Buceo Anilao Beach and Dive Resort

Buceo Anilao is for sure one of the best dive centers in Anilao. Great rooms, great serivce, excellent diving and a really well-run business. NOt only for dives, but for the food as well and any question you might have. Had camera issues and everyone helped out to make sure I could still use a camera during the dvies I made.

This was the last leg of our 6-week dive trip to the Philippines and our second stay at Buceo Anilao Beach & Dive Resort for three weeks. Our trip started with 11 nights at Atmosphere Resort, followed by 10 nights at Magic Oceans Resort. I booked all through Blue Water Travel, which was more convenient and less time-consuming than direct booking. Returning to Buceo Anilao felt like coming home. This year, we chose a deluxe room, which was spacious and luxurious, with a work table and many conveniently located power outlets. The room had a large balcony with comfortable chairs and a stunning view. All deluxe and superior rooms share this amazing view. The resort is well-equipped for underwater photographers with four large camera rinse tanks and a well-equipped, non-air-conditioned camera room. We dived from traditional Filipino "bangkas" to over 40 nearby sites. The furthest dive site was 25 minutes away. I completed 41 dives, including four night dives and one black water dive. Anilao is known as the "Nudibranch Capital of the World," and it lived up to its name with vibrant nudibranchs, seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, camouflaged frogfish, and elusive rhinopias. Our cheerful dive guide, Joemar, was extremely helpful and found many critters we would have missed. We enjoyed the restaurant, especially when Chef Teddy was cooking. The restaurant offered healthy meal options and was flexible with our plant-based diet, even ordering beans and legumes for special vegan soups. We appreciated this consideration very much. Ask Teddy to cook traditional Filipino Mung Bean Soup, which isn't on the menu yet. The only dish I wouldn't recommend is the Mango Float, because it's so good you might get addicted! The resort staff was very helpful, and everything, including the dive operation, was well run. We enjoyed peaceful moments at the resort, watching sunsets by the pools and getting afternoon massages. My wife recommends masseuse Cheryl. Most guests we spoke with were repeat visitors, some coming multiple times a year, showing Buceo Anilao's appeal. We were also captivated and look forward to returning. Overall, our second trip to Anilao was fantastic, with incredible underwater sights and friendly faces at Buceo Anilao Beach & Dive Resort. We'll be back next year.

We stayed last week at this Resort for 7 nights. We really did have a great time staying at this place. Our room was spacious,clean and had the best view from the balcony. Sir David,Dood and the Staff were very kind, friendly and helpful, and very accomodating as well. The management is also very hands-on so our experience was great. Food is also good, but I can't say the best, because mine is still the best hahaha... Ok the Resort itself is very clean, but it's sad to see that when you get out of the resort, everywhere is trash. It's really sad to see,and it's not easy for the resort owner because they are the ones that the customers often tell about it.. I know that they are doing their best to solve the trash situation, but the problem is that the people are really lack of discipline. I just hope, one day, they will realize what will happen if they continue to let this happen. Praying for this. I discovered this resort by myself and I didn't regret it, because it was really one of the best. PS: Me and my 13 year old daughter did our Open Water Dive lessons here with Instructor Dood, yes he is super kind and has a lot of patience with me especially when it comes to the exercises and my daughter who is very naughty underwater, she is like a sea lion, hehehe... He's a really good teacher. Will definitely go back and recommend this resort to my family and friends. Thank you Buceo :),till next time Best Regards, Lyn,Remo and Cecile

The dive operation is darn near perfect. Great team care before the dive, rooms dedicated to gear, careful care on the boat, incredible dive masters who can find pretty much anything. Management seems only interested in your success. Most of our 22 dives were with DM Edwin, who could make every dive fascinating and safe. Regarding the area: The resorts in Anilao are little self-sufficient villages that jackhammers carved into a hillside. They are distant from each other and anything remotely retail (which is why you'll see references to stairs in almost all Anilao resort reviews). Pack what you need and what you might need. We needed two things from the outside world during our two-week stay, and the resort staff made both happen quickly. If you are looking at the Anilao area as a dive location, hopefully you already know why. Anilao is for a certain kind of diving, and it's a world-class site for that. I recommend reading up on Anilao resorts on Scubaboard or other crowdsourced sources. If you don't know about the stairs in advance, or the food options, that's because you have not done enough research. Do the research. As someone who was obsessive about research, nothing at the resort caught me by surprise. One thing I never saw mentioned is that they get a lot of business from Europe; it was cool to meet many divers from there. You will see Buceo Anilao's name come up often, and there's a reason for that. The dive operation and the dive sites are fantastic. They get a lot of repeat business. They should.

