Anilao’s newest treasure

Photos by Yvette Lee and Sea’s Spring Resort??Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Anilao was a sleepy barrio known only to scuba divers. They were the first ones to brave what were then rutty roads in order to immerse themselves in an underwater wonderland filled with technicolor corals and a myriad of tropical fishes. ?Those days, in Anilao, a barangay in the municipality of Mabini in Batangas, choices of places to stay  were limited to establishments that rented out the most basic of rooms. The better ones had a fan. Almost all had communal bathrooms. 

Thus it was an eye-opener for me to visit the present Sea’s Springs Resort. Two hours over the SLEX and the Star Tollway brought me to this expansive resort, boasting of 65 rooms ranging from twin, king, triple as well as dormitory-sized rooms that can accommodate eight people comfortably. The resort has several pools and waterslides and — what I consider the gem of the resort — two natural hot water pools and a bamboo sauna. ?At the resort, my friends and I met Michael An, whose parents own the resort. He is an avid technical diver as well as an instructor. He maintains a well-equipped dive shop staffed by dive pros who can take a newbie on a discovery dive or conduct training up to dive master status.?After settling my bags in one of the triple rooms, I opened a door and found my private seaside veranda. It overlooked a quiet cove with the island of Maricaban across the bay. Below me were the pools and picnic areas. Since it was the Amihan season, I welcomed the cool, fresh sea breeze into my bedroom.?The resort is located on Sitio Mainit, with the famous Anilao dive site called Secret Bay at its doorstep. The otherwise empty, sandy bottom is actually home to macro critters dear to an underwater photographer’s heart. Sea horses, ghost pipefish as well as several species of cephalopods such as the blur-ringed octopus can be seen by eagle-eyed guides.?But to an intro-diver like me with several younger family members in tow, I was overjoyed to see why this lovely resort is also now gaining fame with the non-diving market. Aside from the pools and waterslides, the resort offers island hopping with a barbecue lunch on a white-sand beach and I got into the banca with snorkeling equipment.?As we motored along the coast, I could see other well-built establishments, and my companion, underwater photographer Yvette Lee, pointed out the other well-known scuba diving resorts such as Pier Uno, Eagle Point, Solana, Balai and Planet Dive. We crossed the channel, which is incidentally part of the Verde Passage. This body of water has made it to the front pages of several dailies, the Philippine Star included, by virtue of it being recognized by Dr. Kent Carpenter and  Dr. Victor Springer  as the “center of the center of the center of the world’s most bio-diverse marine community.” It was the culmination of a 10-year study participated by more than a hundred of the planet’s most eminent marine scientists. ?We stopped briefly at Sombrero Island, so named because it’s shaped like a hat. I had a chance to snorkel at Layag-layag and enjoyed the intact branching type of hard corals. In the meantime, Yvette went deeper to a spot she called “Kanto” or “Corner” and came back with photos of basket sponges and luscious corals covered by orange fish called anthias.?I asked Yvette if the corals and marine life in Anilao were as good as the other marine sanctuaries we had both visited recently. She thought over my question carefully before giving me an answer. Having been a visitor of the area since the mid ‘70s, Yvette felt certain areas in Anilao were over exploited. However, she claimed that as the community prospered from the diving and other marine related tourism, the inhabitants realized the need to protect their livelihood. With the help of several NGOs such as Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation and World Wildlife Fund, the local government of Mabini has organized a coastal resource management board. The board is now the one responsible  for overseeing the conservation of the marine resources, levying users’ fees that in turn fund the  Bantay Dagat Patrols. There have been more reported sightings of big animals in the area, such as mantas, devil rays and even a whale shark in the last few months — an encouraging sign of the regeneration of the underwater habitats.?Yvette, who is my favorite above and underwater photographer, said that there is a unique sort of camaraderie that exists between dive buddies. Like kindred souls they share the delicious, sacred secret of being visitors to a realm or a place that is known only to a special few. She even has a theory that the ones who have been badly bitten by the diving bug are actually citizens of Atlantis several hundred lifetimes ago, thus explaining their unexplainable passion for the sea.?After a long day in the sun and the cool water, I was glad to return to my habitat. Chilled to the bone from the water and the cold wind, it was heaven to walk into the salt water hot spring. The gate valve of the hot spring pool is opened from time to time to let the 40-degree water in. The sides of the pool have ledges for the guests of the resort to sit comfortably with water up to their chests. If the water gets too hot, one can literally jump into the cold seawater pool that is just two steps away.?Other guests joined us and said they had just come back from a 30-minute sunset hike to Mount Gulugod Baboy, which, at 525 meters, gave them an incomparable view of the surrounding sea and mountains. The hot sulfuric is said effective to soothe the lactic acid out of the aching thighs.

After doing all of the day’s activities, we were left famished and we retreated to the resort’s restaurant, which had an expansive menu of both local, continental and Korean favorites. We ate heartily of the spicy Korean chicken stew, sam gyup sal while the teenagers dug in to their pastas and burgers.?I don’t know if it was the soft lighting and music, the wine, or the fresh sea air that made us all talk in gentle whispers, but it was a perfect ending to a perfect day at Sea’s Spring Resort. ?

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For more information on Sea’s Spring Resort, log on to www.seasspringresort.com or e-mail shinyang.seasspring.inc@gmail.com. It can also be reached through  (632) 881-1766 or 0917-5648085.