Trip Report: Puerto Galera & Dauin (January 2014)

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dennism52

Registered
Messages
13
Reaction score
15
Location
Auburn, California
# of dives
500 - 999
A while back, I asked Scuba Board for suggestions on a 1st time trip to the Philippines. We finally made a trip and here is my report.

This was my first visit to the Philippines, so I do not consider myself an expert on the Philippines and all its many possible dive destinations. What follows is based solely on my own experiences (1 trip) and personal observations.

Most of my diving has been done in California and the Caribbean (700+ dives). It was a “bucket list” objective for me to dive somewhere in the Western Pacific and see new creatures (not found in the Caribbean). After consulting Scuba Board, my wife and I decided on Puerto Galera and Dauin for a 2 week trip. We were also considering Malapascua, but altered this choice after typhoon Yolanda. We would still like to visit Malapascua in the future.

The Philippines was amazing. The diving was fantastic, and the people were very friendly. For our first week in Puerto Galera, we opted to stay at El Galleon. The house dive shop is Asia divers. We were happy with both. We did 3 dives each day and all were about 1 hour. We are good with our air and pleased with the longer dive times. Many places in the Caribbean limit dives to 45 or 55 minutes even when a dive profile would allow more time. It also appears that in the Philippines Nitrox is more the norm. We dive air (not Nitrox) because we have been diving for many years and some places we go don’t even offer Nitrox. After our Philippines trip, we are considering getting a Nitrox certification.

At El Galleon, we stayed in an “ocean view” room. We liked this, and the view was great. But be warned, the ocean view rooms are at the top of a hill (70 steps to the top). This did not present a problem for us, but we did get extra exercise making 3 or 4 trips up and down each day.

One other popular hotel in Puerto Galera is Atlantis. This is advertised by many dive shops in the USA offering group dive trips to the Philippines. We walked by and it did look very nice. It was busy too. There are many other dive resorts in Puerto Galera some of which cater to different countries including divers from China, Korea, and Europe. You should check out each dive resort to insure it meets your personal preferences. What we liked about El Galleon, was its more tropical feel. Lots of tropical plants and landscaping. The Point Bar was a great place to meet people and discuss the days diving during happy hour. Also, Asia Divers had a dock. This made it easier to jump onto the dive boat. Most dive operations (both in Puerto Galera and Dauin) have their boats off shore requiring you to walk into the ocean to board. Not a big deal (going in the ocean is the objective), but something to be aware of. Easy because all dive shops have an amazing staff that takes care of getting all your equipment on the boat. And after each dive, Asia Divers and Atmosphere in Dauin had hot hand towels to rinse your face. Another first for us, and much appreciated.

All the dive guides at Asia Divers and Atmosphere were excellent. Jamie (ex Royal Navy), at Asia Divers was outstanding and was quite helpful in seeking out strange critters. We dove mostly with Richard at Atmosphere and he was great for finding the real small critters. I wish I had my reading glasses to see some of the smaller stuff he was pointing at.

We were able to meet the owner/operators at El Galleon and Atmosphere. It was nice to converse with them, as well as divers from other parts of the world including Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, the UK and Russia. Just by chance, we hit a slow week at each resort. It was amazing to go on dives with a dive guide for just my wife and I. We arrived at El Galleon when a big group was just wrapping up their week. At Atmosphere, we were between two big groups. We felt like celebrities. Got to set our dive preferences etc., and we had a great time. The Mandarin dive was amazing.

We went in January, and we found that March through June are actually the best months weather wise and the “high season”. A little cooler in January, but doable.

I am an amateur underwater photographer, and I had a great time at both Puerto Galera and Dauin. I now have a better understanding of muck diving. I’m not sure if this is my preference, but it was interesting. Unlike Caribbean coral sand (which has nothing much of interest IMHO), the muck is really muck. A combination of volcanic sediment, and organic material, it is more like talcum powder. Very easy to disturb, but it hosts a lot of critters. Because this was our first time to the Philippines, and we were seeing so many new creatures, my preference was a combination of reef and muck diving (more reef than muck). APO island was amazing and a must do if staying in Dumaguete/Dauin area.

Special thanks to Sue, an ex-pat living in Puerto Galera. She took us on a great hike into the outskirts of Puerto Galera. Amazing!

