Well, it only took 4.5 years, but I finally made my way back to the Philippines and it will not take that long for a return visit.
Since I had business to take care of in Los Angeles just before my planned trip, I opted to take the direct LAX to Manila flight on Philippine Airlines. It was a 1pm departure on Saturday the 28th of October and 15 hours later and with the time change, I arrived to the MNL airport on Sunday the 29th at 7pm. Immigration process was a breeze, and it took a solid 25 minutes for my checked bag to arrive. Seems like everyone on the plane must have checked four bags + boxes, etc.
I took a cab from Terminal 1 to my hotel for the night, which was the Sheraton across from Terminal 3. The Manila airport is so massive that the drive between those terminals took 20 minutes.
I got some food at the hotel restaurant and a good night of sleep, and I had a shuttle arranged to pick me up at 7am for what was a 1.5 hour drive down to Batangas where a high speed boat was waiting for me. 30 minutes across the channel and I was pulling right up to the El Galleon and Asia Divers pier at 9am. I was warmly greeted by Allison, who has been with El Galleon for 25 years.
Week 1: El Galleon/Asia Divers in Puerto Galera/Sabang
My plan was to spend week one staying and diving from El Galleon/Asia Divers. Week two would also be spent on the same reefs, but I would be relocating a couple blocks down the beach to the Atlantis resort and meeting up with 20 of my diving friends, who are mostly from Portland, OR, but also from CA, AZ and WA. Week three would see our group shuttle back to Manila and hop a domestic flight to Dumaguete where we would spend our time at the Atlantis resort in Dauin combining local muck/macro diving with a couple of days out at Apo Island for reef and wall diving.
I had such a great experience 4 years ago at El Galleon and Asia Divers that I wanted to get some more time there before my group arrived. It did not disappoint. The dive operation and dive guides are outstanding and engaging, the food at the restaurant is outstanding and the accommodations, while a bit spartan compared to Atlantis, are comfortable and much less expensive. I love that Asia Divers has its own pier, which makes getting into and off the boats a breeze.
As I did in 2019, I booked this first week through Bluewater Travel and once again, they were outstanding from start to finish. Communication always timely and they executed on everything. They have a wonderful relationship with the folks at El Galleon and the whole process was seamless. My week of unlimited diving with nitrox (up to 5 dives per day), accommodations in a poolside room and ground transportation between Manila and Puerto Galera came to $1,345 USD. $290 of that tab was for the ground transportation between my hotel, Batangas and then the high-speed boat to the resort. Normally, that price could be split up to 6 ways if you have a group that size. I was fortunate to find a fellow Scubaboard member that was looking to get to El Galleon the same day and time as me, so we were able to split the cost of the $290 (he reimbursed me for his half). So, my total net cost for the week was $1200.
I did not opt for the all-inclusive meal package and decided to just choose food off the menu, a la carte. This is a much more cost-effective choice for a vegetarian or vegan, as the entrees that include meats and seafood are significantly more expensive. The restaurant has a 2-page vegan menu that is outstanding quality, quantity and value. I was very content.
El Galleon has a very nice rooftop bar overlooking the ocean, with generous 2 for 1 happy hour cocktails on offer between 5:30pm and 6:30pm. It is a popular hangout for divers and dive staff each evening.
When it came time to check out at El Galleon and move down the beach to Atlantis, I settled up my tab for the week. 7 days of breakfast, lunch, dinner, a load of laundry, my bar tab where I did drink all but one evening and a couple of massages came to $270 US.
