Trip Report Trip Report-Philippines-Puerto Galera-El Galleon/Asia Divers-April 1-14, 2019
- Thread starter Trailboss123
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OP
Made it to El Galleon about 2.5 hours ago. Total travel time from Seattle to the resort was exactly 24.5 hours.
12 hours to Taiwan, 4 hour layover, 3 hours to Manila. 1.5 hours in Manila airport (getting off plane, immigration, baggage and locating our driver)
2 hours and 45 minute drive from Airport to Batangas City and the boat and lastly 1 hour 15 minutes on a Bangka boat (not a high speed boat) right to the resort.
Resort welcome and check in was pleasant, informative and quick. We unpacked, went down to the dive shop to get things sorted for 4 boat dives tomorrow, had dinner (Excellent Thai Green Curry with an assortment of veggies and rice for $4) - I took a dip in the pool (perfect temp), my wife is getting a 1 hour massage upstairs for $14 and we will be crashing hard here within the next hour or so. Time is 7:45pm here on April 3rd. We both actually feel better than we thought we would given the amount of travel and transfers. Should be raring to go tomorrow.
I will give more detailed impressions on the hotel room and other things resort related + the first day dive report about 24 hours from now.
12 hours to Taiwan, 4 hour layover, 3 hours to Manila. 1.5 hours in Manila airport (getting off plane, immigration, baggage and locating our driver)
2 hours and 45 minute drive from Airport to Batangas City and the boat and lastly 1 hour 15 minutes on a Bangka boat (not a high speed boat) right to the resort.
Resort welcome and check in was pleasant, informative and quick. We unpacked, went down to the dive shop to get things sorted for 4 boat dives tomorrow, had dinner (Excellent Thai Green Curry with an assortment of veggies and rice for $4) - I took a dip in the pool (perfect temp), my wife is getting a 1 hour massage upstairs for $14 and we will be crashing hard here within the next hour or so. Time is 7:45pm here on April 3rd. We both actually feel better than we thought we would given the amount of travel and transfers. Should be raring to go tomorrow.
I will give more detailed impressions on the hotel room and other things resort related + the first day dive report about 24 hours from now.
iamrushman
Contributor
this is very cool...it's like your taking us with you...enjoy your vacation.
OP
First full day of diving is in the books. Did 4 dives. All within 5-10 minutes from the resort. The routine is to return to the resort for surface intervals between dives, which is real convenient. Dive 1 is 8am, Dive 2 is 10:30am, Dive 3 is 1:30pm, Dive 4 is 4pm and the optional night dive is at 6:30pm. Visibility is what I would call 30 feet and milky. Water temp 80 degrees. Highlight was dive 2 on a site called Sinandagan Wall. I have never seen such biodiversity of corals and fish. I had a hard time knowing where to look. Life everywhere. Current was minimal on all dives, but none of the dives are moored. DM chooses direction to go and boat follows and picks up where we surface. Boats are Filipino Bangkas. I will get a photo soon. Easy back roll into the water. Getting back on the boat can be sporty if the wind kicks up and you get some swells, which we did on 2 of the 4 dives.
A couple of items on the resort that I haven't mentioned yet. There is WIFI throughout, but it is definitely better in some parts of the resort and in some rooms. Our room isn't one of the better spots, but I make do. The restaurant and food is outstanding with lots of variety. The executive chef has over 30 years of experience all of the world and is from Scotland originally, but spent most of his formative years in Australia. If I had it to do over again, I would have gone with the AI option, instead of just breakfast. Nevertheless, we are just ordering off of the same menu and paying the a la carte prices and so far, for 2 dinners and 1 lunch, we are averaging $5 per person per meal. You could definitely spend more- we eat predominantly vegetarian, so that does lower the cost. I love the location of our room, just up from the pool. I chose it, because I didn't want to get one of the sea view rooms which require about 50-73 stairs to get to. They are nicer and larger, but also more expensive and then the hike multiple times per day. Our room is small, in my opinion. It could use more storage space, a larger bathroom and all of the outlets are very low to the floor and poorly placed near furniture, making them difficult to access. The outlets and voltage here differ from the US and require adapters- given the amount of things we plug in like laptops, phones, dive cameras and lighting, this is a bit of a hassle and inconvenience.
