Am looking for a recommendation on whether to go to Moalboal or Puerto Galera in February. Would like to do 4 dives a day and am not interested in photography. Recommendations on dive shops/hotels would also be appreciated, as well as comments on the shore environment in both places. Thanks
Moalboal or Puerto Galera
- Thread starter HRW
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I haven't been there myself but a good friend of mine has and I know he preferred Puerto Galera
Julie
Julie
SeaFlea
Contributor
I've been to PG twice but never Moalboal. I dove with Asia Divers and stayed at El Galleon. The diving is easy, fast and VERY reasonably priced. PG has a small nightlife scene and some decent restaurants. I plan to visit again next year. I can give you some more info if you want it.
Scuby Dooby
Guest
Hi HRW,
I was in Moalboal for the first time this past July Ive been to Puerto Galera 5 or 6 times over the last 3 years so think I have a pretty good feel for it.
I wasnt so impressed with the diving in Moalboal, though I admit I was diving there during the low season. We spent 3 days diving and probably did about 10 12 dives, my biggest surprise was the lack of fish. The dives themselves were very beautiful lots of pretty walls that dropped straight down into the deep, beautiful gorgonian fans (Im a big fan of them, cant get enough) and more black coral than I have seen in any one place, as I recall, any dive over about 20 meters had loads of the stuff.
As the banca came to a stop on our first dive on pescador island we saw a group of about 20 30 banceros fishing about 20 meters from where we dropped in. I should have taken this as an omen. Over the course of the next 3 days it was kind of like diving a ghost town, there just werent many (any?) fish in sight. I do most of my diving in the Philippines, Im there about every month and Ive never had a single dive with as little life as any of the more than 10 dives we did in Moalboal. Maybe we were there at the wrong time of year, had bad luck, bad dive guides, etc. but I have to wonder. The dive shop we used there was Savedra, seems to be one of the bigger shops and I have no complaints about the shop, DMs, etc. The owner / manager was a nice guy and even gave us some great tips on places to stay on the cheap in Cebu.
Moalboal is a nice place to stay though, very chilled out and a lot smaller and quieter than Puerto Galera, which isnt very big and busy itself. It was a nice change of pace, check out Pacitas nipa huts as a place to stay if you go there. Because it is so small you end up eating, drinking, etc. with lots of the locals a nice change from places like boracay, cebu, bohol, etc.
As far as the diving goes though, Id have to choose Puerto Galera I think the diving on the whole is better, there are certainly a hell of a lot more fish around! As a place to stay Id have to recommend the Terraces (or maybe called the Steps & Gardens now). It is very reasonably priced ($10 $15), clean, great views, nice staff, convenient, etc. You can pay a lot more and stay in fancier places for sure but I tend to be a bit cheap when traveling in the Phils, I think this is one of the better deals around. Any search here or elsewhere on the net will get you loads of info on dive shops in PG. Ones I can recommend personally, Frontier divers (also have a picture of the Terraces on their website I think), Atlantis (big, well organized, do lots of tec training) and South Seas Divers (nice guys, fun place to hang out between dives).
Good luck and enjoy your trip wherever you decide to go!
Joe
I was in Moalboal for the first time this past July Ive been to Puerto Galera 5 or 6 times over the last 3 years so think I have a pretty good feel for it.
I wasnt so impressed with the diving in Moalboal, though I admit I was diving there during the low season. We spent 3 days diving and probably did about 10 12 dives, my biggest surprise was the lack of fish. The dives themselves were very beautiful lots of pretty walls that dropped straight down into the deep, beautiful gorgonian fans (Im a big fan of them, cant get enough) and more black coral than I have seen in any one place, as I recall, any dive over about 20 meters had loads of the stuff.
As the banca came to a stop on our first dive on pescador island we saw a group of about 20 30 banceros fishing about 20 meters from where we dropped in. I should have taken this as an omen. Over the course of the next 3 days it was kind of like diving a ghost town, there just werent many (any?) fish in sight. I do most of my diving in the Philippines, Im there about every month and Ive never had a single dive with as little life as any of the more than 10 dives we did in Moalboal. Maybe we were there at the wrong time of year, had bad luck, bad dive guides, etc. but I have to wonder. The dive shop we used there was Savedra, seems to be one of the bigger shops and I have no complaints about the shop, DMs, etc. The owner / manager was a nice guy and even gave us some great tips on places to stay on the cheap in Cebu.
Moalboal is a nice place to stay though, very chilled out and a lot smaller and quieter than Puerto Galera, which isnt very big and busy itself. It was a nice change of pace, check out Pacitas nipa huts as a place to stay if you go there. Because it is so small you end up eating, drinking, etc. with lots of the locals a nice change from places like boracay, cebu, bohol, etc.
As far as the diving goes though, Id have to choose Puerto Galera I think the diving on the whole is better, there are certainly a hell of a lot more fish around! As a place to stay Id have to recommend the Terraces (or maybe called the Steps & Gardens now). It is very reasonably priced ($10 $15), clean, great views, nice staff, convenient, etc. You can pay a lot more and stay in fancier places for sure but I tend to be a bit cheap when traveling in the Phils, I think this is one of the better deals around. Any search here or elsewhere on the net will get you loads of info on dive shops in PG. Ones I can recommend personally, Frontier divers (also have a picture of the Terraces on their website I think), Atlantis (big, well organized, do lots of tec training) and South Seas Divers (nice guys, fun place to hang out between dives).
Good luck and enjoy your trip wherever you decide to go!
Joe
Scuby Dooby
Guest
nt
Hi HRW,
There's not a lot I can add since SeaFlea and Scuby Dooby hit the proverbial nail on the head, but I feel the need to add my two cents.
