Anilao, Batangas Dive Sites - Dive Philippines

Just south of Manila, the province of Batangas has some of the best dive sites off the coast of Luzon. These include Fortune Island, sites near Matabungkay and the most famous Balayan Bay, home to the sleepy little town of Anilao, the birthplace of diving in the Philippines.

CATHEDRAL ROCK/3’S CUEVAS	In Cathedral Rock you will find soft corals, sponges, nudibranches, and many tropical fish, among them angelfish, butterfly fish, wrasse, surgeonfish and anemones with clownfish. The cross is situationed in between two rocks and was brought there by former president Fidel Ramos on 1983.
LIGPO CAVE	It has abig area covered with soft corals and is 10m.-30m. / 33ft.-100ft. in depth.
LIGPO ISLAND	Ligpo Island is a small island located at the province of Lemery Batangas, close to the Costal area of Anilao. It can be traveled around on one dive.
LIGPO PINNACLE	The journey to the Pinnacle is half the fun, best done in even 2 dives to make the most of the shallow walls with colorful bush and fan anemones, the deeper wall with huge fan corals.
DIVE & TREK (CAVERN)	This site was called the bus stop in previous years because large pelagics were known to park in this area. The cavern has a cross on top made out of concrete and a Virgin Mary statue. Inside it features midnight snappers, napoleon fishes and groupers.
ANILAO PIER	The place was originally known as “Janao-Janao” and is said to be derived from the geographical shape and feature of the land and water comprising the barrio.
ANILAO BEACH CLUB HOUSE REEF	The entire island is a nature reserve, and there are two fish protection areas around the island. Diving is most beautiful at the North side, but the other sides are also nice.
MATU POINT
EAGLE POINT	This seaside haven was developed with adventure and comfort in mind for everyone. A year round destination for underwater scuba divers, open water sports enthusiasts, adventurers, nature lovers and for those who would just like to unwind from the hustle and bustle of the city life.
KOALA	Koala is a very referable diving site for novice divers because of its medium currents and gentle slopes.
ARTHUR’S ROCK	This site starts out as a gradual slope from around 5M. Then you eventually go down to around 18-20M. Then you will see a small wall with some boulders and a small cave or more like a crack. Once in this area, the current can sometimes be really weird. Things to see in this area are sweetlips, emperor fish, surgeons and of course lots of clown fish.
DEAD PALM	This dive site is home to pymea sea horses. Current is slight to moderate and has a sloped surface underneath with scattered rocks.
TWIN ROCKS	The dive here can be one way or returns to the boat depends on the current that sometime slight to moderate normally moving to the south but switching direction sometimes. Visibility varies from 10m.-20m./33ft.-66ft. Underwater you will see a capsized barge and a two big rocks which is less than one meter apart that resembles its name twin rocks.
SECRET GARDEN	House Reef of Buceo Anilao Beach and Dive Resort.
MAINIT POINT	currents sweep this rocky, boulder-strewn, ridged, sloped reef, supporting lots of soft and hard corals.
SECRET BAY	One of the 2 popular muck diving sites in Anilao, Batangas. This site is a fairly easy dive with critters found mostly in the shallows.
MAINIT BUBBLES	South of Red Rocks is Bubble Point, an easy dive site with sandy bottoms. Here you can observe hot bubbles of gas rising from the seabed
RED ROCK	Red Rocks, located east of Calumpan’s Peninsula, is famous for its red wall rocks. The area is full of fish: sting rays, snappers, frog fish, and many others. The dive site’s main attraction are the colored red wall rocks in the entry area. It is good for underwater photography because of the sting rays, groupers, nudibranchs, and etc. that often visits the site.
RED PALM	This dive site is closed because the Tingloy municipality declared the site as a sanctuary. They are still contemplating if they will open it like the santuaries in Mabini that is only open to divers.
BETHLEHEM	This dive site is great for underwater photography. It also has a lot of nudibranchs, sea sponges and big basket corals.
CAVAN COVE	Cavan cove is a sheltered dive site, but watch out for the currents at the end of the cove. A great snokeling and training area, Cavan has some interesting coral formations (mostly bommies scattered across a sandy sea floor) and a progression of drop-offs that descends in steps.
KIRBY’S ROCK	This place often visited by black and white frog fish, a golden pygme sea horse, twin spot lion fish, sea snake, small group of giant trevally and its resident the beautiful purple fire and blue lined dart goby. Dive is commonly returns to the boat after making a safety stop.
BAHURA	Bajura reef, just offf the northern point of Caban Island, is more than a Kilometer long. It’s a challenging snorkeling site because of the strong currents and often rough sea conditions.
LAYAG-LAYAG	Layag Layag, also known as Layag Layag Reef is one of the Top Diving site in Anilao, has an extensive shallow area of scattered big boulders, rocks and widespread of coral formations on a steep. You can find loads of marine life and often very good visibility.
