Caban Point (Anilao)

Caban Point at Anilao is the gateway dive of the Verde Island Passage, where most divers first encounter the extraordinary biodiversity of this corridor. A rocky promontory creates converging currents that concentrate plankton and feeding fish, with the reef slope hosting a staggering density of small critters that has made Anilao synonymous with world-class macro photography. Hammerhead sharks patrol the blue water beyond the point in the cooler months, while the slope itself rewards patient photographers with painted frogfish, hairy frogfish, mimic octopus, blue-ringed octopus, and species of nudibranch encountered nowhere else. Hard coral recovery after bleaching events has been notable here, with resilient Acropora and Porites communities re-establishing in the shallows.