sharkbait98
Registered
Puerto Galera April 2012
Flight:
We flew Cathay Pacific from Toronto to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Manila. The flight there and back was good. The food on the way there was much better than the food on the way back. I opted for the Lacto Ovo Vegy for the long hauls on the way and on the way back. We were given pretty good food on the way there, but on the way back we were given hot vegetables with a side of cold vegetables, no protien what so ever. So needless to say that I will not be doing any special meals ever again.
Booking:
I booked my diving, hotel, and transfers with Rick at Frontier Diving http://www.frontierscuba.com/ . He answered all my questions (no matter how trivial) promptly and accurately. He even arranged for me to have a kettle upon my arrival to my hotel room, but more on that later. Upon arrival we were quickly met by our driver at the place where Rick said he would be. We were loaded into an air conditioned van and transferred to the dock. The driver was polite and willing to stop for anything you may want to pick up on the way, like drinks for example. We got to the dock to transfer to Peurto Galera. The boat transfer was uneventful but was a safe and sturdy boat. We did have to pay a small peso port fee but it was minimal. We were dropped right in front of our hotel (Club Mubahay in Small La Laguna Beach) and the boat crew carried our luggage right to the front desk.
Weather:
HOT !
Hotel:
Club Mubahay Small La Laguna Beach is a small oasis. The pool was awesome, our rooms were great and the fridges and air conditioning were cold. The staff at the front desk were polite and helpful. I asked for a couple more towels and pillows and they were promptly supplied. The food at the restaurant isn't the greatest and next time I would not get the breakfast included as the 4 things on the menu got boring after a hile. We did stay there for dinner but the food was subpar. There is a little store right next door where you can purchase bottled water, candy, pop and beer.
Food:
Right next door to Club Mubahay is Blue Ribbon Divers. There restaurant and service was GREAT. It was so good that my group ate there for 8 nights straight. If something was wrong with your entree then they would fix it with a smile. One night the owner even sent us a complimentary desert. As far as lunches were concerned we usually walked down the ally by the dive shop and found a little deli (there are actually two, one is further away but had great buns and better selection) and purchased meat and cheese and would go back to our room and have a sandwich between our second and third dive. We also went to the Full Moon Club for happy hour and ate there. The food was ok and the value was good. We also walked over the hill to Big La Laguna beach and went to La Laguna Bar for happy hour where all the drinks are half price. Gin and Tonic was the same price as beer, 35PHP. Nice deal.
Diving:
Rick runs a good operation. The boats have cover and inboard motors. No head, but thats what the ocean is for. LOL. We did 35 dives (I had prebooked 37 but we all had a little health issue during our stay and Rick was very good at deducting the unused portion from our bill) and most of them were with Harry. He is great at spotting the critters in the muck and the cuttles on the reef. We would do a single tank, back to the dock to pick up more tanks and do our surface interval, then back on the boat for the second dive. We would come back to the dock and Harry was very accommodating to the time we would like to go out in the afternoon (usually 2pm), back to our room (which was about a 5 minute walk) for lunch and then back to the dive shop for the PM dive. There are plenty of places there to eat if you just wanted to stay at the dive shop but I am not a big restaurant food person so we chose to go back to the room. The dives were all pretty much 60 minutes unless we did a deep dive and then it was about 45 minutes. Harry was very good at starting the dive deep and slowly but surely bring you up into the shallows where you could enjoy the reef. We did muck dives and saw things like a hairy frogfish, mimic octopus, croc eel, snake eel, cockatoo waspfish, pegasus sea moths, flamboyant cuttlefish, and frogfish of all sizes. On the reefs we saw BIG cuttlefish, all kinds of butterfly, angel, sea snakes, puffer, clown, trigger (including titan), octopus, I could go on and on. Shark Cave does not have any sharks anymore. Too bad. Verde Island was offered but we weren't in the mood to deal with currents so the group opted out (also we weren't feeling the best and wanted to be close to the bathroom LOL). The coral at the top of the reef was spectacular. Hard and soft alike. Beautiful.
Puerto Galera:
Now it gets bad. Rick is a pillar in this place. He treats his employees well and has done, in the community, what he can to help this area. I would not suggest you take a family there as the sex trade is feverishly doing well. This was the first time in my diving vacations that by the third day I wanted to come home. Had nothing to do with the diving, accommodations or the locals. It was all the OLD European, North American, and Korean men with their extremely young "live-ins" that turned my stomach. It is such a shame because the diving here is fantastic. If you can overlook the way the people are being USED by the clients and some of the dive ops then go, but as said before, I strongly recommend not taking a family there.
I will not be going back there but as stated above, if you do go, Rick at Frontier Diving is the only contact you are going to need. He nicely wraps your transfers, diving and hotel accommodations into a one priced item that we payed on the day before we left. He even hooked us up with motorcycles for only 400 PHP for the day per bike (thats about 9.50 US) and all we had to do was fill the tank up upon return. We drove to Tamaraw falls and took a dip in the cooling pools. We then took a trip to White Beach which was crowded and had alot of venders all selling the same thing. We drove around a bit and then returned the scooters. It was a nice day out on the last day of our vacation. Make sure you wear lots of sunscreen and a hat when on the motorcycle and BRING water.