BEATRICE ROCK	Beatrice Rock is a well-known dive site for its enticing beauty. The site is portrayed by having series of small falls with canals between them, from 5 to 27 meters.
SOMBRERO BATOK ISLAND	Sombrero looks exactly like its name-sake (a high-crowned hat with a wide brim) fromalmost any angle. Its shallow fringing reef, which stratches a long way north to south but is narrower from the east to west, has some impressive drop-offs falling away from its edge that furthur enhance the illusion.
CASTLE	This site is a mini-iron castle that had been installed by some University of the Philippines divers.
SEPOK WALL	Sepok Wall, covered in a variety of soft and hard corals, drops off impressively from west of Sepok Point to the south west.
MAPATING POINT	Well known as Sharks Reef, Mapating Rock is suggested for experienced divers only and its exploration may require assistance from a local dive guides. It is a challenging dive because of its huge area and extremely strong currents.
DARI LAUT	Dari Laut is a shipwreck of a floating hotel-casino-restaurant that caught fire and sunk in the 1970s on the Maricaban island in Anilao. The site has a large shallow area from the shore which drops to a sandy bottom. It is now home to Mandarin fishes and Crab Eye Gobies.
MERRIEL’S POINT/ROCK	Merrie’s Rock has an average depth of 18m with a maximum depth of 24m. The reef has numerous coral formations. Morning dives are advised as it gets windy in the afternoon.
DEVIL’S POINT	West of Maricaban Island is Devil’s Point, where you can see gorgonian bush corals, tree soft corals, and blue fin jack fish and tunas.
GROTTO	Grotto has lots of big small pennacle rocks coated of soft and hard corals, such as big basket corals and soft sponges. the site is ideal for underwater photography using wide lense.
BONITO	You can call it a “diver’s paradise”, Bonito island is a vibrant marine sanctuary that have coral heads on sandy slopes. The reason why they call it a diver’s paradise is because of it’s an imaginable underwater beauty. It has a wide sandy sloping stand with a mix of scattered big and small rocks with crushed corals, such as big basket of corals and soft sponges.
BALAHIBONG MANOK	The dive site features a hot spring with in a hollow when you reach 60-70 feet. Average depth is 50ft and maximum depth is 70ft with moderate to strong currents.
MARICABAN ISLAND	Maricaban Island is a peaceful and a beautiful island in Anilao Region with a mild to strong water current. Because of its rarity, people call it one of the kept secret diving sites in Batangas. Here you can relax, enjoy, and mesmerized by the exquisiteness of the whole surrounding and not to forget the underwater beauty of the island.
MALAJI	Malaji Bomaoc is one of the worth mentioning diving site in Anilao, it is a small island located at the eastern end of Bonito island. Even if the island is small the beauty of its underwater resources is immeasurable.
VISTAMAR STEP	Vistamar Step can easily accessed since it is right in front of the Vistamar Resort. It has a sandy bottom with rock and corals on its step. At about 5m, you can see installed tables and chairs with emptied alcohol bottles and a submerged boat at about 18m. Gobies and frog fishes are some of the aquatic animals you can see in this site.
SAMMY’S POINT/SAMMY’S GARDEN	This dive site was founded by the late Sammy Mendoza, a well-know macro guide in Anilao, batangas. Because it has no big rocks and features lots of soft corals, the site looks like a garden, hence the name. It is great for macro photography because of the variety of shrimps, crabs and corals.
BAHAY KAMBING	The site is ideal for discover SCUBA diving and for open water student training. It features anemones, spinges, fire and hard corals. It can be accessed when you start from Cavan Cove and when exiting Kirby’s Rocks.
CABAN COVE	The site has an average depth of 16ft with a maximum depth of 50 ft. Inside the cove, there’s almost no currrent but outside, it can have slight to moderate waves. Has a wide variety of reef fishes and is good for underwater photography because of the shrimp gobies, devil fishes and etc.
APOL’S POINT	Average depth of Apol’s point is 10m while it’s maximum depth is 25m. The site is slope with sligh drop off and has boulders that houses groupers, bat fishes and snappers. Sponges and corals can be seen on the shallow part .
LIGHT HOUSE	A small island where a light house is located, often has strong current near the drop off on its east side. Eagle rays and Tunas are often seen on the dive site.
BASURA	A wide variety of aquatic animals can be seen in this area like the ghost pipe fishes, rare nudibranchs, squids, mimic octupus and etc. Summer season is the great time for diving in this area since grass can be found underneath while rainy seasons have many sea urchins.
BATALAN ROCK	Has a vertical wall of solid rock under water. Ideal for wall diving and underwater photography. The wall is covered in corals and it’s bottom is sandy where you can see leaf fishes and frogs.
AGAHUTA	Has a formation of big and small rocks with a variety of corals. Blue-lined snappers are the frequent fishes that can be seen in this area.
SUNVIEW	Has an average depth of 10m with a maximum depth of 25m. Located in front of San Theodoro Elementary School, the site features pygmy sea horses, crabs and sea fans that are great for macro photography.

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