Trip Report Puerto Galera, Edgewater, Apr 17 – 21 2025

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Background

I am a diver from Hong Kong and usually travels solo around southeast Asia for short dive trips (blessed by my home base’s proximity). I do photography a little (with a TG-7 and a light) and like critters, but lean more towards wide-angle coral/wall diving.



For this trip, I am traveling with my partner (based in the US) for a short Easter weekend holiday. I planned to dive with Asia Divers and stay in El Galleon, but booked too late and realized that they are booked out for Easter. I chose to stay in Edgewater Dive & Spa resort instead, as I have stayed there before by myself in 2022 and enjoyed the resort and attached dive shop. We booked a garden room and a 10-dives, with prepayment in full before the holiday starts.



We also indicated keen interest in Verde island, as it was absolutely mind-blowing when I last visited. The shop notified us that on top of the fun dive costs, the boat charter costs around 275 USD to be shared by all divers.



Getting there

Flight from Hong Kong to Manila is a breezy two hours, although with Cebu Pacific delays are frequent. We arrived in Manila late on April 17th and checked into the nearby Savoy hotel for the night. We are a bit short on time and want to squeeze in as much dive time as possible, hence we opted for a private transfer (van) to pick us up at 6:30am the next day morning (April 18th). The transfer was booked by the dive resort and cost us 5000 PHP one way: it is pricey, but sadly with limited vacation time ones want to be in the water ASAP.



The transfer from Manila to Batangas Ferry Terminal was smooth as morning traffic was relatively light. It took us less than 1.5hr to get to the ferry terminal. Arranged by the dive resort, we had booked a 9:45 Galerian Ferry to Balatero port (where Puerto Galera town is at); but having arrived quite early, we managed to get onto the 8am departure by changing our tickets at the ticketing counter of Galerian. We have to pay a terminal fee of 20 PHP per person before boarding the ferry.



The Galerian ferry was quite spacious and comfortable, albeit a little too cold with the AC blasting on full. We arrived into Balatero Port after 1.5hrs, paid our environmental fees (120 PHP per person), and hopped onto a tuk tuk heading to the resort.



Accommodation

Edgewater is located about half-way between the Balatero port and Sabang town, hence a shorter ride (15min). I quite enjoyed the location during my first visit as it was very tranquil and beautiful, but I did forget that those were still the pandemic years where getting around was virtually impossible and never leaving the resort was the default. This time around we did realize that staying in a relatively isolated location and a full diving schedule meant only in-resort dining and quite limited time if you want to get into town. Not to say that Sabang is worthy of multiple visits (it is not), but it would be nice to have the option to walk around.



Our room is spacious with a great view of the lovely garden and the many cats the resort keeps. Bed was very comfortable while water pressure perhaps can be a little stronger. The resort has two layers, with the top layer being the lobby, pool, and the restaurant and the lower layer being garden guest rooms, dive shop (separate shed) and the resort’s own little pier. The cost of accommodation is around 6200 PHP per night, including breakfast.



Food

Given the relatively remote location of Edgewater, we pretty much have to eat at their restaurant for all our meals. The food covers both western and Asian style dishes (think Thai, Filipino, Chinese, etc.) and does not taste bad at all. However, it does get a bit repetitive after two days… And the price is definitely high in local standards (a meal for two people ranges between 1500 PHP to higher if you go for items like steak/seafood). We did venture into Sabang town one night and ate at the Korean diner. Very cheap food but quite spicy if your heat tolerance is low.

 

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Dives

I had a great experience diving PG in June 2022, blessed by very good conditions (calm and great visibility) and pandemic crowds (I had the dive master, and the dive site, to myself most of the time). Sadly, neither were true this time around. It was still very good diving, just wasn’t as good as my last visit.

Having 2.5 days for diving, we pre-booked ten dives with the resort and indicated strong interest for Verde Island. The rate we paid is around 1975 PHP (or 35 USD) per dive, plus rentals for my partner. The general schedule is two dives in the morning, one dive in the afternoon and a night dive. Personally, I would have preferred two dives in the afternoon but alas. The shop uses small bankas to go to nearby sites (15-20min ride) and comes back in between dives to change tanks. During our stay, we have on average two to three groups of divers each day, with varying group size (2-4 people). Dive sites are spelled out on a whiteboard near the dive shed, with briefings being done there before every dive. Water temperature is around 27 degrees: my partner (who has high cold tolerance) wears swim shorts and a rash guard, while me, who get cold easily, wears a rash guard and a 3mm wetsuit.

On the day of arrival (Apr 18th), we squeezed in two dives in the afternoon. We went to Fantasea for the afternoon and did Giant Clams for the late/night dive. Visibility was poor as the water is quite green. We saw many critters (many nudibranchs, ornate ghost pipefish, conches, electric clams), scorpion fish, and a giant green turtle. I was a little disappointed at the visibility but my partner, her first time being in PG, was very excited about the abundant sea life.

We were also very excited that a Verde Island trip was going out the next day (Apr 19th) so we put our names down. The trip ended up having eight divers (maximum amount the boat can take I think), with four of us on Nitrox. We only opted for Nitrox on Verde island trips, which cost us around 408 PHP/7 USD per tank. Edgewater charters a larger boat for the Verde island trips, with a toilet onboard and a bin of fresh water for rinsing masks. No camera bin. The ride takes about 45min.

