Puerto Galera is an excellent destination for diving

[funscuba]

Thanks Luko, you said out loud what I wanted to avoid to write, but now that you mention it I had to reply. Just came to my mind this bar filled with minimum 60 - 70 + (no i am not joking or lying) years old grand pa's westerners in the centre of Sabang, when i saw that I freaked out, just got disgusted and understood right away where i came to.
Just can't understand how some families especially with kids can go to such places.
I understand promoting certain areas is important to get more customers reason of cash, but at this point, certain places better be warned of their situations.
Again, people do absolutely what they want, that's their problems, not mine. i personally prefer the real thing !!!!

 

[Centrals]

Thanks Luko, you said out loud what I wanted to avoid to write, but now that you mention it I had to reply. Just came to my mind this bar filled with minimum 60 - 70 + (no i am not joking or lying) years old grand pa's westerners in the centre of Sabang, when i saw that I freaked out, just got disgusted and understood right away where i came to.
Just can't understand how some families especially with kids can go to such places.
I understand promoting certain areas is important to get more customers reason of cash, but at this point, certain places better be warned of their situations.
Again, people do absolutely what they want, that's their problems, not mine. i personally prefer the real thing !!!!

I can think of many holiday destinations where sex for money, drug etc etc are readily available even if you are NOT looking for it!
Would you rather not go to Bali for a diving trip if I tell you sex for money is also available? Look it up.
There are plenty of things in this world make me sick but sex for money is NEVER one of them!!! A 60-70 yrs old man with a young girl fraction of his age! Is it illegal? I do not see any reason to give any warning on this issue. But I would make one exception for you: we also have this "problem" in HK so please do NOT come.

 

[xrcjdx]

wow, such passion! i'm afraid there is an impression being created that sabang in particular and the puerto galera area in general is considerably more seedy than it actually is. i find the daytime and dinnertime sabang perfectly fine. it does heat up a little late night. if it is that offensive avoid it. easy to do by staying away from sabang central after 10 or 11, or stay in little or big la laguna. to the extent that you might wander upon some men and women drinking and otherwise acting 'badly', good morning world. maybe it is better to stay in a walled resort or your own back yard. but don't venture into the third world. if you didn't like the diving in p.g., that is another story. imho the diving in the area is plentiful and varied, easy to challenging, with plenty of extraordinary thrown in as well. verde island alone is worth the trip. my 2 cents. hate to see a place enjoyed by so many avoided because of the few.

---------- Post added January 13th, 2015 at 10:06 PM ----------

oh yea. you might want to stay out of the bars.

 

[Centrals]

I will never forget in BigLaLaguna the shame in the eyes of a very young filipina, exposed and handled on the beach like a sextoy by her western "boyfriend", a 50 years old b****d, probably so eager to show the cutie he b(r)ought from Manila. Dirty guys know no border, they're certainly not afraid with the distance from Sabang to Big Lalaguna or even from Manila to Big Lalaguna. The problem with PG is not so the "local girls" but the western fauna and their company, who spend the weekend coming from Manila.

This could be anywhere in Philippine and Thailand and to a less extent Cambodia and Vietnam.
I don't mind any of this but not those condescending remark and attitude.

 

[PhatD1ver]

Puerto Galera ... excellent for diving ??? Went there last year and well, don't really know what to say bout this place but ... ok I admit I didn't dive enough to see perhaps the best dive spots over there, i know, but after a few days, just wanted to leave the whole area completely, sooo filthy with sex tourism, low life tourists getting drunk everywhere, reminded me of patong or even worse night time. Concerning the diving, well, seen better in phil, much better to tell the truth. Just wanted to tell my opinion.

Umm, just got back from there... on a FAMILY dive trip. Maybe it was because we didn't stay in Sabang proper, but in a rented villa, but our one trip into Sabang was effortless. The Floating Bar was a pain one day as the owner was pissed and sleeping it off in a hammock when we took our SI (contrary to popular belief, only a few shops go back in after every dive, completely depends on the boats they are using).... anyway, we spent most of our time over in PG proper, and it was a fun little 'hamlet'.

Diving was good for the weather. There are better individual dive sites all over the Philippines, but the grouping was fairly decent.

---------- Post added January 14th, 2015 at 01:37 PM ----------

I can think of many holiday destinations where sex for money, drug etc etc are readily available even if you are NOT looking for it!
Would you rather not go to Bali for a diving trip if I tell you sex for money is also available? Look it up.
There are plenty of things in this world make me sick but sex for money is NEVER one of them!!! A 60-70 yrs old man with a young girl fraction of his age! Is it illegal? I do not see any reason to give any warning on this issue. But I would make one exception for you: we also have this "problem" in HK so please do NOT come.

I am with Centrals, you can't blame the location... good grief, all of China would need avoided by that standard. I live in Shanghai, and you can drive down nearly any street in most areas of the city and run across a block where there are 3-4 shops with 'pink/red' lights inside. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they aren't your momma's approved massage shop. And the hundreds of sports bars and night clubs across the city are filled with expats and rich local alike who are looking to find a 'date'. It is what it is, but I've lived here and never worried at all about this stuff, because I am not going to take my family into any of those locations.

