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Dive Review of Crystal Blue Resort in
Philippines/Anilao

Crystal Blue Resort: "Great Muck Diving in Anilao", May, 2018,

by Mark Rosenstein, MA, US (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 24 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 10279 has 2 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Anilao is like Lembeh with less trash. Crystal Blue does diving from bangkas, small flat-bottomed wooden boats with dual outriggers. They put no more than 4 divers on a boat with a guide, so there’s a lot of personal attention. Boats usually go out for two dives at a time, with the surface interval spent on the boat while pulled up at a beach. Their dive schedule is flexible. Our morning dives always started at 8am, but we were asked when we wanted to dive in the afternoons. Some of our friends did just one afternoon dive; we usually asked to do two, starting in mid-afternoon, then a second dive at twilight going to full night before the end.

They offer black water dives most nights as well. These are night dives over deep water looking for pelagics and interesting things in the plankton. They start with a detailed briefing, as there are some unique procedures and safety issues and many people have never done a black water dive before.

We found most of the muck targets we wanted: many frogfish, flamboyant cuttlefish, mimic octopus, many kinds of shrimps, nudibranchs, sea horses, and so much more. It's not only muck--a few sites had nice reefs, though we never had really clear visibility. I logged 430 species in 10 days of diving.
Websites Crystal Blue Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Fiji, Komodo, Lembeh, Tulamben, Palau, Raja Ampat, Solomons, Wakatobi, GBR, Galapagos, many Caribbean
Closest Airport Manila Getting There We arranged the airport transfer in advance with the resort. Their driver picked us up for the 2 1/2 hour drive.

Dive Conditions

Weather dry Seas calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 20-50 Ft/ 6-15 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Dives were typically 70 minutes, but we were free to dive how we wanted, sometimes longer. However it was good to stick with the guide because they were very good at finding interesting critters.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics N/A

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities 5 stars
UW Photo Comments Their camera room is one of the nicest I have encountered. Air conditioned, but not too cool, with about 20 separate workspaces like library carrels. Each space has charging outlets, work light, and dry storage area. Crew carried the cameras on and off the boats for us.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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