Manila:
We overnighted at Manila and stayed at the Copacabana. Check in was easy, the rooms were clean (we got a suite) and the fridge and air conditioning both were cold. Our room had a sitting/ kitchen area (dishes, pots and pans etc) and a bedroom area. We had a balcony that overlooked the pool. The pool was refreshing and clean. The restaurant was really not good. I ordered my meal (chicken breast bbq'd) and it came 20 minutes after everybody elses. When it did come it was a chicken leg and I don't like dark meat. They said they could cook me a breast and I told them to cancel the meal as I was too hungry to wait another 20 minutes so I went up to my room and made some soup! At night it is very very noisy even with ear plugs in. The street never shuts down. Traffic constantly beeping horns all night long. We did go for a bit of a walk to only find out that once again we were in the middle of a community that used the people. Not to mention that the streets smelled like urine. Manila is a pretty dirty city. The reason for choosing this hotel was the cost, and the location of the Mall of Asia. That was an interesting place to visit. I mean it's HUGE. On the way back to our hotel (we walked as it was only about 10 min) we were harrassed by some children begging for money. One even grabbed my bag I had in my hand and tried to get into it. We kept walking because if you handed anything to one I am sure you would be swarmed. It is too bad. We arranged transfer to the airport through the hotel. They told us 800PHP and upon getting into the van it was 900PHP. Too tired to argue we left Manila to come home.
Flight:
Upon our arrival at the airport we had to get into a line and pre-weigh our checked and carry on bags. They are militant with the weight of all your baggage. We had to move some stuff around but managed to meet the criteria. The plane trip was nothing special. As usual the plane was late leaving Hong Kong. Seems to happen no matter who you fly with in Hong Kong.Staff was curteous and were diligent with serving us. As I said before, our food sucked but the non vegy dishes looked appetizing.
Toronto:
We stayed at the Days Inn Toronto Airport on Wilson Ave. Tranfers to the airport and hotel were included in our park and fly package. Conroy was awesome with setting us up. Four people, one room, two queen beds, parking for two vehicles for 16 days was $196. This even included continental breakfast. Check in was a breeze and the rooms were clean. There is a pool but we were too tired to use it. I will be booking this hotel in Oct when I go to Palau for sure !
Sharkbait98
Flight:
We flew Cathay Pacific from Toronto to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Manila. The flight there and back was good. The food on the way there was much better than the food on the way back. I opted for the Lacto Ovo Vegy for the long hauls on the way and on the way back. We were given pretty good food on the way there, but on the way back we were given hot vegetables with a side of cold vegetables, no protien what so ever. So needless to say that I will not be doing any special meals ever again.
Booking:
I booked my diving, hotel, and transfers with Rick at Frontier Diving http://www.frontierscuba.com/ . He answered all my questions (no matter how trivial) promptly and accurately. He even arranged for me to have a kettle upon my arrival to my hotel room, but more on that later. Upon arrival we were quickly met by our driver at the place where Rick said he would be. We were loaded into an air conditioned van and transferred to the dock. The driver was polite and willing to stop for anything you may want to pick up on the way, like drinks for example. We got to the dock to transfer to Peurto Galera. The boat transfer was uneventful but was a safe and sturdy boat. We did have to pay a small peso port fee but it was minimal. We were dropped right in front of our hotel (Club Mubahay in Small La Laguna Beach) and the boat crew carried our luggage right to the front desk.
Weather:
HOT !
Hotel:
Club Mubahay Small La Laguna Beach is a small oasis. The pool was awesome, our rooms were great and the fridges and air conditioning were cold. The staff at the front desk were polite and helpful. I asked for a couple more towels and pillows and they were promptly supplied. The food at the restaurant isn't the greatest and next time I would not get the breakfast included as the 4 things on the menu got boring after a hile. We did stay there for dinner but the food was subpar. There is a little store right next door where you can purchase bottled water, candy, pop and beer.
Food:
Right next door to Club Mubahay is Blue Ribbon Divers. There restaurant and service was GREAT. It was so good that my group ate there for 8 nights straight. If something was wrong with your entree then they would fix it with a smile. One night the owner even sent us a complimentary desert. As far as lunches were concerned we usually walked down the ally by the dive shop and found a little deli (there are actually two, one is further away but had great buns and better selection) and purchased meat and cheese and would go back to our room and have a sandwich between our second and third dive. We also went to the Full Moon Club for happy hour and ate there. The food was ok and the value was good. We also walked over the hill to Big La Laguna beach and went to La Laguna Bar for happy hour where all the drinks are half price. Gin and Tonic was the same price as beer, 35PHP. Nice deal.
