Secret Bay

Premium black-volcanic-sand muck and arguably Anilao's most celebrated critter site, where a sandy slope studded with geothermal bubble vents runs from the beach into deeper water. Visibility rarely tops 5 m and the bottom is dark silt and rubble — exactly the conditions macro photographers prize. The cast is extraordinary: mimic octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, Ambon scorpionfish, wonderpus, ghost pipefish, mantis shrimp and the occasional blue-ringed octopus. Sheltered with negligible current, it fishes superbly day and night.