Puerto Galera diving

[gaudencio]

Hi to all my beloved board members out there,
Could you help me on this.
I plan to go to Puerto Galera this Feb-march. Initially our plan is to contract a boat in Anilao and go to Puerto for a 2days diving. We plan to check in a a local resort in White beach or Sabang. We also plan to bring some tanks and have it just refilled there for our 3rd and succeding dives.We used to do this before but we have a friend who is familiar with the dive sites in Puerto. Question is can we just go there our selves and dive as my bangkero said that he's a little familiar with the place or he may just be bluffing.Are the dives sites marked with a bouye or not. Or do we have to look for a local guide . Can you recommend me a good and cheap guide in Puerto. Can you also recommend a good resort. One who is cheap and with Aircon and with clean facilities. Or is there a better alternative that you can recommend other than contracting a boat in Anilao.azzler1:
jimmy T

[Xizang]

Hi to all my beloved board members out there,
Could you help me on this.
I plan to go to Puerto Galera this Feb-march. Initially our plan is to contract a boat in Anilao and go to Puerto for a 2days diving. We plan to check in a a local resort in White beach or Sabang. We also plan to bring some tanks and have it just refilled there for our 3rd and succeding dives.We used to do this before but we have a friend who is familiar with the dive sites in Puerto. Question is can we just go there our selves and dive as my bangkero said that he's a little familiar with the place or he may just be bluffing.Are the dives sites marked with a bouye or not. Or do we have to look for a local guide . Can you recommend me a good and cheap guide in Puerto. Can you also recommend a good resort. One who is cheap and with Aircon and with clean facilities. Or is there a better alternative that you can recommend other than contracting a boat in Anilao.azzler1:
jimmy T

I did just this last weekend but only for a day trip. I took a boat from Aquaventure then did 3 dives in Puerto Galera. The boats cost around 3t for the day trip. Some of the sites there are marked, mostly the sites right in front of sabang (sabang wreck, alma jane, etc.) the deep drift dives however, although marked with buoy is a little tricky because you have to navigate to the sites from the buoy.

Sadly, I am yet to find a dive guide in PG that will work outside of the dive resorts there.

For cheap accomodations try Gerlie's Inn in Lalaguna beach (right beside Action Divers). They have rooms there for 500 (non aircon) to 1200 (aircon). Deep blue sea inn also offers aircon rooms for 1,200. There are much more cheaper rooms at the back of the beach front, mostly rooms rented out by locals.

If you ask me, better just dive with a dive resort there if you don't know the sites. Most of the sites in PG have currents and it will just be frustrating and tiring to dive there and not get to the sites.

[gaudencio]

Thanks,
Do you know how much the tank rentals and refills are in PG?

[Xizang]

Thanks,
Do you know how much the tank rentals and refills are in PG?

Most of the shops will not let you rent their tanks, for refills try Asia Divers look for Allison. Send them an email when you are going and what time you will most likely have your tanks refilled (plus how many) so they could accomodate you. They have a compressor that could fill 6 thanks in 15 minutes. refills cost P100

[happybuddha]

gaudencio,

Why not just dive with a PG dive shop, if an Anilao boat is going to cost P3,000 its not going to be much, if any cheaper, than 3 dives at a PG dive shop. You can take a ferry from Batangas City to Sabang for P100 and dives will be around US$20-22 (~P1100) each if you have your own gear.

A guide with local knowledge is an absolute must if you plan to dive sites like Canyons. If you are not careful you wind up half way to Verde or worse on a Canyons dive, and there can be wicked down currents as well.

Drew

[Scuby Dooby]

I agree with happy buddha about canyons. You'll need a local DM to get the currents right, if you get it wrong you'll most likely end up either hanging onto a rock for 20 minutes until you decide to call it quits or end up in the deep blue . . . and call it quits! I dove Canyons while on a liveaboard making our trip back home to Batangas and even though the guys were great divers, they didn't know the local conditions. We dumped 8 divers out and within 1 minute we were in 3 separate groups in different parts of the canyons depending on how well they were able to swim against the current - the whole thing was a nightmare and we moved on to the (boring) wrecks at Sabang beach.

I don't think the whole idea is a miss though! This is one of my favorite ways to spend a few days in Anilao / PG:

Day 1 - Dive in Anilao - Bahura, Beatrice, Kirby's rock are a nice day out!
Day 2 - Get up extra early, pack for PG and on the way dive 1st at mainit point (i usuallly see the white tips if i'm the first one there in the am, try to leave before dawn if you like the morning!) then make the long boat ride over to Verde Island and do either one, or better, 2 dives at San Agapito Point (all the shops in PG just refer to this as 'verde island' but i like to use the proper name). Then have your Anilao boat bring you over to Sabang while it's still mid afternoon. Choose a place to stay if you haven't already, scope out the dive shops for the next day, eat - drink - and be merry!
Day 3 - Get up and do the best dives that PG has to offer - without a doubt that would include Canyons, the others depending on conditions. I like to do a deep dive at the Fish Bowl if conditions are right, Gorgonians the size of VWs down there!

