bballnut90
Registered
Just finished up a great 3 days in Puerto Galera and thought I'd document the experience for anyone interested, and also for myself for when I come back here.
Getting to Puerto Galera was surprisingly easy. It was about a 1.5-2hr drive from Manila Airport, and then a 30 minute speed boat ride away. They have a cheaper option of taking a big ferry but it reportedly takes 1.5-2hrs. The speedboat ferry is about $35 USD if you catch it, though a private one will run you near $200 for a 30 minute ride.
I dove with Asia Divers at El Galleon Resort. The manager was very communicable and helpful for setting up transit to and from the resort. Upon arrival I learned they have a board with 5 available dives each day and you just sign up for which ones you'd like to do. Super easy. Dives were quite affordable ($34 USD/dive, $7 for Nitrox, $16/day for full gear rental). The resort itself was quite nice too. It's tucked away so you don't have people constantly trying to sell you things but it's a 5 minute walk from other bars/restaurants/dive shops. Cute touristy area, we really enjoyed it. Reminded me a bit of a Malapascua/Roatan type of vibe where it's very touristy/dive oriented but nice to get some options for places to go and has some local culture to it. If you go to PG, go eat at Tamarinds. Amazing food.
Now the important stuff--the diving! Overall I was quite happy with the diving here. We weren't able to go to Verde Island due to weather but the dive sites around PG were excellent. Very healthy coral teeming with life, lots of fish, some of the biggest nudibranchs I've ever seen as well. Not a ton of big fish were spotted aside from some large batfish and sweet lips. No shark/ray sightings in my 3 days. The dives had pretty solid variation though. Favorites were Canyons (which is apparently PG's signature dive) and Kalima where the topography changed quite a bit, we saw ribbon eels, a bed of garden eels, and a lot of other cool stuff in general. All of the sites were within 10 minutes of the dock (some were literally 2 minutes away) which I loved. Water temp was doable but not particularly warm (about 76 degrees f) and it got as cold as 73 on one morning dive. Air temps were great, mid 70s. Visibility wasn't very good unfortunately but that can change regularly, I think we just had bad luck. I was told by a worker there that his favorite time to dive is in May/June when it's a lot hotter, but the water temp is mid 80s and you can have great visibility. Downside is that it's boiling hot when you're out of the water. I'll definitely plan to come back, mostly to tackle Verde, but it's a great spot to spend several days to dive and relax. Was told by other divers that they loved Anilao as well which is just across the bay.
Also wanted to note, a few weeks ago I went diving in Khao Lak and did trips out to Koh Bon and Richilieu Rock. Had bad luck with visibility in both spots, it was quite mediocre. Both locations were overrun with other divers (seriously it was nuts how many divers were out there) and most of the time at Koh Bon was spent trying to manage weird currents and also make sure we didn't lose site of our dive guide as we crossed paths with so many different groups. No mantas either. Richilieu was pretty stunning but again the visibility just wasn't good. The sheer volume of fish though was quite spectacular. Overall though, I didn't love the diving in Thailand this go. We got picked up from Khao Lak and had to drive 30 min to an hour to reach a port, and then take 1-1.5 hour ride out to the dive site (Koh Bon/Richilieu) meaning it just sucks up your whole day to do 2 dives, and it's not the most comfortable experience. I'd recommend going the liveaboard route if you can. I think it'd make a big difference to dive those areas without so many other divers and without being shuttled back and forth. Loved Khao Lak town though and our resort, Moracea, was quite stunning. GoPong had great food there as well. Anyway, hope some people find this information useful. Cheers and happy diving.
Getting to Puerto Galera was surprisingly easy. It was about a 1.5-2hr drive from Manila Airport, and then a 30 minute speed boat ride away. They have a cheaper option of taking a big ferry but it reportedly takes 1.5-2hrs. The speedboat ferry is about $35 USD if you catch it, though a private one will run you near $200 for a 30 minute ride.
I dove with Asia Divers at El Galleon Resort. The manager was very communicable and helpful for setting up transit to and from the resort. Upon arrival I learned they have a board with 5 available dives each day and you just sign up for which ones you'd like to do. Super easy. Dives were quite affordable ($34 USD/dive, $7 for Nitrox, $16/day for full gear rental). The resort itself was quite nice too. It's tucked away so you don't have people constantly trying to sell you things but it's a 5 minute walk from other bars/restaurants/dive shops. Cute touristy area, we really enjoyed it. Reminded me a bit of a Malapascua/Roatan type of vibe where it's very touristy/dive oriented but nice to get some options for places to go and has some local culture to it. If you go to PG, go eat at Tamarinds. Amazing food.
Now the important stuff--the diving! Overall I was quite happy with the diving here. We weren't able to go to Verde Island due to weather but the dive sites around PG were excellent. Very healthy coral teeming with life, lots of fish, some of the biggest nudibranchs I've ever seen as well. Not a ton of big fish were spotted aside from some large batfish and sweet lips. No shark/ray sightings in my 3 days. The dives had pretty solid variation though. Favorites were Canyons (which is apparently PG's signature dive) and Kalima where the topography changed quite a bit, we saw ribbon eels, a bed of garden eels, and a lot of other cool stuff in general. All of the sites were within 10 minutes of the dock (some were literally 2 minutes away) which I loved. Water temp was doable but not particularly warm (about 76 degrees f) and it got as cold as 73 on one morning dive. Air temps were great, mid 70s. Visibility wasn't very good unfortunately but that can change regularly, I think we just had bad luck. I was told by a worker there that his favorite time to dive is in May/June when it's a lot hotter, but the water temp is mid 80s and you can have great visibility. Downside is that it's boiling hot when you're out of the water. I'll definitely plan to come back, mostly to tackle Verde, but it's a great spot to spend several days to dive and relax. Was told by other divers that they loved Anilao as well which is just across the bay.
Also wanted to note, a few weeks ago I went diving in Khao Lak and did trips out to Koh Bon and Richilieu Rock. Had bad luck with visibility in both spots, it was quite mediocre. Both locations were overrun with other divers (seriously it was nuts how many divers were out there) and most of the time at Koh Bon was spent trying to manage weird currents and also make sure we didn't lose site of our dive guide as we crossed paths with so many different groups. No mantas either. Richilieu was pretty stunning but again the visibility just wasn't good. The sheer volume of fish though was quite spectacular. Overall though, I didn't love the diving in Thailand this go. We got picked up from Khao Lak and had to drive 30 min to an hour to reach a port, and then take 1-1.5 hour ride out to the dive site (Koh Bon/Richilieu) meaning it just sucks up your whole day to do 2 dives, and it's not the most comfortable experience. I'd recommend going the liveaboard route if you can. I think it'd make a big difference to dive those areas without so many other divers and without being shuttled back and forth. Loved Khao Lak town though and our resort, Moracea, was quite stunning. GoPong had great food there as well. Anyway, hope some people find this information useful. Cheers and happy diving.
