Batangas

Just a few hours from Manila, Batangas is a macro paradise. Its reefs are crawling with rare and unusual critters—nudibranchs in neon hues, pygmy seahorses clinging to sea fans, flamboyant cuttlefish flashing colors, and frogfish lurking in the rubble. Shallow coral gardens and deeper walls both deliver, but it's the incredible concentration of small life that makes Batangas one of the Philippines' best places for close-up exploration.