Anilao/Puerto Galera Trip Report

[gaudencio]

For me Puerto is better,if you tried the sites that I have mentioned. "Just my comment, I am very sorry for all of I have said for the DM's This is only my opinion if you will read my text " For me". I'm not very good in english so I have before hand mentioned "I hope you won't get offended."


so don't get mad please guys my opinion only .

 

[Summerbabe]

Hi there...

I am back from Philippines.

Fun & superb dive trip at Puerto Galera!!!! Fantastic dives!!!!!

We dive with South Sea Divers and they are great great great. Hospitable, good service and dive in small groups. Not more than 6 of us including divemaster and trainee divemaster. The accommodation in Big Apple Resort is very nice too.

Visited Sky Dive, Sabang Wreck, Sabang Point, Sanandigan Wall, Monkey Beach and Wreck Point.

However, Anilao trip was terrible. We travelled long and hard to Balai Resort but was denied the price quoted us for the dive. The owner refused to accept his error and did not honour his email on his quote. The difference was double. We could not bring ourselves to pay the price. We made a painful decision not to dive in the end. We left sadly without doing any dive. I was looking forward to "Cathedral" dive
But service, food and accommodation were not compromised and thumbs up for that.

Overall, I enjoyed myself immensely in Philippines. Diving in Puerto Galera, enjoying the serenity in Balai Resort and shopping in Makati City - Ayala, Landmark, Glorietta and Greenhills was a good experience.

Hee..adding on to the good experience, I was mistaken as a Philippina most of the time

Love and dolphins,
Candice

 

[paolov]

Hi there...

I am back from Philippines.

Fun & superb dive trip at Puerto Galera!!!! Fantastic dives!!!!!

However, Anilao trip was terrible. We travelled long and hard to Balai Resort but was denied the price quoted us for the dive. The owner refused to accept his error and did not honour his email on his quote. The difference was double. We could not bring ourselves to pay the price. We made a painful decision not to dive in the end. We left sadly without doing any dive. I was looking forward to "Cathedral" dive
But service, food and accommodation were not compromised and thumbs up for that.

Overall, I enjoyed myself immensely in Philippines. Diving in Puerto Galera, enjoying the serenity in Balai Resort and shopping in Makati City - Ayala, Landmark, Glorietta and Greenhills was a good experience.

Hee..adding on to the good experience, I was mistaken as a Philippina most of the time

Love and dolphins,
Candice

am so sorry for your anilao experience. next time come with a filipina friend who is a resident of singapore and a new diver as well. want her mobile # so you can touchbase and perhaps come over here with her on a dive trip lah !

however am glad you enjoyed Galera trip. Lagi Satu !

 

[jonix]

Website: www.scuba1.net

hey bro, very nice website

 

[repapips]

thanks, jonix!

 

[Summerbabe]

am so sorry for your anilao experience. next time come with a filipina friend who is a resident of singapore and a new diver as well. want her mobile # so you can touchbase and perhaps come over here with her on a dive trip lah !

however am glad you enjoyed Galera trip. Lagi Satu !

Hee.....I was there with a Philipino who is a resident of Singapore, his ate and tito but that did not change anything. Ha...perhaps we were at their mercy and it was late to go anywhere from the resort.

Anyway, it was overall a good experience despite not diving in Anilao. I refused to allow it to marr my happy holiday memories. Did I say that we went snorkelling in front of the resort to make up for the disappointment? Ha...at least I could say that I snorkel in Anilao.

Sure, I would love to know more friends and please give me your friend's mobile.

Thanks for everything and I do hope to re-visit Anilao.

Love and dolphin,
Candice

 

[wahlaoeh]

Hi Candice,

Sorry to hear of ur bad experience in Anilao. Hope u'll have better luck next time with ur selection of dive operator.

Since u're from Singapore, maybe next time we can hook up to go diving in Anilao together...PM if u're planning a trip... I might be doing a LOB trip to Apo Reef end Oct (fingers crossed) with my fillipino friends, let me know if u're interested.

Happy bubbles,
Jovin-

 

[shugar]

i got the other side of the story already... i just PMed you about it

thanks

Jag

 

[sisid marino]

hi jag,

im jon vergara, the person who inquired about balai. for as much as i want to forget this disappointing trip to balai, i hope you should hear both side of the storiy. i have heard from candice that u PMed her and the way u are constructing the whole incident is as if i am asking too much and u are blaming me for everything.

i just want to go ahead w my life but since ur management dont want to bear responsibility, i believe i should be heard and have the right to speak up. here is the EXACT email i sent you, dated May 23,2005. 02:06:02;

My friend Jxxxx Lxx, who just recently took his OWDC with SEACID group referred me to your resort and told me about the hospitality and good services aside from the good rates you can offer.

I would be back in the Philippines on May 30th and planning to go for an overnight stay at Balai Resort on June 2 to June 3. There are four of us; two non-divers and two openwater divers. I would like to ask the best rate you can offer me, considering that we just want to do 2 dives; one on 2 June afternoon and another on 3 June morning. I would be needing a regulator while my partner needs regulater, bcd.

Also, as we are coming from Puerto Galera, can you advise us as to what is the best way to reach Balai Resort? Do you have service by boat or any boat transfers from Puerto Galera to Balai Resort? If so, how much is the rate?