Day X - when it's time to finally leave you have a couple of choices:

1. Do the conventional jeepney to puerto galera and then the ferry to Batangas city and then onto manila / wherever.

2. Make an arrangement for your Anilao boatman to pick you up somewhere on Sabang beach at a predetermined time / date. On the way back stop and dive the sites on the way like Malajibong Manok, maybe Mapating (shark cave - though you usually see marble rays there instead) and then mainit or one of the others and then back to Anilao for either an extended stay or to make your way back to the big city.

i've done variations of this a few times and it's a wonderful way to spend a short dive trip in the batangas / mindoro area. Have fun!

[Scuby Dooby]

Gaudencio,

I didn't see your address was in manila until after i posted - i'm pretty sure you'll know the dive sites all on your own in that case! i had assumed you weren't pinoy when i gave the specific tips on sites, etc.

again, have fun!

[shugar]

that does sound like a great itenerary! how much do you usually run into when you do something like this... really interested in giving it a whirl

Jag

[happybuddha]

I like to do a deep dive at the Fish Bowl if conditions are right

Speaking of The Fishbowl, I was there this past Saturday morning on a trimix dive; we had been puttering around at 45mts for 15 minutes or so watching a few sweetlips when a school of 200+ jacks swarmed over us, it was fantastic. It was a great way to end a great week of diving.

Drew

[Scuby Dooby]

hi Jag,

I can't remember exactly but I think it was somewhere around 3K for the boat from Aquaventure / Mainit / Verde / PG and about the same for a pickup a few days later at the Big Apple in Sabang that included dives at M Manok and Mainit on the way back to Aquaventure. Its possible that the trip back was a bit cheaper but I really can't remember. As you probably know Verde is actually a considerable detour going from Balayan Bay to PG. I could be a bit wrong about the price but it was somewhere in the range of 6K total for the banca + extra for tanks / air for about six dives.

Keep in mind also that we did all the dives without a DM so that brought the costs down a bit too. I'm familiar enough with the usual spots that we often don't use one (except Bahura, for me it's like navigating the London underground - impossible!). San Agapito is easy without a guide also if you've been there at least once with someone to guide you. If you haven't done it yet - it's a pinnacle that breaks water just off the main island, the wall drops down well over 200', I'd guess deeper on the far side.

Once you know where to plunk in though it's just a matter of keeping the wall on your left and enjoying the show. Currents can be an issue but in my experience you tend to 'hit' it about 20 mins into the dive when turning a sharp corner around the wall - if the current is running you'll be able to decide whether to continue around, double back and change depth or, if you are lucky, just hang out there and watch the big school of 3' trevally that tend to congregate there when the current is strong!

I justify the extravagance as follows, from least to most important.

Cost - If I were to do the land / ferry route to PG from anilao I'd have to arrange a ride. Even if i bring the car to Anilao I sure don't want to leave it unattended at the Batangas ferry pier overnight! That is likely to run somewhere around 1,5K minimum if you don't have a friend willing to skip their morning dives to lug you the 1 hour ride to the ferry. For me the same issue coming back - my car is parked safely in Anilao and I don't want to make 3 jeepney changes from the ferry terminal to get back to it!

Also, if I were to wait and dive San Agapito with a shop from PG then we would likely pay around $20 each for the dive. With 2 of us making this trip we save about 2,200P right there (actually, more like 4K if we do 2 dives each)!

Another saver is that if you are renting gear from the shop in Anilao (my buddy from Shanghai usually does) just keep it for your dives in PG and save on the much higher equipment rental rates in PG. I guess they might have to know you well enough to trust you for this one though!

Hassle - If I take the ferry I have to carry my dive gear from resort to car / to ferry terminal / to ferry / to jeepney in PG / and then lug from the jeepney stop to the hotel, etc. I imagine the whole hot trip would take something like 4 - 5 hours each day, effectively killing 2 days of diving. Compare that to having the bangkeros load my gear (not to mention not needing to pack the gear!) on the boat for me and only need to carry it from the beach to my fav place to say in PG.

Dive Time - instead of wasting 1 or 2 days travelling back and forth to PG I'm diving along the way! This is the best part for me - my transport to the new place is actually a dive trip so I don't lose a couple dive days out of a 4 or 5 day trip.

It's probably not cheaper in the end but I think it's a fun change of pace, give it a try and let us all know if you agree!