Week 2: Atlantis Resort in Puerto Galera/Sabang
Atlantis is a very different feel and vibe to El Galleon. It is much bigger, more corporate and yet they do a very good job of remembering each person’s name and going the extra mile to greet you each day warmly. The dive operation is a very well-oiled machine, and they do a great job of clearly setting expectations and timetables for the day. As with El Galleon/Asia Divers, dive boats are limited to no more than 6 divers + a dive guide. Unlike Asia Divers, we dived with the same group of people and the same dive guide all week. Given the size of the operation, I can see how this makes a lot of logistical sense. I do not think this was the practice just because of our group size. It seemed to be standard operating procedure, with the obvious exceptions of moving people around, as needed, if there were a number of people sitting out some afternoon or night dives.. in which case they would do some regrouping. 100 CF aluminum tanks are available at no extra charge at both Asia Divers and Atlantis. Most people opt for 80 CF though.
5 dives a day were on offer, including a night dive. We also did a 3-tank day out at Verde Island with a very nice lunch on the island itself between dives 2 and 3. Verde Island is a huge highlight and not to be missed if diving in Puerto Galera. The biodiversity is unmatched, the visibility more like the Caribbean and you just have a hard time deciding where to look.
We had very minimal currents and very relaxed dives (not usually the norm for Verde Island), where currents are to be expected.
Our group thought the food was good. The 3 vegans in the group were less pleased and I found myself wishing I was back eating at El Galleon and even though we were on a pre-paid all-inclusive package, we did end up going over to El Galleon and having lunch a couple of times.
Not much more to say about my time in Puerto Galera/Sabang other than I absolutely love the diving and all of the biodiversity. The reefs are healthy and colorful and full of life everywhere you look: Eels, flamboyant cuttlefish, frog fish, turtles, nudibranchs of all shapes, sizes and colors, schooling jacks and sweetlips, cockatoo wasp fish, scorpion leaf fish, seahorses, an occasional thresher shark, garden eels, ribbon eels, puffer fish, juvenile sweet lips, mantis shrimp, anemone fish, huge sea fans, rays and clams, including some electric clams. I also love the short 5-10 minute boat rides to the dive sites and doing surface intervals back at the resort instead of sitting on a boat for an hour.
Week3: Atlantis Resort Dumaguete/Dauin
The last week was spent at the Atlantis Resort in Dumaguete. Actually, the resort is in the small town of Dauin, which is about a 30-minute drive from the Dumaguete airport. After departing Puerto Galera, Atlantis got us on a high speed 30-minute boat ride back to Batangas and then got us on shuttles to the Manila Airport for our domestic flight from there to Dumaguete. The flight was 90 minutes.
Atlantis Dumaguete is situated on a very lush and tropical location right on the black sand beach waterfront with views out to Apo Island. The accommodations are wonderful and huge. The dive operation was on point and efficient and operated just like the sister op in Puerto Galera.
The restaurant and food were outstanding! I cannot say more about how much better an experience us vegans had here. The chef took great pride in his work and product and went above and beyond to accommodate us.
The diving here is very different from PG. It is nearly all muck/macro diving in black sand with a few coral heads and artificial reefs mixed in. You really need to appreciate that type of diving and many people live for it. We also had the opportunity to dive Apo Island, which is much more akin to Verde Island and Puerto Galera. Colorful reefs, steep and sloping walls and lots of color and biodiversity. Many in our group prefer the reefs to the muck, so we banded together and paid an extra fee to go back out to Apo Island for an additional 3 tank trip. The first time out there for the entire group was part of our package. It is about a 45-minute sail on a large comfortable Bangka boat, and we did all 3 dives from the boat and had a long surface interval lunch also on the boat.
On our last full day before departure, we were shuttled to Dumaguete and then boarded a 45-minute ferry over to the island of Cebu. Then another short shuttle ride to the town of Oslob where we spent an hour snorkeling with Whale Sharks that are resident there. These are medium sized whale sharks, and they are fed by local fishermen. It was a bit chaotic with so many people in the water at the same time, but it was a controlled chaos. We had a nice lunch afterward on shore and then made our way back to Dumaguete and the resort.
I very much enjoyed my week here and the diving at Apo Island is quite good, but I do not see myself coming back to Dumaguete. Puerto Galera ticks all of the boxes for me and I also want to go explore some other parts of the Philippines in the future.