I've spent a lot of time in PG and it is a far superior site above and below the water compared to Moalboal. I've visited Moalboal once and thought it was as lifeless above the water as under it.
All the dive shops mentioned so far in this thread for PG are of a high standard. I do most of my diving at Asia Divers (did my DM and IDC there as well) and they run a very profeesional, safety conscious show. The guys that run Atlantis and Frontier started out at AD, and they run equally good shops.
The Terraces Scuby Dooby mentioned are located well, because they are in the center of the action of Sabang Beach, but located up the hill so they are quiter and get a breeze.
El Galleon that SeaFlea mentioned is also good and should you want to take your laptop and do a bit of work (heaven forbid) they have WiFi cards and a wirless LAN available.
Enjoy your trip. If you happen to be there during Chinese New Year and you see a large, bald whale floating around the Canyons its probably me!
Drew
There's not a lot I can add since SeaFlea and Scuby Dooby hit the proverbial nail on the head, but I feel the need to add my two cents.
I've spent a lot of time in PG and it is a far superior site above and below the water compared to Moalboal. I've visited Moalboal once and thought it was as lifeless above the water as under it.
All the dive shops mentioned so far in this thread for PG are of a high standard. I do most of my diving at Asia Divers (did my DM and IDC there as well) and they run a very profeesional, safety conscious show. The guys that run Atlantis and Frontier started out at AD, and they run equally good shops.
The Terraces Scuby Dooby mentioned are located well, because they are in the center of the action of Sabang Beach, but located up the hill so they are quiter and get a breeze.
El Galleon that SeaFlea mentioned is also good and should you want to take your laptop and do a bit of work (heaven forbid) they have WiFi cards and a wirless LAN available.
Enjoy your trip. If you happen to be there during Chinese New Year and you see a large, bald whale floating around the Canyons its probably me!
Drew
Hi
Nothing new to add really except another recommendation for PG over Moalboal. Moalboal is nice but you couldnt do 4 dives a day there for long before you started doing repeats. It's basically Pescador Island and the rest is dive safari stuff. PG is very pleasant ;great dives (many different sites) some very good restaurants (try "the Bistro" above Action Divers) cheap accommodations ,great dive operators and some nightlife if that's important to you. PG can also be as quiet as you want if solitude is what you want. They're both very pleasant but many more choices in PG. It's also much easier to get to. Just a bus and a boat and three hours later you're there. Anyway enjoy
Nothing new to add really except another recommendation for PG over Moalboal. Moalboal is nice but you couldnt do 4 dives a day there for long before you started doing repeats. It's basically Pescador Island and the rest is dive safari stuff. PG is very pleasant ;great dives (many different sites) some very good restaurants (try "the Bistro" above Action Divers) cheap accommodations ,great dive operators and some nightlife if that's important to you. PG can also be as quiet as you want if solitude is what you want. They're both very pleasant but many more choices in PG. It's also much easier to get to. Just a bus and a boat and three hours later you're there. Anyway enjoy
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I just spent two weeks in PI, one in Subic for wreck diving and one in Puerto Galera for mostly underwater photography and some instruction.
I suggest you check Johan's Wreck Diving in Subic for info there. There are upwards of 30 known wrecks in the Subic Bay waters, and probably many more waiting to be discovered.
http://www.subicdive.com/default.php
In PG go to Sabang directly, not to Puerto Galera. All the diving is centered there, and if you go to PG you have to take a jeepney or another banca boat to Sabang anyway. I stayed at Sabang Inn, a smaller place with excellent rooms, diving and instruction (Sabang Divers). You can do as many as 5 dives a day, including a night dive, but I would not recommend doing more than 2-3, you just get too tired after a few days and it's not fun. I did 17 dives in 5 days, and speak from experience. The team at Sabang Divers is very well organized, and ready to dive well ahead of the departure time, unlike some places, and if you want to dive they will be ready. Most of the diving is within a 10 minute boat ride, much of it within 5 minutes. Plenty of fish, snakes, turtles, colorful nudibranchs, seahorses and coral to dazzle you for weeks. I took over 400 UW photos there. They have a website where you can make reservations there, and it's inexpensive too, compared to US diving. Try these sites:
http://www.sabang-inn.com/
http://www.philippineshotelresort.com/puertogalera/index.html
Attached is a view halfway through "Hole in the Wall", a fun cave to pass through there.
I suggest you check Johan's Wreck Diving in Subic for info there. There are upwards of 30 known wrecks in the Subic Bay waters, and probably many more waiting to be discovered.
http://www.subicdive.com/default.php
In PG go to Sabang directly, not to Puerto Galera. All the diving is centered there, and if you go to PG you have to take a jeepney or another banca boat to Sabang anyway. I stayed at Sabang Inn, a smaller place with excellent rooms, diving and instruction (Sabang Divers). You can do as many as 5 dives a day, including a night dive, but I would not recommend doing more than 2-3, you just get too tired after a few days and it's not fun. I did 17 dives in 5 days, and speak from experience. The team at Sabang Divers is very well organized, and ready to dive well ahead of the departure time, unlike some places, and if you want to dive they will be ready. Most of the diving is within a 10 minute boat ride, much of it within 5 minutes. Plenty of fish, snakes, turtles, colorful nudibranchs, seahorses and coral to dazzle you for weeks. I took over 400 UW photos there. They have a website where you can make reservations there, and it's inexpensive too, compared to US diving. Try these sites:
http://www.sabang-inn.com/
http://www.philippineshotelresort.com/puertogalera/index.html
Attached is a view halfway through "Hole in the Wall", a fun cave to pass through there.
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