Anilao
First of all I should say that this was dive #60-#67 for me. I was still pretty new to diving. I actually signed up for this trip not so much for the diving in Anilao, but the fact that we first went to Donsol and snorkeled with WHALE SHARKS! So, again I am a shark kinda girl. All I really cared about on this trip was seeing a whale shark. But, boy am I ever glad that this trip included diving in Anilao as part of the deal too!
NOTE: You can shore diving from some of the Anilao resorts - with very easy access and lots of critters! We did day and night dives from the shore!
I saw so many critters I had never seen before! I saw my first mantis shrimp, blue-spotted stingrays, nudibranches, ribbon eel, and PIGMY SEAHORSES, I also saw a ton of lion fish, pipefish, and stonefish that I dove with on Guam there were just so many more here. Some people on my boat saw leaf fish, regular sized seahorses, and frogfish…I did not. That's ok, it just inspired me to take many more trips to the PI (and yes, I have dove with all of those now). But, the point is all those critters are possible to find in Anilao. The only thing I didn't care for about the diving was the type of boat. It was small, cramped, and hard to get back into.
Overall, I enjoyed the diving very much! Honestly, I didn't even know what a pigmy seahorse or a nudibranch was until this trip! That was when I learned from wiser divers that some of the critters I saw are critters some divers wait their whole lives to I've with! Not gonna lie, I felt pretty awesome being able to say I dove with whale sharks and pigmy seahorses all within the same dive trip:)