Mantis Shrimp with eggs
Since I had business to take care of in Los Angeles just before my planned trip, I opted to take the direct LAX to Manila flight on Philippine Airlines. It was a 1pm departure on Saturday the 28th of October and 15 hours later and with the time change, I arrived to the MNL airport on Sunday the 29th at 7pm. Immigration process was a breeze, and it took a solid 25 minutes for my checked bag to arrive. Seems like everyone on the plane must have checked four bags + boxes, etc.
I took a cab from Terminal 1 to my hotel for the night, which was the Sheraton across from Terminal 3. The Manila airport is so massive that the drive between those terminals took 20 minutes.
I got some food at the hotel restaurant and a good night of sleep, and I had a shuttle arranged to pick me up at 7am for what was a 1.5 hour drive down to Batangas where a high speed boat was waiting for me. 30 minutes across the channel and I was pulling right up to the El Galleon and Asia Divers pier at 9am. I was warmly greeted by Allison, who has been with El Galleon for 25 years.
Week 1: El Galleon/Asia Divers in Puerto Galera/Sabang
My plan was to spend week one staying and diving from El Galleon/Asia Divers. Week two would also be spent on the same reefs, but I would be relocating a couple blocks down the beach to the Atlantis resort and meeting up with 20 of my diving friends, who are mostly from Portland, OR, but also from CA, AZ and WA. Week three would see our group shuttle back to Manila and hop a domestic flight to Dumaguete where we would spend our time at the Atlantis resort in Dauin combining local muck/macro diving with a couple of days out at Apo Island for reef and wall diving.
I had such a great experience 4 years ago at El Galleon and Asia Divers that I wanted to get some more time there before my group arrived. It did not disappoint. The dive operation and dive guides are outstanding and engaging, the food at the restaurant is outstanding and the accommodations, while a bit spartan compared to Atlantis, are comfortable and much less expensive. I love that Asia Divers has its own pier, which makes getting into and off the boats a breeze.
As I did in 2019, I booked this first week through Bluewater Travel and once again, they were outstanding from start to finish. Communication always timely and they executed on everything. They have a wonderful relationship with the folks at El Galleon and the whole process was seamless. My week of unlimited diving with nitrox (up to 5 dives per day), accommodations in a poolside room and ground transportation between Manila and Puerto Galera came to $1,345 USD. $290 of that tab was for the ground transportation between my hotel, Batangas and then the high-speed boat to the resort. Normally, that price could be split up to 6 ways if you have a group that size. I was fortunate to find a fellow Scubaboard member that was looking to get to El Galleon the same day and time as me, so we were able to split the cost of the $290 (he reimbursed me for his half). So, my total net cost for the week was $1200.
I did not opt for the all-inclusive meal package and decided to just choose food off the menu, a la carte. This is a much more cost-effective choice for a vegetarian or vegan, as the entrees that include meats and seafood are significantly more expensive. The restaurant has a 2-page vegan menu that is outstanding quality, quantity and value. I was very content.
El Galleon has a very nice rooftop bar overlooking the ocean, with generous 2 for 1 happy hour cocktails on offer between 5:30pm and 6:30pm. It is a popular hangout for divers and dive staff each evening.
When it came time to check out at El Galleon and move down the beach to Atlantis, I settled up my tab for the week. 7 days of breakfast, lunch, dinner, a load of laundry, my bar tab where I did drink all but one evening and a couple of massages came to $270 US.
Week 2: Atlantis Resort in Puerto Galera/Sabang
Atlantis is a very different feel and vibe to El Galleon. It is much bigger, more corporate and yet they do a very good job of remembering each person’s name and going the extra mile to greet you each day warmly. The dive operation is a very well-oiled machine, and they do a great job of clearly setting expectations and timetables for the day. As with El Galleon/Asia Divers, dive boats are limited to no more than 6 divers + a dive guide. Unlike Asia Divers, we dived with the same group of people and the same dive guide all week. Given the size of the operation, I can see how this makes a lot of logistical sense. I do not think this was the practice just because of our group size. It seemed to be standard operating procedure, with the obvious exceptions of moving people around, as needed, if there were a number of people sitting out some afternoon or night dives.. in which case they would do some regrouping. 100 CF aluminum tanks are available at no extra charge at both Asia Divers and Atlantis. Most people opt for 80 CF though.