Your kind help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Jon


and here is your EXACT reply, dated May 24,2005, 10:35:53;

hi jon!

i did my OW and AOW with seacid too... happy your friend had a good time

regarding your inquiry: our rates are pretty much set and are available online... what i would suggest is you 4 check in with the non-diver package and the 2 divers can just pay extra (approximately P450 or less than US$10 per dive all inclusive)

there'll be a minimal rental for the regs and BC and the rates for that are also online

i'm forwarding this to the booking office for your reservation

options to get from PG to anilao are:
charter a van from batangas pier to anilao (not sure how long but around 1 hour i believe... more or less)
charter a banca from batangas pier to anilao/ balai resort (not sure how much this will be or if actually possible although theoretically it is)
charter banca from PG direct to anilao (have your resort there help with the arrangements as there are usually dive trips from anilao to PG so bancas do ply the route... about 30-45 minutes i believe)
hope this helps

Jag

u may want to refer our emails if u dont trust the above.

upon reaching balai, i was informed by the reception that the rate for diving is P900/dive. i told her that it was not what you have quoted me, and even presented the printout of our emails as proof. i passed her the prints to confirm and call the management. still the owner insisted and said he emailed me the quotation and i never replied. i never received any emails aside from you, and i asked her to ask the owner to forward the "alleged" email he claimed he sent me, but to no avail up to this moment.

at this point, was i asking too much? we didnt came all the way from singapore to be screwed up.

the reception then further followed it up to the owner and told us the best that the owner can give us is to pay the dive "at cost";
boat - P800
dm - P500
tank - P120 x 2
-----
total P1,440 for a dive for 2 pax

we are aware that day trip diver package would cost P1450 for 2 dives per pax. dont you think it doesnt make sense to call it "at cost?" but still since we were there, we tried to compromise and we know that you need to earn a living as well; boat needs fuel, boatman and dm we definitely have to pay for services, tanks needs refills. all we asked for consideration is the bcd and regulator rental to be waived, since its always in stock and available (not unless there are really alot of divers at that moment), but despite all the disappointment we still have to rent.

it is our first time in anilao, and candice's first time in the philippines, we are sad that we had this bad experience. if there is any misunderstanding or miscommunication itis not between me and you, it is within the management. and in this business, any incidental errors should be taken into consideration and understanding. you dont expect the paying costumers to cover up what the management has disagreed upon. we came a long way, we dont bother paying a bit more, but the stiff treatment the management has given us made us stood to our principles.

balai resort is a nice place, despite the rough roads its worth a visit. the staffs are friendly and very hospitable. but i guess there is room for improvement in management.

jon

 

[Scuby Dooby]

Jon and all,

I don't know anyone personally at Balai but i have been diving from there and a few other resorts in the area lots of times. I think I can pinpoint a bit of why this confusion came up.

A vast majority of the resorts in Anilao don't own their boats (bancas) instead the boats are usually owned by 'locals' who are hired by the day. I imagine this is a concession to the locals who used to make most of their money fishing before the place became a weekend diving getaway 20 some odd years ago. The bankeros (boat owners) charge a set fee for particular dive sites, varying by how far away the site is from the resort and how many dives you do, etc. In my usual haunt, Aquaventure, you pay the resort for your room, drinks, tanks, rental gear etc. but you pay the boatmen and DMs their fees directly. The resort acts as an intermediary in this to make sure the prices are consistent but they don't actually take the money.

The reason I think this is important is that when some of the resorts post a price for a weekend package that includes x number of nights and x number of dives they are assuming that there is a full banca for each trip out. Whether the boat is full or not the bankeros will still charge the same amount of money. This is known and expected by those of us that dive in Anilao regularly and we realize that if the boat isn't full (6 divers) then the cost / diver goes up. This usually isn't a problem on the weekends because the whole Anilao area is basically a weekend getaway for manila divers and it is usually very easy to combine people on the weekend to fill a boat or at least get acceptably close.

It's a very different story midweek though. Not many people venture down to Anilao mon - fri and quite often there are no other divers to put on the boat. When I head down midweek I usually do so expecting that whatever group i'm with will have to assume the whole cost of the boat - even at a place like balai where they post all inclusive package prices for both lodging and diving. Since your email says that you were there on a thursday and friday i suspect this may be at the heart of your disagreement. I think that situations like this are probably one of the main reasons that Aquaventure assists you in hiring the boats but doesn't actually take the fees.

Now, personally, I wouldn't expect you to have known any of this coming from Singapore and diving there the first time. You probably should have had a better explanation if this was the cause for the price difference as I expect it may have been. I just wanted to let you know that I really don't think that the resort was trying to gouge you or rip you off in any way. Though it is confusing, it really is the normal way that diving charges are added up there.

It is much easier to pay a dive shop a set fee / dive like you probably did in Puerto Galera. On the other hand though, I usually manage to get the dive shops in PG to take $17 / dive (normally $20) but I'd have to say that my cost / dive in anilao averages out to something more like $9 / dive. For those prices i'm happy to live with the confusion!

I hope you manage to make it back to anilao at some point, it really is a special place and Balai is a top notch place to stay.