Diving:
Rick runs a good operation. The boats have cover and inboard motors. No head, but thats what the ocean is for. LOL. We did 35 dives (I had prebooked 37 but we all had a little health issue during our stay and Rick was very good at deducting the unused portion from our bill) and most of them were with Harry. He is great at spotting the critters in the muck and the cuttles on the reef. We would do a single tank, back to the dock to pick up more tanks and do our surface interval, then back on the boat for the second dive. We would come back to the dock and Harry was very accommodating to the time we would like to go out in the afternoon (usually 2pm), back to our room (which was about a 5 minute walk) for lunch and then back to the dive shop for the PM dive. There are plenty of places there to eat if you just wanted to stay at the dive shop but I am not a big restaurant food person so we chose to go back to the room. The dives were all pretty much 60 minutes unless we did a deep dive and then it was about 45 minutes. Harry was very good at starting the dive deep and slowly but surely bring you up into the shallows where you could enjoy the reef. We did muck dives and saw things like a hairy frogfish, mimic octopus, croc eel, snake eel, cockatoo waspfish, pegasus sea moths, flamboyant cuttlefish, and frogfish of all sizes. On the reefs we saw BIG cuttlefish, all kinds of butterfly, angel, sea snakes, puffer, clown, trigger (including titan), octopus, I could go on and on. Shark Cave does not have any sharks anymore. Too bad. Verde Island was offered but we weren't in the mood to deal with currents so the group opted out (also we weren't feeling the best and wanted to be close to the bathroom LOL). The coral at the top of the reef was spectacular. Hard and soft alike. Beautiful.
Puerto Galera:
Now it gets bad. Rick is a pillar in this place. He treats his employees well and has done, in the community, what he can to help this area. I would not suggest you take a family there as the sex trade is feverishly doing well. This was the first time in my diving vacations that by the third day I wanted to come home. Had nothing to do with the diving, accommodations or the locals. It was all the OLD European, North American, and Korean men with their extremely young "live-ins" that turned my stomach. It is such a shame because the diving here is fantastic. If you can overlook the way the people are being USED by the clients and some of the dive ops then go, but as said before, I strongly recommend not taking a family there.
I will not be going back there but as stated above, if you do go, Rick at Frontier Diving is the only contact you are going to need. He nicely wraps your transfers, diving and hotel accommodations into a one priced item that we payed on the day before we left. He even hooked us up with motorcycles for only 400 PHP for the day per bike (thats about 9.50 US) and all we had to do was fill the tank up upon return. We drove to Tamaraw falls and took a dip in the cooling pools. We then took a trip to White Beach which was crowded and had alot of venders all selling the same thing. We drove around a bit and then returned the scooters. It was a nice day out on the last day of our vacation. Make sure you wear lots of sunscreen and a hat when on the motorcycle and BRING water.
Manila:
We overnighted at Manila and stayed at the Copacabana. Check in was easy, the rooms were clean (we got a suite) and the fridge and air conditioning both were cold. Our room had a sitting/ kitchen area (dishes, pots and pans etc) and a bedroom area. We had a balcony that overlooked the pool. The pool was refreshing and clean. The restaurant was really not good. I ordered my meal (chicken breast bbq'd) and it came 20 minutes after everybody elses. When it did come it was a chicken leg and I don't like dark meat. They said they could cook me a breast and I told them to cancel the meal as I was too hungry to wait another 20 minutes so I went up to my room and made some soup! At night it is very very noisy even with ear plugs in. The street never shuts down. Traffic constantly beeping horns all night long. We did go for a bit of a walk to only find out that once again we were in the middle of a community that used the people. Not to mention that the streets smelled like urine. Manila is a pretty dirty city. The reason for choosing this hotel was the cost, and the location of the Mall of Asia. That was an interesting place to visit. I mean it's HUGE. On the way back to our hotel (we walked as it was only about 10 min) we were harrassed by some children begging for money. One even grabbed my bag I had in my hand and tried to get into it. We kept walking because if you handed anything to one I am sure you would be swarmed. It is too bad. We arranged transfer to the airport through the hotel. They told us 800PHP and upon getting into the van it was 900PHP. Too tired to argue we left Manila to come home.
Flight:
Upon our arrival at the airport we had to get into a line and pre-weigh our checked and carry on bags. They are militant with the weight of all your baggage. We had to move some stuff around but managed to meet the criteria. The plane trip was nothing special. As usual the plane was late leaving Hong Kong. Seems to happen no matter who you fly with in Hong Kong.Staff was curteous and were diligent with serving us. As I said before, our food sucked but the non vegy dishes looked appetizing.
Toronto:
We stayed at the Days Inn Toronto Airport on Wilson Ave. Tranfers to the airport and hotel were included in our park and fly package. Conroy was awesome with setting us up. Four people, one room, two queen beds, parking for two vehicles for 16 days was $196. This even included continental breakfast. Check in was a breeze and the rooms were clean. There is a pool but we were too tired to use it. I will be booking this hotel in Oct when I go to Palau for sure !
Sharkbait98
!