We were recommended by a couple of friends and we thank them very much. Buceo Anilao is a place where people come back to because they love it so much. All the Staff are amazing and it does not take long for you to be surrounded by friends. We met several guests that have been going there for several years. It does not take much to realize why. We hope to be back soon. This is a secluded place with not much around. Ideal for relaxation and disconnection from the rest of the world. The hotel has wi-fi in the main areas and even worked in our room is case you need to be connected. You get greeted by Dave with his great smile and the girls with fresh drinks and an aluminum bottle for your water (thank you for not using single use plastic). Your bags will be taken upstairs for you and your dive gear back downstairs if they were not on a separate bag. If you sign up for the full board be prepared to eat for 2. We changed to a la carte after our first meal. It is all very delicious, but we could not finish our meal and do not like wasting food. You set up your gear the first time and then you just need to analyze your tanks before each dive. Everything is done for you. The gear is set up and taken to the boat. All you have to do is to have a great time. Dive guides are AMAZING! We found m ore than 26 species of nudibranchs in a single dive!!! There is even an infinity pool so you can enjoy the sunset when you are not diving.

Pretty, quiet resort. The rooms are nice and clean. Very friendly staff. The bar has some good cocktails. The food is amazing. We had amazing dives thanks to our dive guide. The diving is well organised. Black water diving is a must! The camera room is a dream for underwater photographers. Highly recommended! We'll be back in the future.

+ The rooms are basic but nicely decorated and the bathroom looked new. The resort itself looks very nice with traditional type buildings. The Christmas decorations were lovely. The dive setup facilities are well laid out with a large camera room. All your dive gear is carried by the staff to and from the boat. The dive guide had a good knowledge of each site and helped find all the critters. The diving is very good for macro plus there are some great coral reef dive sites. - Not a single dive brief was given on any of my dives we were just told to jump in and follow the guide. You have to order your lunch at breakfast and your dinner at lunch so there is no choice at the time of sitting down to eat. The food I thought was bland with small portions. Everything is in $US so I found it quite expensive when converting to Aussie dollars. The transfers to Manila are ridiculously expensive if travelling alone. Plastic all over the beach with no effort by the resort staff to do a beach clean up. Overall the diving was very good but I'm not sure I would stay here again.

I was recommended Buceo anilao by fellow divers. The diving was good, the dive guides were great, very helpful and great at spotting the smallest marine life. Elmar was very friendly. Diving set up very professional. My wife doesn't dive and she stayed around the nice pool but didn't feel comfortable using the beach. The staff in the resort were very friendly and helpful, and the food was good. Abundante tea, coffee and water. The room was clean and the AC worked well, a nice balcony looking out to sea. A lot of steps to our room. We arranged our own transfer from Manila airport which is approximately 2.5hrs. Thanks to the team there for a great stay.

Our second visit to this wonderful resort did not disappoint. Everything was just perfect. Our room was clean, well air conditioned, comfortable and the facilities were excellent. We had a balcony and there we found the comfiest chairs to sit out and enjoy the sunshine. Food was lovely, great variety on the menu and also innovative specials each day. Over two weeks we ate a great variety and were spoilt for choice. The resort has a well stocked bar and a great cocktail menu and is a lovely place for a sundowner before dinner. Diving was superb and the guides, dive team members and boat crews were first class. We had many excellent dives and saw some amazing critters and so many fish. We met lovely friendly people and had alot of laughter each day. Highly recommend the Black Water dive- take a good underwater torch, it really is an incredible experience you shouldn't miss. I cannot recommend this resort enough, the team are superb and nothing is too much trouble. Go, you will not regret it!