Don Silcock returns to Anilao in the Philippines to experience blackwater diving. He offers insights and tips to divers and underwater photographers on how to get the most out of this unique experience.
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It really is an unusual way to spend an evening… not so much a night dive as a nocturnal sojourn into another world. Sure, it is just underwater, and you have been there many times, but not like this, you haven’t!
Beneath you, deep water. All around, apart from the lights on the downline, there is complete darkness, and I mean absolute blackness.
Some of the ocean’s most photogenic creatures lurk in that blackness. Most are small; some are really small. But first, you have to spot them, then frame them in your viewfinder, lock on to the eye and then fire at will while quickly checking and adjusting exposure on the fly.
All the while, you must maintain neutral buoyancy, keep an eye on your depth, air consumption and no-decompression limit (NDL) and, crucially, not lose the downline. And then there is the nagging question: What else is lurking out there in the Stephen King darkness?
As I said, it is an unusual evening’s entertainment by anybody’s standards—but this is blackwater diving!
Season I
In late January 2024, I travelled to Anilao for the first time with two goals in mind. First, I wanted to explore the area’s renowned macro life, and secondly, I wanted to experience what is now universally known as “blackwater diving”.
I stayed at the Crystal Blue Resort, run by Mike Bartick—one of blackwater diving’s most influential advocates. With his stunning images and numerous articles, he has probably done more than anyone else to popularise this unique style of diving.
I spent the first five days focusing on daylight macro photography and quickly discovered why Anilao is a world-class destination for critter lovers. The variety of marine life was spectacular, spread across a diverse selection of dive sites.
After five days of shooting macro in daylight, it was time to try something completely different. That evening, I set out for my first two blackwater dives. Calling it “different” turned out to be a significant understatement.
The basic mechanism—diel vertical migration
Diel vertical migration (DVM) is the largest synchronous movement of creatures in the world. It happens every night in every ocean, but very few people are even aware of it.
Those creatures are mainly zooplankton (tiny fish, shrimps and jellies) together with the juvenile stages of larger animals, and they literally number in the billions. As the sun disappears over the horizon and night falls, these tiny animals rise up from the depths to feed on the phytoplankton—the sunlight-dependent tiny plants of the plankton world that inhabit the surface layer of our oceans.
Location, location, location…
Anilao itself is a small village on the eastern side of Balayan Bay, which is located on the southwestern tip of Luzon—the principal island of the Philippine archipelago. While vertical migration occurs across all the oceans, what makes the Anilao area special in general and such a hotspot for blackwater diving is the concentration with which DVM happens in the overall area of Balayan Bay.
Balayan is a large open bay covering an area of almost 500km2. Its location means that the nutrient-rich waters of this area of the Philippines sweep past its 23km wide entrance as they enter the Verde Island Passage between Luzon and the large island of Mindoro to the south.
This large flow of water creates powerful eddies that circulate around the bay, nourishing the macro dive sites. Adding to this rich mix are the steeply sloping sides of the bay, which drop rapidly down past 100m and onwards to around 300m. All these aspects create almost perfect conditions for an incredible mix of amazing critters and astonishing blackwater diving that the area has become known for!
The finale
On my first trip, I did two blackwater dives per night for seven days, with the boats departing from Crystal Bay at 7 p.m. and heading north for about one hour. Once at the site, the downline and video lights would be deployed, and soon after, we would enter the water for a one-hour dive. The one-hour surface interval would be spent back on the boat, and then we would go back in for the second dive. So, it was usually well after midnight before we were back at the resort, and I typically did not get to bed until 2 a.m.; hence, my nickname for the whole thing—the “Anilao Night Shift.”
It took me three of those night shifts to adjust to what we were actually doing underwater so late at night and in such unusual circumstances. Initially, everything seemed to have an additional element of difficulty to what I normally do on a night dive, all compounded by a rather primal fear of losing the downline and getting lost in the darkness.
Photographing what we saw on these dives was the biggest of the initial challenges, as the combination of tiny zooplankton and phytoplankton meant that backscatter was a major issue. It was not until the fourth night that I got my equipment set up to my satisfaction, and I started to get images that I was happy with. But even then, there were challenges, as some creatures were quite reflective while others were much less so. I had to find a way to deal with this on the fly, as the encounters were typically brief and dynamic in nature.
By the seventh night, three things had become very clear to me: Blackwater diving is exciting and quite unique, the photographic potential of it all is incredible, and I would be returning to Anilao for more.
Season II
I timed my flight out of Sydney in January 2025 based on one of the things I learned the year before: Time your stay in Anilao around the new moon, which seems to be the optimum time for blackwater diving.
For the second trip, I was to be joined by my Italian diving buddies—very accomplished underwater photographer Filippo Borghi and technical CCR instructor and videographer Davide Mottola. We had decided to base ourselves at the Anilao Photo Academy (APA) near the port in downtown Anilao.
Filippo and Davide were determined to dive both in the morning and at night, using the afternoon gap for a well-earned siesta, while I chose to concentrate on the blackwater dives and sleep in each morning. We all thought we had made the right decision, as both Filippo and Davide got some great images on the morning dives in the critter-rich environment of Anilao, while I felt fully refreshed and ready for each night of blackwater.
It turned out that going with APA was a really good choice, as the staff and methodology used for the blackwater dives were excellent. Also, much to our surprise, when we headed out on the first night, we got comfortable for a one-hour boat ride but were amazed when we stopped only five minutes later.
Basically, APA is located right in front of where blackwater diving is usually carried out in Balayan Bay. This meant that the surface interval was spent back on land eating dinner and drinking hot tea in preparation for the next dive.
Lessons learned
As with all things, repetition is the key to learning and building muscle memory—and knowing in advance what will probably happen allows you to prepare physically and mentally for the challenge ahead. So, when I left for Manila, I had carefully packed the dive gear I knew I would need, plus my photography equipment was configured around what I also knew I would need, along with some other items I wanted to try.
It worked, and I got good, usable images on the first night. Over the next eight “night shifts”, it only got better.
Finding something new to photograph underwater is always exciting, particularly when it involves elements as radically different as those in blackwater diving. Once the diving and photographic fundamentals have been mastered, blackwater dives truly open up a window into an amazing part of the underwater world that is hidden in plain sight.
Summary
The area around the southwestern tip of Luzon Island is a truly exceptional dive location due to the nutrient-rich waters that flow around it and through the Verde Island Passage. The deep, sheltered bays of Balayan and Batangas provide near-perfect macro conditions and incredible blackwater diving. Plus, the islands in the passage—Maricaban and Verde—have a reputation for exceptional wide-angle underwater photography.
Frankly, I am a late convert to the general area referred to as “Anilao” and was only drawn there by the mysterious allure of blackwater diving. But like most late converts, I have become quite passionate about the area and am already planning Season III of blackwater diving. I also intend to explore many more of the daytime macro and wide-angle opportunities of Anilao. Watch this space… ■
Reference: Wikipedia.org