As Centrals says, you can add Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Saipan oh wait, and literally 1000's of other places worldwide to the list of places you don't want to go because they have these "problems", sure, they are often 'IN YOUR FACE', doesn't mean you have to "Go in" to find out what they are really offering. Some things you can leave to comon sense that your momma taught you. If it don't feel right, it probably isn't.

My favorite place in Thailand, great diving location Koh Lanta, if you look for it, you'll find the little shops along the main road that parallels the main beach leaving Saladan where the girls who offer massages dress more like their are going to the 'after-prom' activities.... but I wouldn't trade my dives to see a whale shark, or get my OW qualification.

That stuff exists wherever there are men looking for sleazy crap, and all it takes to avoid it is WALK THE OTHER WAY.

I don't know how some people manage. I'm dead after 3 or 4 dives a day mostly. Certainly on a 6 dive day, I'm a goner. On diving days, especially with more diving the next day... all I want to do is eat, grab a hot shower, maybe a massage, and then hit the rack. Most places offer ALL of that in a very legit, well designed environment. You never have to leave the resort/hotel, and maybe it is $35 a night, big deal... you aren't missing anything in town.

 

[Centrals]

I can add Palau into the "No go" list!!!!
Check those KTV establishment where only tourists go if you want an answer.
I hope this won't put you off of diving in Palau!

 

[funscuba]

After Sabang center I went to Talipanan and stayed at Mountain beach resort, nice, cheap but unfortunately diving wasn't provided due to some technical problems at the other resort close-by, that's what the italian guy told me.
After that I hit the road to Sablayan and stayed at Pandang island, what a relief from P-G and Sabang, "Apo reef" was a marvel, absolutely loved it.

 

[Wingy]

Add most of the world to the no go list. You dont have to look. If you turn up in a destination expecting to have your own hometown moral code applied to you may well be shocked if such things offend you that greatly. Stay out of Patong, Kuta, certain districts in Vietnam, Definitely dont go for a wander down the riverside district in Phnom Penh in Cambodia where it really is offensive due to the age of the children. You can do what TS & M did and stay with in the confines of your hotel and only have to acknowledge sex sells should another diver brings a girl home for the night, you can turn your head away while walking through that part of sabang, or you can head straight to a local church and pray for their salvation but its not going to change what is a reality through most of the world. In Dubai they have a better dressed less obvious type of bargirl but they are still bar girls.
After having travelled around South East Asia for the better part of 30 years I no longer am shocked by much other than when someone tries to sell me a child (Cambodia 2 years ago) or I see a child being dragged off crying by some filthy POS.
The bar girls in Sabang are nearly all single mothers - stretch marks dont lie. They are feeding their family just like the people you see begging on the streets. Like it or not its what people sometimes have to do to survive. I actually went into Lips bar - or was it the Coco bar - matters not - with some guys who had been diving with me at South Sea Divers for a look around. Its a pretty organised system which is a lot better than girls out on their own on the street.....and I am a middle aged female. Watched bad twerking, got a free can of coke, listened to overly loud bad music and didnt burn in hell.

Sabang is what it is. Why get so fried over what has been and will go on for ever?. If you dont like it, stay in your hotel, stay at white beach, dont venture through that part of sabang at night or shrug sigh and enjoy the sights. Those girls walking home with those 70 year olds should be given a medal for agility because im sure its not that easy to walk along those streets or the sand in high heels. Sabang will never top my list of favourite places but its nice diving at affordable prices - your choice how you view the after dark activities.

 

[Centrals]

After Sabang center I went to Talipanan and stayed at Mountain beach resort, nice, cheap but unfortunately diving wasn't provided due to some technical problems at the other resort close-by, that's what the italian guy told me.
After that I hit the road to Sablayan and stayed at Pandang island, what a relief from P-G and Sabang, "Apo reef" was a marvel, absolutely loved it.

What would you do if one of the lodger brought back a "take away"?
What would you do if one of the lodger already has a young partner(M/F)?
How would you feel if it was a 60-70 yrs old lady with a youthful looking male?

---------- Post added January 15th, 2015 at 08:50 AM ----------

Sabang is what it is. Why get so fried over what has been and will go on for ever?. If you dont like it, stay in your hotel, stay at white beach, dont venture through that part of sabang at night or shrug sigh and enjoy the sights.

White Beach is NO better either and may be even worst!

 

[drbill]

Puerto Galera ... excellent for diving ??? Went there last year and well, don't really know what to say bout this place but ... ok I admit I didn't dive enough to see perhaps the best dive spots over there, i know, but after a few days, just wanted to leave the whole area completely, sooo filthy with sex tourism, low life tourists getting drunk everywhere, reminded me of patong or even worse night time. Concerning the diving, well, seen better in phil, much better to tell the truth. Just wanted to tell my opinion.

I had a far different experience in Sabang. Of course I spent the vast majority of my time diving with Action Divers or hanging out at their shop. I guess I never went into the central part of Sabang at night... too busy editing my video footage. The only sex nonsense I saw was from a guy from Michigan living in the next room at my hotel with his Filipina sweetie. He kept touching her all over as they sat or stood on our common balcony. I was a little disgusted by that but didn't see anything else. I didn't see any excessive drinking either, but stayed out at the other end of town.

---------- Post added January 15th, 2015 at 07:55 AM ----------

I can add Palau into the "No go" list!!!!
Check those KTV establishment where only tourists go if you want an answer.
I hope this won't put you off of diving in Palau!

Gulp... heading there in two months