We were hoping for doing three dives in Verde island, but were told that only 2 can happen (perhaps due to scheduling or tides). The two dives though, first one on the drop-off side and the second one on the sloping side, absolutely blew our minds. Visibility was easily 40m plus, with probably still the healthiest reef I have ever seen. There is simply so much action on the wall that you don’t know where to look! The amount of nudibranchs, eels, sea snakes, lion fish, scorpion fish, peacock mantis shrimp, small critters (shrimps, crabs) are just eye-opening. The cloud of red-tooth triggerfish and the wave of red anthias on the reef, forming bands of color, are still my favorite sight in terms of diving in PG. We encountered very little to mild currents, which post no problems to us.

We had some snacks in between the two dives (i.e. a loaf of banana bread, a watermelon, boiled eggs shared among all divers and DMs) and some hot drinks (coffee and tea). I thought this was included in the boat charter cost (as was my last experience in 2022) and was very surprised when the final bill upon check-out charged us 11 USD per person for these snacks. No prior communication mentioned this comes at an extra cost, and we definitely did not request them as I personally won’t eat anything between dives to avoid bloating.

We arrived back to the resort at around 2pm and after a quick shower and shoving down lunch as quickly as possible, we headed back for our afternoon and night dive. The afternoon dive was at Sabang wreck, with a small wreck possible for a swim through (the wreck was filled with giant mantis shrimp!). Visibility again is very poor, but we did see quite a few things including many giant mantis shrimps, garden eel, cowfish and a few scorpion fish. The night dive, at Montani Bay, was stunning. A very relaxed sandy bottom dive with our eagle-eyed DM, with critters including banded coral shrimp, many hermit crabs, a few sea horses, many different kinds of lion fish, many nudibranchs, ornate ghost pipefish, and some crabs.

We had wanted to do Canyons for our last day of diving (Apr 20th), but opted to go to Verde island again as a) there’s a family of four going already and b) the diving is probably better there. I tried to ask the shop to go to Canyons in the afternoon, but they declined saying it can only be done in the morning. I was skeptical but again, I am not the expert in currents locally. However, by observing the diving schedule and dive sites they are going, I am seeing nearby sites being chosen more frequently, instead of the slightly farther away sites such as Ernie’s point, Dungon Wall or Canyons. I wonder whether the shop is keen on saving fuel (although the ride to farther away sites are not much longer) or we just happen to have more muck-loving divers during my stay.


The last day of diving is largely similar as we did Verde Island again. We did Nitrox again: the tanks were not analyzed by us, nor did I see the deckhands/DMs analyze them on the boat. Nitrox tanks are labeled, but I did not see an analyzer around and did not have a sheet for signing and documenting the mixes. No complaints for diving though: I could easily go to PG again and just dive Verde over and over.

Snack wise, not very happy. We were given sandwiches this time, which I could not eat due to my dietary restrictions and instead gave to my partner. And what did I find on the final bill? 25 USD charged per person for one egg and spam sandwich. We did not ask for those and definitely feel like this is a dishonest way of sliding extra charges in. We would have been fine with it if the total price of a Verde trip was communicated to us clearly, instead of being told the boat charter was such and such, and then realizing quite some hidden fees were added without us requesting the provided items.

Our afternoon dive was at the Hill, again very close by in the Batangas Channel. The visibility got even worse with a bit of surge at the shallows. Both my partner and I have to have the torch on to see where we are at. Corals are very healthy, again with plentiful critters (we saw something called an electric Pikachu!) including a small cuttlefish, many nudibranchs and two ornate ghost pipefish.

The night dive was at La Laguna Point, where we were told we could see the Mandarin fish. After experiencing a crowded but relatively orderly Mandarin fish dive in Malapascua, we thought we would try again. Boy was it a mistake!!! The Mandarin fish to divers ratio was probably 1 to 10, with many irresponsible divers stepping and crushing corals underneath them left and right. We did see probably one or two Mandarin fish (very pretty and super elusive creatures), but decided to leave the circus after a straight 15 minutes of being elbowed around and kicked in the face by some divers only focusing on getting their perfect shot. We ended up doing a night dive in the surrounding area, again seeing many nudibranchs, a zebra moray eel, a few hermit crabs, shrimp fish and a blue ring octopus. The photographers were still chasing those poor mandarin fish after we are done with our 60-min dive… Seriously, if you want to see the Mandarin fish and also not to destroy corals, don’t go.



Trip home

We checked out on Apr 21st morning, taking a tuk tuk and then again a Galerian ferry to Batangas. From there we were picked up by the pre-arranged transfer (5000 PHP again) and dropped off at the Manila airport for our 3:30pm flight to Hong Kong. Another 2 hours later we are home again.



Concluding thoughts

The owners of the resort are around often and are very friendly. The restaurant and the front desk staff are above and beyond in helping us with logistics and even with shipping some items that we left behind to us in Hong Kong. The dive guides are professional, friendly, and eagle-eyed.

I do have some doubts in terms of the “snack” charges for the Verde island trip (I am cheap this way as I do not like hidden charges), and why the shop seems to be reluctant in going to farther sites where I was hoping for better visibility. But overall, I would recommend Edgewater to someone who wants a holiday with a bit of diving and more resort/land-based activities, but not to people who just want to dive as the operation seems to be a little small. The location is also something to consider as you would really be at the resort full time.

Personally, if I go back to PG, I would definitely book early and go for Asia Divers next time.

 

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Will try to post a few pictures later