Puerto Galera vs other top Asian dive destinations ?

[ronscuba]

I like live aboard diving for the quality and convenience of diving.

Having dove liveaboards in Raja Ampat, Maldives and Egypt, how does the land based diving in Puerto Galera compare ? If it falls short in this comparison, how does it compare to land based diving in Asia like Bali, Lembeh, Ambon, Egypt, Maldives, etc..

Budget is not really concern. What attracts me to Puerto Galera is the ease of getting there from NYC. There are direct flights from NYC to Manila. After that 2-3 hrs car-ferry to Puerto Galera. I am not aware of any other place in Asia that is as easy to get to from NYC and have 10 minute boat rides to the dive sites.

Big question is how the diving compares.

 

[Trailboss123]

I plan to head to Puerto Galera next Spring for the same reason you site. Easiest place in Asia to get to with quality diving. Will be my first time there, so I can't really answer your question, but I have heard enough good solid reports, that given the ease of access, I am going for it.

@outofofficebrb will likely be a good resource for your question. She is also a big liveaboard diver and has also done land based from Puerto Galera. She stayed at El Galleon and dived with Asia Divers (on site dive op), which is where I plan to stay and dive from.
El Galleon Resort & Asia Divers | Puerto Galera, Philippines

Did her booking through Bluewater Dive Travel: Bluewater Dive Travel | Scuba diving travel, dive news and travel specials

 

[dlofting]

Puerto Galera (Sabang Beach) has healthy, colourful coral with a lot of fish and a smattering of macro. With the exception of turtles it has very little of the larger critters. If that suits you, you'll enjoy it....if not you need to look elsewhere.

 

[tursiops]

If you liked Bali, Lembeh, and Ambon, there is world-class muck diving just across the water from Puerto Galera at Anilao, for example the Aiyanar Resort. Going back there for my third trip next spring. Just a car ride from Manila....no ferry needed.

 

[ronscuba]

If you liked Bali, Lembeh, and Ambon, there is world-class muck diving just across the water from Puerto Galera at Anilao, for example the Aiyanar Resort. Going back there for my third trip next spring. Just a car ride from Manila....no ferry needed.

Since Anilao and PG are relatively close, do people split their time between the 2 ? Let's say for a 7 day trip. Start in Anilao for a few days and then over to PG ? Not sure Anilao would keep us interested for a full week.

 

[Scandi Divers]

You can also take a 30 minute sea plane ride from Manila to Puerto Galera these days with Air Juan, its a great service which costs around $150 each way depending on your amount of luggage.

If you are keen to come to Puerto galera, kindly check out Scandi divers, we are based in Big La Laguna which is a beautiful unspoiled bay with clean water and a beautiful house reef.
www.scandidivers.com

You can check out some of the underwater stuff here.

 

[Scandi Divers]

Since Anilao and PG are relatively close, do people split their time between the 2 ? Let's say for a 7 day trip. Start in Anilao for a few days and then over to PG ? Not sure Anilao would keep us interested for a full week.

Yes you can do that, people arrange a private boat transfer from resort to resort for around $130. It is also possible to take a public boat from Batangas to PG but for me its much easier with the private transfer.

 

[outofofficebrb]

From your list, I’ve done Raja by liveaboard and Egypt’s Red Sea by liveaboard and land based. I’d rate PG diving after Indo’s Raja and Komodo but maybe a little bit ahead of the Red Sea. As @Trailboss123 mentioned, I stayed at El Galleon and dived with Asia Divers. Their house reef is excellent, my favorite being Fantasy Reef. It was great to be able to fit in as many as 5 dives a day if you’d like with them coming back between each dive. It’s a short ride to each dive site with the exception of Verde Island. It’s worth the surcharge and extra time.

I’ve dived Lembeh and PG has some pretty good macro while being able to enjoy some really great wide angle scenes on the same dive. Lots of frogfish, nudis, shrimp, crab but not as varied and weird/wonderful as Lembeh which is way more specialty. PG is great if you’re like me and love reef wide angle, appreciate macro (I’m a photographer) and happen to have divers that don’t care for macro. There’s a little of everything to please everyone. PG diving is not as good as Tubbataha in my opinion, so I’d do that if you could only pick one. For the price, PG is the better value for a week all-in. One thing to note is that I didn’t see a single shark in PG all week and I was told that is normal.

Please let me know if you have any specific Q’s. I just got back from the Red Sea (45 dives....4 days land based and 2 weeks on a liveaboard ...so the comparison to the Red Sea is still quite fresh!

Edited to add: I’m addicted to liveaboards and diving with El Galleon/Asia Divers full board felt like a liveaboard on land. The food there is surprisingly very good and dive setup and center is very convenient.

 

[Efka76]

Last week I returned from diving in Puerto Gallera. I think that was the best diving place comparing with my other dives in Red Sea (Egypt), Boracay (Philippines), Koh Tao (Thailand). There are appr. 25 diving sites which are very easily accessible from Purto Gallera. There I saw many nemo fishes, bat fishes, turtles, sea snakes, scorpionfishes, stonefishes and a very big variety of other sea creatures. Corals also very vivid and alive. In red sea corals were healthy as well and there were big animals like dolphins and sharks (did not see them in Puerto gallera). Also, it takes appr. 3-4 hours to reach Puerto Gallera from Manila (by car and ferry). Also, in Puerto Gallera you can experience wreck diving, drift diving as well.

 

[Andy Skuntz]

I've dove in Raja Ampat, and Bohol, from liveaboards in that part or the world. I've also stayed at Lembeh, Ambon, Bali, and Dumaguete, and every place has it's share of great diving. As a guy with a camera, the best critters live in the muck, but there is so much more diving in our giant world with incredible oceans.

I've not been to Puerto Galera, but I am headed there next May for 5 nights at Atlantis Puerto Galera, then we'll fly to Puerto Princesa to dive in Tubbataha, on the Atlantis Azores for 7 nights. I am really looking forward to it, I chartered the entire boat, and have 12 people going, so there is room for 4 more. Please message me if you're interested?

Hoping to publish a fabulous report here in 7 months.