5 dives a day were on offer, including a night dive. We also did a 3-tank day out at Verde Island with a very nice lunch on the island itself between dives 2 and 3. Verde Island is a huge highlight and not to be missed if diving in Puerto Galera. The biodiversity is unmatched, the visibility more like the Caribbean and you just have a hard time deciding where to look.
We had very minimal currents and very relaxed dives (not usually the norm for Verde Island), where currents are to be expected.
Our group thought the food was good. The 3 vegans in the group were less pleased and I found myself wishing I was back eating at El Galleon and even though we were on a pre-paid all-inclusive package, we did end up going over to El Galleon and having lunch a couple of times.
Not much more to say about my time in Puerto Galera/Sabang other than I absolutely love the diving and all of the biodiversity. The reefs are healthy and colorful and full of life everywhere you look: Eels, flamboyant cuttlefish, frog fish, turtles, nudibranchs of all shapes, sizes and colors, schooling jacks and sweetlips, cockatoo wasp fish, scorpion leaf fish, seahorses, an occasional thresher shark, garden eels, ribbon eels, puffer fish, juvenile sweet lips, mantis shrimp, anemone fish, huge sea fans, rays and clams, including some electric clams. I also love the short 5-10 minute boat rides to the dive sites and doing surface intervals back at the resort instead of sitting on a boat for an hour.
Week3: Atlantis Resort Dumaguete/Dauin
The last week was spent at the Atlantis Resort in Dumaguete. Actually, the resort is in the small town of Dauin, which is about a 30-minute drive from the Dumaguete airport. After departing Puerto Galera, Atlantis got us on a high speed 30-minute boat ride back to Batangas and then got us on shuttles to the Manila Airport for our domestic flight from there to Dumaguete. The flight was 90 minutes.
Atlantis Dumaguete is situated on a very lush and tropical location right on the black sand beach waterfront with views out to Apo Island. The accommodations are wonderful and huge. The dive operation was on point and efficient and operated just like the sister op in Puerto Galera.
The restaurant and food were outstanding! I cannot say more about how much better an experience us vegans had here. The chef took great pride in his work and product and went above and beyond to accommodate us.
The diving here is very different from PG. It is nearly all muck/macro diving in black sand with a few coral heads and artificial reefs mixed in. You really need to appreciate that type of diving and many people live for it. We also had the opportunity to dive Apo Island, which is much more akin to Verde Island and Puerto Galera. Colorful reefs, steep and sloping walls and lots of color and biodiversity. Many in our group prefer the reefs to the muck, so we banded together and paid an extra fee to go back out to Apo Island for an additional 3 tank trip. The first time out there for the entire group was part of our package. It is about a 45-minute sail on a large comfortable Bangka boat, and we did all 3 dives from the boat and had a long surface interval lunch also on the boat.
On our last full day before departure, we were shuttled to Dumaguete and then boarded a 45-minute ferry over to the island of Cebu. Then another short shuttle ride to the town of Oslob where we spent an hour snorkeling with Whale Sharks that are resident there. These are medium sized whale sharks, and they are fed by local fishermen. It was a bit chaotic with so many people in the water at the same time, but it was a controlled chaos. We had a nice lunch afterward on shore and then made our way back to Dumaguete and the resort.
I very much enjoyed my week here and the diving at Apo Island is quite good, but I do not see myself coming back to Dumaguete. Puerto Galera ticks all of the boxes for me and I also want to go explore some other parts of the Philippines in the future.
Mantis Shrimp with eggs
