What the diving is like
Boat diving, almost all of it, from bangka outriggers that leave from the beaches along the Mabini peninsula and run five to twenty minutes to the site. The muck sites are on silt and volcanic sand in sheltered bays; the rest of the coast is rock, rubble and coral, and a day usually mixes the two. Sites are close enough together that a group can change its mind between dives. The peninsula sits at the northern end of the Verde Island Passage, with Balayan Bay on one side, Batangas Bay on the other and the Maricaban Strait running between it and the islands offshore. Published work on Philippine shorefish distributions places the global centre of shorefish diversity in this part of the archipelago, which is the background to the species counts the area is known for; the practical version is that a sand slope here carries more different animals than its appearance suggests. Current is what varies. The sheltered bays are calm and the points, rocks and channels between the islands run hard enough to be dived on the tide, so the order of the day tends to be decided by water movement rather than by preference.
The shape of a day
Three boat dives is the standard day, with an early first dive before the wind gets up and a long surface interval back at the resort between the second and third. Night diving is from the same boats or off a pier, and is where a good share of the interesting animals are. Anilao is a photographers' destination and the pace reflects it: guides expect long dives on small ground and will leave a diver on one subject for twenty minutes.
Getting there
Manila is the gateway. The road to Anilao is around two and a half to three hours in good conditions and considerably more in bad ones, so most people book the transfer through the resort and leave outside the Manila rush. There is no useful airport closer.
When to come
November to May is the settled half of the year, with the northeast monsoon bringing cooler, clearer water from December to February. The southwest monsoon from June to October brings rain and swell on the exposed side of the peninsula, and the sheltered muck bays keep working through most of it.
Fees and what is not included
Several of the reef sites sit inside marine sanctuaries and charge a daily or per-dive fee, collected by the resort or by the sanctuary wardens on the boat. Budget for it separately from the diving; it is not usually included.