natural, became a shelter as dusk ap- the resorts. If you are looking for a proached—being caught out in the vibrant evening life, best look else- open at night may not have a happy where, for this destination is one ending as the predators such as snake 35 X-RAY MAG : 64 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO travel Anilao Striated (hairy) frogfish (above); Berry’s Bobtail squid (inset); Thorny seahorse (right) eel and the grotesque bobbit worms nar Beach and Dive Resort commented, start to emerge from their daytime ref- “For most Manila divers, Anilao would uges. be their first underwater experience. We learned here, our first and most of our Origins underwater experiences and our love I was surprised by what I was seeing. I’d for the ocean was brought about by An- heard Anilao was special but hadn’t ex- ilao, but it is the influx of foreign divers, pected this—the quality of muck diving marine biologists and the knowledge here was simply off the scale. they have brought with them that has But how did this place remain a secret led to this place—that we thought we for so long? It is within easy reach of the already knew—now starting to show us capital, just a three-hour drive, depend- so much more.” ing of course on traffic (and Manila is It was that growing realization particularly famous for its traffic!) and amongst the scientific community that with international flights landing through- Anilao was special, that led to marine out each day, it must be amongst the biologists such as Dr Terry Gosliner be- easiest of the long-haul destinations to ginning their surveys of the area, docu- reach. menting the huge biodiversity. Dive Operator Marco Santos of Aiya- The species count of nudibranchs Life competes for space on every square inch of this reef 36 X-RAY MAG : 64 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO travel Anilao Anilao and the nearby Verde passage has the highest nudi- branch biodiversity in the world so far recorded “Every dive here is like anywhere else. He somebody has reshuffled a describes this area as pack of cards, as we keep the “Apex of the Coral finding new species even at Triangle” and he and sites we’ve dived many times many of his colleagues before,” said Gosliner. Over consider it the most half of these are new species remarkable place they that have not been recorded have ever seen. Sombrero A boat ride to the outly- ing islands of Sombrero and Caban, brings us to some of the most spectacular seascapes in the area. Since they and their relatives alone now are swept by strong cur- stands at a staggering 863 in rents, diving on the sub- Anilao and the nearby Verde merged reefs here has passage, and that number is to be timed carefully. still rising! This is the highest on Clear blue water the planet. washes over reefs that Seascape on one of Anilao’s outlying reefs 37 X-RAY MAG : 64 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO travel Anilao Halimeda ghost pipefish; Banded Tozeuma shrimp (top right); Emperor shrimp (right) are ablaze with orange and purple anthias against a backdrop of the brightly coloured corals, creating an epic rainbow-like scene. I found that the con- trast with the muck dives near the shore couldn’t be more pronounced, emphasising the appeal- ing diversity in the diving conditions here. World class critter diving and Anilao, it was recognised over 20 stunning seascapes can be found years ago that the reefs needed to amongst a huge variety of dive sites be protected. that are suitable for beginners to The first significant moves to con- advanced divers and photographers serving the area came in 1991 will simply be in heaven in this A-List with the setting up of three Marine destination. Protected Areas (MPAs) in the stretch of water that separates the mainland Guardians of the reefs from the island of Maricaban. Known Overfishing has proved to be a huge as Cathedral Rock, Arthurs Rock and problem in the Philippines, yet in Twin Rocks, these three MPA’s are- Bigfin reef squid Ornate ghost pipefish 38 X-RAY MAG : 64 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO Batfish on the Dari Laut wreck (left); Healthy soft coral growth adorns travel Anilao reefs (far left) Anilao maintained by committees of far grander scale local villagers, who have really to yet get to grips taken governance of the reefs with this dilemma.