Trip Report Trip Report-Philippines-Puerto Galera-El Galleon/Asia Divers-April 1-14, 2019

[Cochise86]

Just finished reading your dive experience. Enjoyed from beginning to end! Well done and your effort and discipline is appreciated from divers like us. Thanks!

 

[chiggins]

Great report! I enjoyed reading this. Thanks for taking the time to share. I have not been to PG yet, but hope to make a trip there someday and combine with Anilao.

I realized I haven't posted on my Lembeh trip in March yet. I think on my next trip I should try posting throughout instead of waiting until after.

 

[miserkris]

By the way.... all of the Filipino food I had in PG was EXCELLENT.... especially at El Galleon and next door at I think now called Blue Lagoon.
Fresh, flavorful, delicious, and unique. I was so impressed.

PS: I live between SF and NY and used to live in Bangkok and Tokyo and know good food!!! It was actually really wonderful!!! I tried the whole local menu at Galleon.

Looks like this would be my next destination for sure. I could eat local food like i did in cozumel.... plus some great diving seeing macro life daily.

Update:
Just read about food costs outside the galleon:
"To date, we have gone a la carte and had 12 meals each and a couple of desserts (lunch and dinners) and our food tally is $178 total for the two of us. So, roughly $7.50 per meal".
So like cozumel, i had big meals in cozumel for $6 us.

I guess its safe to eat out as long as you eat hot food.... and bottled water.

Did you try any halo halo ( traditional Filipino dessert) ?!

 

[Centrals]

Bhutan was amazing, but a lot of work and expense to get to.
East Timor-- didn't happen and I forgot to separate it as an independent country (my bad!) I lumped it together with the rest of Indonesia-- so, officially 3 countries not visited and probably won't get to.

Also I haven't been to Macau- just for the record. And, I was in Hong Kong when it was British, so not sure if I have really been to Hong Kong?, but I do remember crossing the border into Canton from Hong Kong back in 1985.

My favorite Asian country is Burma or Myanmar (depending on your timeframe and perspective) -- fortunately, I was privileged to visit both of them and it will always be Burma to me..

Could not justify the cost of going to Bhutan. Have been to Sikkim and Tibet with very similar culture but unfortunately they are both under foreign occupation.
HK is not the same nowadays as compare with 1985. There is nothing in Macau except VICE.
It is also always Burma to me. Interesting place but under lousy Gov. My only visit was in 1993.

 

[dflaher]

Hey Trailboss - I'm way late to this party but glad I stumbled across your excellent report. Thanks for the energy and effort to provide such great info. The dive setup seems almost like a liveaboard -- 4ish dives/day, short boat rides to the sites, and non-boat surface intervals on shore -- and now I have another dive vacation on my bucket list!

Have a few questions for you regarding the trip:
1) It seems like Nitrox would be pretty much required, given the depths and repetitive diving per day. Would you agree?
2) You mention currents at some of the sites. Does the boat moor/anchor or drift along with you? Are SMBs deployed at depth?
3) Are the entries backroll or giant stride?
4) I'm a very warm water diver. Based on your water temps of 78-80 in April, do you feel that summer would be an OK time to go? We live in the Phoenix area and love to get outta here in the summer.
5) My wife is not as avid a diver as I, so loved the idea that she could get massages in the afternoon while I dive. Did you experience any other activities (either at the resort or off-resort) that we could participate in?

Thanks again.

 

[Centrals]

(5) There is a small 9 holes golf course up in the mountain!

 

[dlofting]

Looks like this would be my next destination for sure. I could eat local food like i did in cozumel.... plus some great diving seeing macro life daily.

Update:
Just read about food costs outside the galleon:
"To date, we have gone a la carte and had 12 meals each and a couple of dessertspoonful (lunch and dinners) and our food tally is $178 total for the two of us. So, roughly $7.50 per meal".
So like cozumel, i had big meals in cozumel for $6 us.

I guess its safe to eat out as long as you eat hot food.... and bottled water.

Did you try any halo halo ( traditional Filipino dessert) ?!

We eat anywhere and anything offered in a restaurant in Sabang, as well as anything but fresh fish or meat from a store and that primarily because we don't have the facilities to store or prepare it. Drink bottled water from stores or filtered water from restaurants.

 

[Trailboss123]

Hey Trailboss - I'm way late to this party but glad I stumbled across your excellent report. Thanks for the energy and effort to provide such great info. The dive setup seems almost like a liveaboard -- 4ish dives/day, short boat rides to the sites, and non-boat surface intervals on shore -- and now I have another dive vacation on my bucket list!

Have a few questions for you regarding the trip:
1) It seems like Nitrox would be pretty much required, given the depths and repetitive diving per day. Would you agree?
2) You mention currents at some of the sites. Does the boat moor/anchor or drift along with you? Are SMBs deployed at depth?
3) Are the entries backroll or giant stride?
4) I'm a very warm water diver. Based on your water temps of 78-80 in April, do you feel that summer would be an OK time to go? We live in the Phoenix area and love to get outta here in the summer.
5) My wife is not as avid a diver as I, so loved the idea that she could get massages in the afternoon while I dive. Did you experience any other activities (either at the resort or off-resort) that we could participate in?

Thanks again.

Excellent questions! Here are my responses:

1) It seems like Nitrox would be pretty much required, given the depths and repetitive diving per day. Would you agree?
Totally agree, just a wise and smart choice. Very few dives that run a risk of exceeding you maximum operating depth.
2) You mention currents at some of the sites. Does the boat moor/anchor or drift along with you? Are SMBs deployed at depth?
Boat drifts with you and will pick you up. The Divemaster will deploy the surface maker buoy at depth and you can follow it up. If you are the low person on the totem pole, just signal the DM that you are low on air and need to go up for your safety stop and he or she will shoot the DMSB for you. If you prefer to shoot your own, that is fine also. Just have a conversation ahead of time with the DM and let him/her know.
3) Are the entries backroll or giant stride?
Backroll always
4) I'm a very warm water diver. Based on your water temps of 78-80 in April, do you feel that summer would be an OK time to go? We live in the Phoenix area and love to get outta here in the summer.
Best time for visibilty and water temps seem to be April, May and June-- October also is good. Our water temps were much closer to 80 than 78.
5) My wife is not as avid a diver as I, so loved the idea that she could get massages in the afternoon while I dive. Did you experience any other activities (either at the resort or off-resort) that we could participate in?
There are a number of options. We pretty much dive exclusively, so I didn't do a ton of research into it. But the info is out there for you to research it on the El Galleon/Asia Divers website and also on Trip Advisor- just to name a few.

 

[miserkris]

Trailboss,
Just read the response. I don't intend to take nitrox certification. I have 70 dives.

I'm padi OW air.

Will i still be ok going to galleon? Maybe I'll tell DM ahead and ensure i don't spend too much at deep...

When you went there, were there other "air" divers? Tia....

 

[Centrals]

Air diver and Nitrox diver would be diving in separated group.

Nitrox is a good and useful course.