The staff at the resort and the dive op couldn't be more pleasant and after only a day, most of them know us by name. Speaking of the dive op, it is not would most of us would consider true valet. Overall, I feel very positive about the operation and their safety consciousness so far. The weaknesses are that we have had to really take the initiative to ask questions and find out how everything works and operates. It would have been nice on the first day to get some sort of orientation to daily routine and processes-- we just piece-mealed it all together by asking staff and other divers and by the end of the day, we eventually got it all sorted and now will be to go for the next 10 days. Another weakness for those who want a true valet experience, is that it isn't one. We are OK with it, but many might not be. Once your last dive of the day is done, the only thing you leave on the boat is your BC and the tank you used. You carry everything else off (including weights). There are rinse tanks and a shower for cleaning and then you store everything in your assigned oversized milk crate for the night. They will wash and care for your BC and have it ready to go the next morning. They know which BC belongs to who, as they have a numbered tag on them that corresponds to your numbered and named crate. There is plenty of space for hanging wetsuits. OK- That's it for now. Here are 2 pics. Hopefully they load since I am in my room with the inferior WIFI connection.
A couple of items on the resort that I haven't mentioned yet. There is WIFI throughout, but it is definitely better in some parts of the resort and in some rooms. Our room isn't one of the better spots, but I make do. The restaurant and food is outstanding with lots of variety. The executive chef has over 30 years of experience all of the world and is from Scotland originally, but spent most of his formative years in Australia. If I had it to do over again, I would have gone with the AI option, instead of just breakfast. Nevertheless, we are just ordering off of the same menu and paying the a la carte prices and so far, for 2 dinners and 1 lunch, we are averaging $5 per person per meal. You could definitely spend more- we eat predominantly vegetarian, so that does lower the cost. I love the location of our room, just up from the pool. I chose it, because I didn't want to get one of the sea view rooms which require about 50-73 stairs to get to. They are nicer and larger, but also more expensive and then the hike multiple times per day. Our room is small, in my opinion. It could use more storage space, a larger bathroom and all of the outlets are very low to the floor and poorly placed near furniture, making them difficult to access. The outlets and voltage here differ from the US and require adapters- given the amount of things we plug in like laptops, phones, dive cameras and lighting, this is a bit of a hassle and inconvenience.
The staff at the resort and the dive op couldn't be more pleasant and after only a day, most of them know us by name. Speaking of the dive op, it is not would most of us would consider true valet. Overall, I feel very positive about the operation and their safety consciousness so far. The weaknesses are that we have had to really take the initiative to ask questions and find out how everything works and operates. It would have been nice on the first day to get some sort of orientation to daily routine and processes-- we just piece-mealed it all together by asking staff and other divers and by the end of the day, we eventually got it all sorted and now will be to go for the next 10 days. Another weakness for those who want a true valet experience, is that it isn't one. We are OK with it, but many might not be. Once your last dive of the day is done, the only thing you leave on the boat is your BC and the tank you used. You carry everything else off (including weights). There are rinse tanks and a shower for cleaning and then you store everything in your assigned oversized milk crate for the night. They will wash and care for your BC and have it ready to go the next morning. They know which BC belongs to who, as they have a numbered tag on them that corresponds to your numbered and named crate. There is plenty of space for hanging wetsuits. OK- That's it for now. Here are 2 pics. Hopefully they load since I am in my room with the inferior WIFI connection.
OP
and a spiny seahorse:
CDMac
Contributor
NOTE TO SELF - Bring a power strip on vacations so you can plug in once and have 6/8/10 outlets at your disposal at any given time. Maybe adds 1 to 1.5 pounds to luggage (throw out the underwear).
Beautiful pic, @Trailboss123 - thanks for sharing all this info
OP
Yeah-- I did and and as soon as I plugged it in, it blew-- we are making do and it has been a definite lesson learned. Before next rtip, I will buy one of these and wish I had for this trip: https://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-Unive...sprefix=Power+Adap,aps,399&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1
OP
Another nudibranch from yesterday
OP
dlofting
Contributor
Are the outlets in your room European standard or do they accept NA plugs as well ? Does the power go out quite often at your resort. It did at Steps and Garden but they have a standby generator.
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