Hi all,

I just got back from my first trip to Anilao in the Philippines. I am relatively new to macro photography but I caught the bug badly, and Anilao was perfect in that respect. In 12 dives, I photographed over 60 nudis and flatworms, as well as a host of other macro critters. Below are links to a full trip report in my blog, as well as photos from my trip.

Trip report
Anilao pics
Slugs and flatworms. The ones from Anilao are numbered 33 to 86.

Oh I forgot to mention, I was shooting with a Nikon D40 in an Ikelite housing, with 2 strobes - DS160 and DS125. I used 5x8" ULCS arms. I did 7 dives with an AF-S 60 mm and 5 dives with a 105 mm VR.

Thanks for sharing these. 60 different nudis in 12 dives is pretty amazing. I enjoyed your trip report. You mentioned it was cold, do you know the temperature, just curious. Were you using a close up lens in addition to the 105mm?

Nicely done,
Steve

Actually I saw a lot more than 60 nudis, it's just that I photographed about 60! The macro life was truly ridiculous.

The water temperature was about 27C. We were getting chilled after about 45 min on our dives. For surface intervals, we would hang out on a nearby beach and it was typically quite windy, so we would get chilled before our subsequent dives.

I was using just plain 60 mm and 105 mm lenses.

Good job. I like the soft coral crab (too hard to get into focus ..they blend in).

Steve,
I have been going for the last 11 years, and the water ranges from ~ 75-82 degrees, depending on the site, depth and time of year.

Anilao is very seasonal, because of the monsoon wind. That wind can make for some very uncomfortable boat boarding and resulted in riding a jeepney to a better launch site on my Sept 09 trip. With the monsoon, comes warmer temperatures. Interestingly, there are cycles in the marine life... some years your have to watch your fin due to there being ghost pipefish everywhere, and then other times, you see only one in your entire trip! I always thought (til the last 2-3 years at least) that Coleman shrimp were the most common shrimp and easiest to find as there were just soooo many there. This year --- Not a single Coleman on the many fire urchins there, but did find the yellow shrimps and zebra crabs to be very nice.

All that said, most people I know will wear at least a 5mm wetsuit. As I see it, my dives there are much too long to even consider a dry suit, and given my frequency of getting urchin spines, I would be wet in no time.... darn black spine urchins... they move so fast there....

Are you thinking of going out the Anilao, Steve?

Robin

Thanks Robin,
Not this year, but one never knows where the winds and tides may take us.

Cheers,
Steve

You should go, we had a great time in Anilao, but our experience at Acacia was not quite so glowing.

Bill