Anilao, Batangas: Wreck & Reef Diving at Tingloy Islands

Wonderpus Octopus

The elusive wonderpus octopus ((Wunderpus photogenicus) at Caban Island, Tingloy,

We arrived at the only wreck diving site in Anilao. A Tagalog love song blaring from a seaside village was drowned out by the meditative sound of my muffled breathing as we barrel-rolled from our outrigger boat into the calm water, descending right next to Daryl Laut, a sunken floating casino off the coast of Caban Island in Tingloy, Batangas. As we surveyed the wreckage, our flashlights illuminated its tilted pylons, revealing a phantasmagoria of colour and movement. A rainbow of coral, sponges and tunicates upholstered the submerged skeleton.

Sombrero and Maricaban Islands

Many of Anilao’s dive sites surround the islands of Maricaban, Caban and Sombrero in Tingloy town

Daryl Laut Wreck

Daryl Laut is a sunken floating casino off the coast of Caban Island

A few minutes into the plunge, the divemaster beckoned me next to a beam, pointing at a lemon-yellow sponge that surprisingly resembled a fish. Upon closer inspection, the curiously shaped outgrowth had small watchful eyes and possessed a most humorous frown. It’s a perfectly camouflaged frogfish! His larger, mottled cousin nearby acknowledged our arrival by awkwardly hopping away in slow motion like an astronaut on the moon. As we finned around, a school of frisbee-size longfin spadefish patrolled the wreck, while a solitary tiger cardinalfish protected a brood of eggs in its gaping mouth. Beneath a rocky ledge, a disco clam with tomato-red filaments flashed its highly reflective tissues like bluish sparks of electricity. In the Philippines, the festiveness of the archipelago carried on beneath the waves.

Frogfish at Daryl Laut Wreck

A painted frogfish (Antennarius pictus) at Daryl Laut wreck

Electric Clam (Disco Clam)

An electric flame scallop (Ctenoides ales) with its electric-like tissues

Every square metre here in Anilao — only a two-hour drive south of Manila — exploded with a plethora of swimming, crawling, writhing living things, the undersea counterpart of the frenetic metropolis. After all, these warm tropical waters belong to the Verde Island Passage, the strait separating the islands of Luzon and Mindoro, where conservationists have found the richest concentration of marine life in the world.

The birthplace of scuba diving in the country, Anilao has been luring divers from all over the world since the 1960s.  An American marine life photographer who has dived from Scotland to Micronesia for the past ten years, Mike Bartick of SaltwaterPhoto.com has been hooked on Anilao since an initial excursion ticked off his wish list of 25 critters in just three days. The California native likened scuba diving here to peeling layers of an onion, as one discovers something new on every dive. “At first, it’s usually the nudibranchs that grab your attention,” he explained, “then as you continue to explore the various habitats, new layers of subjects will be revealed: the flurry of reef fish at coral-laden sites, then benthic critters like hairy frogfish, blue-ringed octopuses and so on. At the core are super-macro subjects like bumblebee shrimp and other ornate crustaceans.”

Allen's Cerastoma (Nudibranch)

Allen’s Ceratosoma (Ceratosoma allenii) – a beautiful nudibranch or sea slug

Green Sea Turtle

A green sea turtle resting on coral at Bubbles Point off Calumpung Peninsula, Mabini

Our following dives at Maricaban and Sombero islands affirmed Mike’s analogy. A lavender nudibranch — one of more than 700 species found in these waters — instantly caught our attention, as the morsel inched over brain coral like a misshapen gummy bear. A blue ribbon eel slid in and out, removing dirt from its burrow with its jaws, below a storm of anthias, damselfish and triggerfish. There were also cryptic bottom-dwellers like scorpionfish and stonefish that blended in the rubble. Sticking our heads even closer to the reef, we ogled at toothpick-thin pipefish and minuscule crabs hiding in mushroom and whip corals. While we stared in wonder, however, at this underwater circus, occasional glances at the deep blue behind us also revealed larger residents like hawksbill and green sea turtles. Pelagic animals are also known to make cameo appearances, such as giant trevally, barracuda, manta rays or, if you’re very lucky, a whale shark — the largest fish in the ocean.

Anilao Dive Map from www.thatscubashop,com

Geographic Note on the Name “Anilao”

Actually, there is no town in Batangas called Anilao. Originally referring to the village used as a jumping-off point for dive trips when the coastal road was non-existent, Anilao now casually refers to a collection of over 50 dive sites (including world-class muck diving sites like Secret Bay) peppered around the Calumpang Peninsula and the offshore islands of Maricaban, Caban and Sombrero. Located in the laid-back province of Batangas, the mountainous peninsula stretches between two deep-water bays, creating a natural obstruction along the species-rich passage. Today, the Anilao Area encompasses dive sites located in the towns of Mabini, Tingloy and Bauan.

How to Get There / Where to Stay

For information on how to get to Anilao and where to stay, please check out my previous post on muck diving in Secret Bay.

6 Replies to “Anilao, Batangas: Wreck & Reef Diving at Tingloy Islands”

  1. Mario Balandra says:

    The sea surrounding the Philippines is full of marine life, as a Filipino this makes me proud. We have the most diverse marine life in the world, every inch of the country is full of fascinating sea creatures. Species that can only found in our water, no wonder diver enthusiasts flock our country because of what we can offer.

    We should take good care of the natural resources that we have, Filipinos should stop destructive practices that would affect the environment, just looking at the photos posted in here makes one wonder why do Filipinos use practices that is harmful to marine life, destroying the richest that is hidden under the sea have long term effect not only to us but to the future generation. We Filipinos should come together to stop illegal practices.

    We can gain more by protecting the environment, beautiful places such as this provide tourism that will drive the economy and generate jobs, jobs that we all need. Tourism industry here in the Philippines is still in its infancy and there is more room for growth, the influx of foreigners applying for Philippine tourist visa is still far below than what our neighbors get and for me, tourism is the most sustainable industry, If we take good care of the environment the environment will take good care of us.

  2. Nice! We scuba-dived in Anilao last year, but the near-shore dive sites which we visited were so-so. We plan to go back there to explore other sites, especially those that are a bit farther from the shore.

  3. beautiful. did you take the pictures yourself? if that is the case could you tell us what equipment you used? thanks

What do you think of this post!

%d bloggers like this: