Puerto Galera - trip report

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

PhatD1ver

ScubaBoard Supporter
ScubaBoard Supporter
Messages
335
Reaction score
149
Location
Shanghai, China
# of dives
200 - 499
Okay, it's been almost two weeks since I got back. And before I throw out my thoughts, keep in mind that they are tainted by some nasty weather.

1) Puerto Galera was awesome... I will have to go back

2) We worked thru Badladz in PG proper, their boat picked us up at the dock of the villa we rented.. ($155 a night, but we had three couples, my adult son, and two little ones with us, and the house was perfect for us as a family, for 400ps a day, the staff cooked three meals a day for us (food cost was extra), they had a boat man available to take you to town too when you had time for shopping).

Let me say this about Badladz and Gavin their primary instructor, they did good work for us. I logged 21 dives over 6 days. Gavin was able to take my daughter who is a 'nervous Nellie', and my other son-in-law who was afraid of the water and couldn't swim, and over 5 days, mold them into pretty decent divers with good buoyancy, and confident enough to break off and swim away with the experienced divers who still had air after our goofing off getting a family pic under water.

3) I missed some of the funner dives diving with my kids. I was the only diver qualified for DEEP dives, and since Gavin was working with our OWs, and my newbies were very erratic with air consumption, we only hit the key dives spots at 18 meters and above.. though I did drop down to 23 along Dugong Wall. I'll have to catch Alma Jane, Canyons, Horsehead, Shark Cave and Fish Bowl next time out.

Visibility was hit and miss with the weather. We only had one sunny day, and vis was crap due to the churn from the short tide and weather the day before. We went down at Laguna point and hit a strong current, I waited on the line below my buddy while he cleared his ears (always slow) and we ended up having to resurface with the SMB because we couldn't see the rest of the group, and got pulled out before we could link up with the DM. Everyone surfaced, we reboarded the boat and dove again from a different mooring... the rest of the dive was okay. Next morning, we did the same site, and visibilty was amazing... go figure...

4) Manila Channel was a fun drift, but the vis was terrible. Clams was cool, but Koreans SUCK when it comes to being courteous divers. Lots of little stuff to see, my adult kids enjoyed the week, everyone averaged about 18 dives...

The trip from Manila is painless. The power banca or Cat-ferry are easy lifts to Sabang or PG (or in our case the dock at the villa)....

I still might pop over when the invasion happens in 2016, though I think I'll probably hit PG again this September.

And, my final grade would be probably an 7 out of 10. I'm sure if I had got to do my deep dives, and if weather had been better it would be higher. Saipan got an 8, and I got weathered out of dives, and had 'bad vis', but the diving offset all that. PG was a little weaker for offsetting the weather, even with all the family fun. And compared to Anilao, I'd have to say that although it's pretty comparable, I like a lot of the Anilao sites better. In fact, all the raving I heard before going to PG must be about the deep sites.

Long and short, I'd go again. It's definitely TOP 5 for me.
 
Canyons, Fish Bowl, Kilemar Drift and Step, Hole in the Wall, Horse head and Verde Island.
I am afraid there has not been any sighting of white tip inside Shark Cave for several yrs. However, I have been informed that thresher shark has been spotted regularly off Kilemar Step.
A good guide is imperative diving those sites.
 
Canyons, Fish Bowl, Kilemar Drift and Step, Hole in the Wall, Horse head and Verde Island.
I am afraid there has not been any sighting of white tip inside Shark Cave for several yrs. However, I have been informed that thresher shark has been spotted regularly off Kilemar Step.
A good guide is imperative diving those sites.

95% of PG dive sites are awesome, depends on actual weather and dive conditions.. Main key factor is getting a pro-activefun yet safe dive guide with you. Couple of my favorite dive is @ Drop-Off/back side verde island on an ebb.. gotta love that drift w/ a bit down current on the corner edge of the wall while enjoying the diversity fish such as school of jacks, big trevally silhouettes and more. :cool2:
 
Last edited:
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom