About Me. This was my fourth location in a multi-country, two-month dive trip. I’m a solo traveler with 700+ dives, and this is an independently planned trip with the help of Bluewater Travel for dive and stay package pricing. My first three weeks were spent in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, and I wrote trip reports for those stays. My stay and dive package at El Galleon (EG) in Puerto Galera was for 10 nights in a poolside room, breakfast-only for meals, five dives per day, and free nitrox. As this was my first time to the Philippines, I booked 10 nights to get an immersive experience of the diving here.
Trip Report - Raja Ampat-Cove Eco-February 2025
Trip Report - Raja Ampat Dive Lodge-March 2025
Trip Report - White Manta Liveaboard-March 10-17, 2025
My trip reports tend to be very detailed. This part of the world is complicated to travel to and through, so I hope that sharing my experience may help others. Please feel free to ask questions.
Getting There. Leaving Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 17th, I routed through Taipei to reach Manila on Singapore Airlines. Using frequent flyer miles, I traveled in business class. The check-in counter was very strict about my slightly overweight carryon (by Singapore standards, not U.S. standards). The allowance was 15 kilograms. I grabbed a couple of things and put it in my backpack. A hassle, but what are you going to do about the senseless shuffling of the same amount of weight to a different carryon.
An entry form into the Philippines is required through this website: eTravel
I used Welcome Pickups for a private transfer from the Manila airport to the hotel at a cost of $25 USD. It was worth it for me not to have to navigate a taxi or Grab, and they provide a meet-and-greet outside of customs to carry your luggage.
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Galleria in Manila about 20 minutes from the airport for two nights to allow for lost luggage, more jet lag, and other delays. It’s attached to a mall, which makes it easy to find restaurants. There’s also a grocery store inside the mall. I had no interest in sightseeing in Manila, so I just relaxed after three weeks of intense diving in Indonesia.
Getting to Puerto Galera island requires a car transfer for about two hours followed by a fast ferry transfer of about 30 minutes. Bluewater made the arrangements, but there was some miscommunication with the resort about the pricing and the scheduling. They were very slow to respond (3 days or more) to my agent’s emails. The final pickup details were not given to me until two days before arrival. I attempted to book this on my own, but there is very little information on the internet about getting car transfers and ferries for someone who has never done it, so I had to rely on my agent and the resort. Early on, I asked for the name of the transfer company, but El Galleon wanted to keep this secret. As a trip planner who books arrangements way in advance, this was frustrating.
In the end, I got a very good driver that I highly recommend. Now that I’ve got his name, he gave me permission to share it. His name is Bon Bryan Padua. The company he was driving for was Lingon Transport Services. The price was 4500 Php, about $78 USD. He also drives customers privately with his own car. He can be reached on WhatsApp, 63 917 534 2582. Cash only, no credit cards.
The coordination of the ferry is still a bit of a mystery to me because of the lack of detail information, but I was put on a fast ferry for a 30-minute ride from Batangas to Sabang that departed from the private ferry port in Batangas instead of the chaotic public ferry port, which worked out great. I had read lots of negative things about the public ferry port.
Money. My Schwab debit card number was stolen from an airport ATM in Jakarta, so I had no ability to get cash at the Manila airport. It wasn’t a big deal since I could use my credit cards to pay for things, right? Nope. The Philippines is a cash economy. Not a big deal for this location because everything I needed was on site.
El Galleon. I was in a poolside room, which is on level, flat ground. With a bad knee, hills and stairs are a no-go for me, and from the looks of the property, the “ocean view” rooms have a lot of steep stairs unevenly spaced apart. The room was very small and would be quite cramped if you had to share it with someone who’s not your partner/friend. The A/C worked very well and there was plenty of hot water for showering. There are two nightstands on either side of the double bed and a rectangular table and chair near the wall as a workspace. The closet is a very deep, walk-in style with lots of shelves. There were termites munching on the window frames, so I needed to make sure my personal items were away from the walls. The staff and the housekeepers were all very friendly.
Cameras. There is a camera room, but it has really old plugs and power strips, so I wouldn’t trust plugging my gear into anything. It’s also very dirty and dusty, not what you want in a camera room. Given the design of the boats, there was no camera bucket. They place your camera on the floor of the boat. There are two camera rinse tanks at the shop. They don’t change the water every day, so after a few days there was green algae growing in the tanks. Since the staff weren’t paying attention, I finally asked them to clean and fill it.
Wifi. Free and very slow wifi is available throughout the resort, including your room. There is a cell tower literally on a hill above EG, but my cell service got poor reception. I did not buy a local SIM card and was relying on my T-Mobile service, which has free data and texting in 200 countries, including the Philippines.
The Food and Service. The food portions were of good size, and based on some previous SB comments, I elected to get the breakfast-only package and eat other meals a la carte. They had two separate menu books, one for the all-inclusive customers and one for the pay-as-you-go customers. There was definitely more variety on the pay-as-you-go menu. With the breakfast-only package, they do not give you free refills on coffee. A bit chintzy, IMO. Service was a bit slow at times. The food handling practices were unsanitary. The cooks would cough into their hands and continue working in the kitchen without washing. A few guests, myself included, got food poisoning or norovirus or some other stomach ailment. Commercially purified water is provided from 5-gallon jugs, so there is clean drinking water. Happy hour is from 5-6 p.m. daily with watered-down 2-for-1 drinks.
The Weather and Dive Conditions. This was a bummer. I was hoping for good weather, lots of sunshine, great visibility and blue water to dive in. Instead, it was overcast and windy with brief periods of sun the entire 10 days of my stay. Rain showers would blow in briefly. The visibility was terrible (10 feet between me and the guide), and the water was green. Only on a couple of dives was the visibility marginally better than other days, but it was never good. With up to five dives per day available, after the first few days, I only took two morning dives and the night dive. There were a lot of dive sites to go to, but due to the repetition of the same sites and the poor visibility, my enthusiasm for diving had waned quite a bit. On day five, I was feeling some regret about booking for ten days .
The Dive Staff and Operation of Asia Divers. The primary reason for choosing EG was the fact that they are the only operator on the island with a pier, so no shore entry to climb into the boat from the water’s edge. At least, that was true when I booked a year and a half ago. Perhaps other dive shops have piers now. There are two outdoor showers and tanks for rinsing gear. There is a large area of racks for hanging wet gear outside.
The dive staff were all friendly, informative, helpful, and efficient. I have no complaints. They set up all your gear at the shop and load it onto the boat. There’s a white board at the shop where you can see who’s in your group, the dive guide’s name, and the dive site. The sites were not chosen until the evening before. There is no shop manager. Instead, they operate on a collaborative system whereby the guides would make decisions together. So, no one is in charge of the dive operations.
To be continued....
Trip Report - Raja Ampat-Cove Eco-February 2025
Trip Report - Raja Ampat Dive Lodge-March 2025
Trip Report - White Manta Liveaboard-March 10-17, 2025
My trip reports tend to be very detailed. This part of the world is complicated to travel to and through, so I hope that sharing my experience may help others. Please feel free to ask questions.
Getting There. Leaving Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 17th, I routed through Taipei to reach Manila on Singapore Airlines. Using frequent flyer miles, I traveled in business class. The check-in counter was very strict about my slightly overweight carryon (by Singapore standards, not U.S. standards). The allowance was 15 kilograms. I grabbed a couple of things and put it in my backpack. A hassle, but what are you going to do about the senseless shuffling of the same amount of weight to a different carryon.
An entry form into the Philippines is required through this website: eTravel
I used Welcome Pickups for a private transfer from the Manila airport to the hotel at a cost of $25 USD. It was worth it for me not to have to navigate a taxi or Grab, and they provide a meet-and-greet outside of customs to carry your luggage.
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Galleria in Manila about 20 minutes from the airport for two nights to allow for lost luggage, more jet lag, and other delays. It’s attached to a mall, which makes it easy to find restaurants. There’s also a grocery store inside the mall. I had no interest in sightseeing in Manila, so I just relaxed after three weeks of intense diving in Indonesia.
Getting to Puerto Galera island requires a car transfer for about two hours followed by a fast ferry transfer of about 30 minutes. Bluewater made the arrangements, but there was some miscommunication with the resort about the pricing and the scheduling. They were very slow to respond (3 days or more) to my agent’s emails. The final pickup details were not given to me until two days before arrival. I attempted to book this on my own, but there is very little information on the internet about getting car transfers and ferries for someone who has never done it, so I had to rely on my agent and the resort. Early on, I asked for the name of the transfer company, but El Galleon wanted to keep this secret. As a trip planner who books arrangements way in advance, this was frustrating.
In the end, I got a very good driver that I highly recommend. Now that I’ve got his name, he gave me permission to share it. His name is Bon Bryan Padua. The company he was driving for was Lingon Transport Services. The price was 4500 Php, about $78 USD. He also drives customers privately with his own car. He can be reached on WhatsApp, 63 917 534 2582. Cash only, no credit cards.
The coordination of the ferry is still a bit of a mystery to me because of the lack of detail information, but I was put on a fast ferry for a 30-minute ride from Batangas to Sabang that departed from the private ferry port in Batangas instead of the chaotic public ferry port, which worked out great. I had read lots of negative things about the public ferry port.
Money. My Schwab debit card number was stolen from an airport ATM in Jakarta, so I had no ability to get cash at the Manila airport. It wasn’t a big deal since I could use my credit cards to pay for things, right? Nope. The Philippines is a cash economy. Not a big deal for this location because everything I needed was on site.
El Galleon. I was in a poolside room, which is on level, flat ground. With a bad knee, hills and stairs are a no-go for me, and from the looks of the property, the “ocean view” rooms have a lot of steep stairs unevenly spaced apart. The room was very small and would be quite cramped if you had to share it with someone who’s not your partner/friend. The A/C worked very well and there was plenty of hot water for showering. There are two nightstands on either side of the double bed and a rectangular table and chair near the wall as a workspace. The closet is a very deep, walk-in style with lots of shelves. There were termites munching on the window frames, so I needed to make sure my personal items were away from the walls. The staff and the housekeepers were all very friendly.
Cameras. There is a camera room, but it has really old plugs and power strips, so I wouldn’t trust plugging my gear into anything. It’s also very dirty and dusty, not what you want in a camera room. Given the design of the boats, there was no camera bucket. They place your camera on the floor of the boat. There are two camera rinse tanks at the shop. They don’t change the water every day, so after a few days there was green algae growing in the tanks. Since the staff weren’t paying attention, I finally asked them to clean and fill it.
Wifi. Free and very slow wifi is available throughout the resort, including your room. There is a cell tower literally on a hill above EG, but my cell service got poor reception. I did not buy a local SIM card and was relying on my T-Mobile service, which has free data and texting in 200 countries, including the Philippines.
The Food and Service. The food portions were of good size, and based on some previous SB comments, I elected to get the breakfast-only package and eat other meals a la carte. They had two separate menu books, one for the all-inclusive customers and one for the pay-as-you-go customers. There was definitely more variety on the pay-as-you-go menu. With the breakfast-only package, they do not give you free refills on coffee. A bit chintzy, IMO. Service was a bit slow at times. The food handling practices were unsanitary. The cooks would cough into their hands and continue working in the kitchen without washing. A few guests, myself included, got food poisoning or norovirus or some other stomach ailment. Commercially purified water is provided from 5-gallon jugs, so there is clean drinking water. Happy hour is from 5-6 p.m. daily with watered-down 2-for-1 drinks.
The Weather and Dive Conditions. This was a bummer. I was hoping for good weather, lots of sunshine, great visibility and blue water to dive in. Instead, it was overcast and windy with brief periods of sun the entire 10 days of my stay. Rain showers would blow in briefly. The visibility was terrible (10 feet between me and the guide), and the water was green. Only on a couple of dives was the visibility marginally better than other days, but it was never good. With up to five dives per day available, after the first few days, I only took two morning dives and the night dive. There were a lot of dive sites to go to, but due to the repetition of the same sites and the poor visibility, my enthusiasm for diving had waned quite a bit. On day five, I was feeling some regret about booking for ten days .
The Dive Staff and Operation of Asia Divers. The primary reason for choosing EG was the fact that they are the only operator on the island with a pier, so no shore entry to climb into the boat from the water’s edge. At least, that was true when I booked a year and a half ago. Perhaps other dive shops have piers now. There are two outdoor showers and tanks for rinsing gear. There is a large area of racks for hanging wet gear outside.
The dive staff were all friendly, informative, helpful, and efficient. I have no complaints. They set up all your gear at the shop and load it onto the boat. There’s a white board at the shop where you can see who’s in your group, the dive guide’s name, and the dive site. The sites were not chosen until the evening before. There is no shop manager. Instead, they operate on a collaborative system whereby the guides would make decisions together. So, no one is in charge of the dive operations.
To be continued....