The best of my underwater photo efforts can be seen here:
Philippines 2014 Underwater - a set on Flickr
 
Well, this sounds encouraging. We will be following in your footsteps to PG in about a month, and many of the observations you made were also found by me during my research. We opted for a poolside room, however, as those 70 steps up to the oceanview rooms just didn't appeal. We were just across the channel last year over at Anilao, so I know what kind of diving is on tap, and it does beat the Caribbean and California silly. I sort of didn't like the isolation of most of the places at Anilao, however, and am looking forwards to a choice of restaurants and maybe a little shopping in Sabang. We won't get to Dumaguete/Dauin this trip, but there is always next time. For now, we will see what El Galleon and Asia Divers have in store for us. Woody
 
Thanks for the report and the pictures.
Frank
 
Thank you for your report! We leave for PG and Dumaguete in four days, and I honestly can't wait!
 
This is a very helpful report. Glad you liked these places.

Woodman: there's a guy in PG who sells the most amazing pool cues. Know anyone you'd like to take one home for? Also: great basketwork from the ladies who sit out front of El Galleon.
 
PG + Anilao would be a logical choice than PG + Dauin. Finsih the dive in early afternoon, hop into a boat and you will be on the other side after 3hrs and ready for a night dive. No need to wash anything and there is "no fly" penalty!! More time to spend on diving.

Which is better, Anilao + Verde Island or Dauin + Apo Island?
 
I would have to agree with Centrals that PG + Anilao + Verde Island is an easier commute than PG + Dauin. It is a long way via ground transportation and boat from Manila to PG. To go to Dauin from PG, you must reverse the trip and then take a hopper flight from Manila to Dumaguete. That said, we did PG + Dauin for our 1st visit to the Philippines because we wanted to see two different areas and we wanted to spend 2 weeks in country after the 16 hour flight from SFO. I was not disappointed. When we were in PG there was a low pressure system that made it unusually cool for January and winds that prevented us from making a trip to Verde Island (Damn). We were still able to make (3) great dives in PG every day. The low finally moved out and the weather for our 2nd week in Dauin/Atmosphere was significantly warmer. Most of the time, the water temp in PG was around 78 F/25.5 C. But on 2 days wind and clouds reduced surface temps to 74 F/23.3 C. In Dauin, the temp averaged around 79 F/26.1 C; this was comfortable for me in a 3mm full suit. I did use a 3 mil shorty over my 3 mil full wesuit for two days in PG (this worked). My wife used a 5 mil and was ok for both weeks. The locals all said that January is a cooler month, but these conditions were unusually cold even for January.
 
Nice photos!

I was in Subic Bay and then Puerto Galera a couple weeks ago; in PG saw lots of nudis, including some gorgeous Nembrotha rutilans and some aeolids I don't see in my local waters here in Taiwan. Plenty of mantis shrimps and frogfish but didn't see any ghost pipefish this time (last year we saw ornate, robust and slender ghost pipefish at PG). Was that ghost pipefish photo from PG, or Dauin?

Water was 24-25C -- chillier than some folks expect the PI to be, so those of y'all going there soon might want to pack a little extra neoprene.
 
Thank you for sharing! Great pictures! What kind of camera did you use?

I used a Sony RX-100 point and shoot camera. This is a higher end compact camera and (with housing, etc.) it is at the upper end of my budget. It has a 20 mega pixel sensor which is larger than most similar compact cameras. I'm using a Nauticam housing, and a single Sea&Sea YS-D1 strobe. I also have a Bluewater +7 macro lens and UWL-04 fisheye lens. Both are "wet" lenses which can be carried on a lens holder and added to the Nauticam housing while on a dive. My previous rig used a Canon G9. I am still getting used to all the possible shooting options with my new system.

---------- Post added February 13th, 2014 at 09:17 AM ----------

Nice photos!

I was in Subic Bay and then Puerto Galera a couple weeks ago; in PG saw lots of nudis, including some gorgeous Nembrotha rutilans and some aeolids I don't see in my local waters here in Taiwan. Plenty of mantis shrimps and frogfish but didn't see any ghost pipefish this time (last year we saw ornate, robust and slender ghost pipefish at PG). Was that ghost pipefish photo from PG, or Dauin?

Water was 24-25C -- chillier than some folks expect the PI to be, so those of y'all going there soon might want to pack a little extra neoprene.

The ghost pipefish photo is from Dauin. We saw ghost pipfish in both PG and Dauin. We did see more varieties in Dauin. Unfortunately, my pipefish photos from PG were out of focus. I need to get a lot better at macro; proper focus is so difficult.
 
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