Anilao
I'm an intermediate underwater photographer, so this review is written through that lens (pun intended).
I had always read that Lembeh was more difficult to get to than Anilao, but an overall better destination for macro because it had a bit more diversity and that diversity was more dense. Having been to both once each now, I don't find that true. While maybe seasoned experts with 200+ dives in each destination might know the differences, I didn't. I saw almost all of my critter list I'd put together at both destinations, and Anilao was much easier to get to!
We stayed at Crystal Blue Resort, which had average accommodations and food (can't really say anything negative about either), but an excellent camera facility and absolutely phenomenal dive guides. In the camera room, each person had their own cubby/workspace that was more than enough space to setup everything and organize your equipment without getting in anyone else's way. Our dive guide had us literally photographing subjects 90% of every dive. As soon as I would finish with one subject, our dive guide was already getting my attention to come to one of the other 3 critters he had been scouting.
We had 2 of our dives with strong current. While certainly not the strongest current I've been in, it made shooting super macro impossible, and shooting regular macro with a 105mm lens difficult. I'm not sure whether the current was due to the time of year or something that happens semi regularly. Aside from those 2 dives, the other dives were almost like diving in a pool. There were tide changes throughout the week that required us to dock on the other side of the peninsula since it wasn't safe to dock at the resort. It took longer to get back to the resort and we were shuttled in stuffy vans, but that seemed like a necessary evil.
