Dive Review of Aiyanar in
Philippines/Anilao

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Aiyanar: "Aiyanar in Anilao - great fun!", Sep, 2017, by Fredda Lerner, VA, United States ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 9814 has 1 Helpful vote.
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	After a week in Yap, Micronesia, my husband and I went to Aiyanar for a week of diving in Anilao. We were picked up in a van at the international airport in Manila for the 3 ½ hour drive south to Aiyanar. The resort is small, personal and beautiful. The pool and dining areas are beautiful with stunning views. There is building/remodeling work going on so it was sometimes noisy during the day (some weather-related – see below). The rooms are neat and clean. My only issue with our room was that there was very little storage for clothes so we essentially “lived” out of our luggage for the week. As it turns out, my husband and I were the only guests for the week we were at Aiyanar. Service was impeccable. For us, all meals were made to order. Breakfast was traditional American. Because it was only us, we asked the chef to create Philippino food for lunch and dinner – left up to chef’s discretion (since we had never been to the Philippines we had never eaten real Philippino food). Each meal was a sumptuous surprise – although I cannot remember the names of most of what we were served! Be warned that spicy really is spicy. Before I get to the diving, I need to explain about the weather because it played a big role during the week. During the first 2 days of our stay, Anilao got a lot of rain (15 inches (38 cm)) and some wind from a typhoon which resulted in several landslides (the island is volcanic with steep inclines from the water). The resort was on generator power with no internet or TV for a few days. A landslide unfortunately impacted part of Aiyanar – going down the side of the resort and across the ramp to the boat house and pier to the dive boat. Getting down the stairs to the dive deck and the boat ramp was already steep – we had to navigate through a section of mud and rocks! From our perspective, the weather did not hamper the overall operation of the resort or diving. And during the week, Aiyanar staff had already cleared the way to the boat house. Now the diving: The dive deck and briefing area are open and large with lots of room to hang up and store dive gear. The camera room was spacious and air conditioned for dehumidification, but still be vigilant for condensation. A funny thing about the camera room – hanging on the walls are underwater cameras from days gone by. If you have been diving as long as we have, you will remember when we used those cameras! The concierge dive service – bringing our gear down from the deck into the boat and back – was great. Our dive guide was great at selecting the sites he could (since we were limited by conditions) and finding the very cool endemic critters. The entire dive staff was great! Because of all the rain and wind, we were limited as to where we could go for our dives. Some dive locations we had hoped to go were not do-able, night diving couldn’t happen and some of the afternoon dive sites had limited to poor (10-30 feet) visibility. That said, all of the morning dive sites had very good visibility (50-80 ft). Unlike the other resorts in the area, the dive boats are very comfortable “western-style” outboards outfitted for 6-8 divers on 2-tank dives. The dive sites were close (10 min boat ride) and amazing. The sea life was colorful, beautiful and abundant. Plenty of assorted nudibranchs, clownfish, eels, frogfish, sea snakes, scorpionfish, mantis shrimp, pygmy seahorses, etc. Small critter heaven. Overall, Aiyanar was a great final week to our 2-week dive vacation. We came to the Philippines and Anilao with almost no idea what to expect. We left with warm feelings, wonderful memories and plans to return soon in the hopes that the weather will cooperate.
Websites	Aiyanar
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas, Hawaii, Cocos Islands, Galapagos, Australia, Chuuk/Truk, Palau, Yap, Philippines
Closest Airport	Manila	Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy, no currents
Water Temp	81-°F / 27-°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	10-80 Ft/ 3-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Aiyanar in Philippines/Anilao

Aiyanar: "Aiyanar in Anilao - great fun!", Sep, 2017,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Aiyanar in
Philippines/Anilao