Crystal Blue Resort

Crystal Blue Resort Anilao, Dive and Photo
Crystal Blue Resort invites you to Explore, Experience and Photograph the unique macro life of Anilao, Philippines

Kamusta and welcome to Crystal Blue Resort's website! Crystal Blue Resort invites you to experience our warm Filipino hospitality set on the stunning backdrop of the bay area known as Anilao, Philippines. Crystal Blue Resort is the ideal getaway for your next adventure - where nothing has been spared to bring you the finest in accommodations, facilities, dining, relaxation, and fun! Crystal Blue R

esort offers sheer quality without formality, in a tropical setting, with a variety of choices of leisure activities such as Snorkeling, Kayaking or just relaxing as well as world-class scuba diving. Crystal Blue Resort embraces beautiful architecture, blending with the local landscape and culture and is the perfect location for individual vacations, family holidays, group trips, and even business conferences. CBR fronts Balayan Bay offering stunning views or the crystal blue waters that the resort is named after. Sunsets in the Philippines are legendary and viewed nightly from our open dining room. Anilao is known as The Mecca of Macro Fauna offering all of the high impact critters that macro photographers flock to see. Our camera room, professional staff of guides, DMs and Support crews will assist you on each outing and the resort staff will welcome you home. Our photo pro Mike Bartick is here to guide you along and help you to learn and apply new techniques in macro Photography, lighting, work flow, editing and more. CBR offers photo clinics and Private instruction year round. Crystal Blue Resort is officially inspected, compliant and approved for hospitality, professionalism and Dive Center Safety
by both the Philippine Department or Tourism and PCSSD

A toothsome fellow, with a torpedo shaped body, A Lizardfish means business.A superb low light hunter they watch patient...
08/05/2026

A toothsome fellow, with a torpedo shaped body, A Lizardfish means business.
A superb low light hunter they watch patiently for the right moment, then strike with speed.
Using their surgical sharp teeth that could pe*****te leather, they mash their prey, crushing their bones, and suffocating them.
Their evil and powerful presence unleashed in a blink. I’m happy these guys are small.
Nikon Z8, f,105 + Nauticam EMWL- 60° and miniflash .

04/05/2026

Look in the sea, it’s an amphipod, no it’s a copepod, no, it’s a baby diamond squid. Soon it will grow to 20 maybe 30 times this size, reaching a massive 22kg. While I’ve only encountered the small ones, there’s always hope to see a fully grown one in situ.

I love hairy frogfish, they are one of the most photogenic critters on the substrate. The orange tiger striped (A. Strat...
01/05/2026

I love hairy frogfish, they are one of the most photogenic critters on the substrate. The orange tiger striped (A. Stratus) are said to mimic the algae often found growing on sandy habitats.
They use their lure like a skilled fly fisherman as they creep along hunting and stalking their prey.
Texture lighting helped to bring out the details of this little beast.

With

So much of our huge ocean environment is made up very small creatures. Most begin their lives drifting as plankton, even...
29/04/2026

So much of our huge ocean environment is made up very small creatures. Most begin their lives drifting as plankton, eventually settling back in the area that they began their life journey.
Here, a diver discovers the next generation of Anemone fish being carefully tended to by one of its parents. These eggs will ripen within a span of 10-14 days before hatching into this large and often unforgiving world. Only a lucky few from this clutch of eggs will beat the odds. Good luck little buddies!
Shot with my Nikon Z8, F,105 and the EMWL160°, during the photo workshop - Behavior day challenge.

20/04/2026

A short clip from tonight’s jump on the bay. We indoctrinated 15 new Blackwater divers this evening, adding to the ever growing list.
The first clip show a lantern fish escaping from some kind of mucus net and ends with a salp full of passengers, enjoy the short journey through the dark.
With
Shot on my Nikon Z8, with housing and optics

Snap it up! The concentration or a predator and the view of its prey. A Flamboyant cuttlefish snaps up its prey just bel...
20/04/2026

Snap it up! The concentration or a predator and the view of its prey. A Flamboyant cuttlefish snaps up its prey just below my lens.
Nikon Z8, F105+EMWL+60°lens

Shot with the Atom strobe and some diffuser.

08/04/2026

Transparency rules the night but as larval fish near the juvenile stages they begin to take on colorful pigment that will continue to expand. Flatfish, endure a painful metamorphisis too. As they move from one phase to the next, their skull bones begin to shift as both eyes move to one side of their head, forever looking upwards.

04/04/2026

Diamond squid are otherworldly creature that visit the shallows chasing prey and looking for a mate. This one becomes enamored with its reflection in my dome, changing colors and looking directly into the camera several times.
Sadly, low on air, I had to let it go but not before I captured this shortened series of shots. Enjoy natures beauty, ignore propaganda!
Shot with Nauticam optics-

.nauticam

28/03/2026

Argo-nights
Lastnight we had an unlimited supply of Argonauts, mostly small. All drifting on salp chains and within singular salps, near the end a chilled large female finally showed up for a swim on cameo.
Shot with my Nikon Z8 and Nauticam optics/ Kraken lighting

.nauticam

Bumblebee shrimp aren’t your everyday crustaceans so when we find one it’s quite special. This one happens to be pretty ...
24/03/2026

Bumblebee shrimp aren’t your everyday crustaceans so when we find one it’s quite special. This one happens to be pretty large, for a shrimp. Shot during our annual Backscatter workshop using my Nikon Z8, Z105 and MFO-1.


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