During my recent trip to the Philippines, I visited Puerto Galera in Mindoro Province. I stayed in Barangay Sabang during the visit. Barangay Sabang sits on a relatively heavily developed bay full of hotels, resaurants, and dive shops.
There were several narrow alleys full of street vendors and girls offering massages. While I understand this is all due to economics, nothing bugs me more than these "pesky" folks who latch on to every tourist that walks by.
Local transportation...
But, the biggest reason I came to Puerto Galera was to get my open water SCUBA certification at one of the Philippines' better dive locations. After shopping around the internet, I found the best deal at VIP Dive Resort. For $25 less than getting open water certified in Japan, I was able to get the course and 3 nights accomodation right behind the dive shop...cheap and convenient.
John Barrett was my instructor and the owner of VIP. I was lucky enought to get one-on-one instruction for the entire open water course. I found the course rather easy. I can see it taking significantly longer if I would have shared the course with other students. I'm very happy with my experience in the course.
This guy (can't recall his name) went on a couple of boat dives with us. I really enjoyed the scuba diving. On the first couple of dives, I was so focused on maneuvering in the water and controlling myself in the current that I missed alot of the scenery. But, once I got the hang of it and was able to relax, I was able to take more of it in. On my last dive, I got to spend 5 minutes about a yard from a rather large leatherback turtle. He was just sitting on the bottom munching on something...indifferent to the three divers staring at him.
Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of what I saw of Puerto Galera. Aside from the diving, I think I'd prefer to spend my time elsewhere. It was just a little too noisy and crowded for my tastes.
During my recent trip to the Philippines, I visited Puerto Galera in Mindoro Province. I stayed in Barangay Sabang during the visit. Barangay Sabang sits on a relatively heavily developed bay full of hotels, resaurants, and dive shops.
There were several narrow alleys full of street vendors and girls offering massages. While I understand this is all due to economics, nothing bugs me more than these "pesky" folks who latch on to every tourist that walks by.
Local transportation...
But, the biggest reason I came to Puerto Galera was to get my open water SCUBA certification at one of the Philippines' better dive locations. After shopping around the internet, I found the best deal at VIP Dive Resort. For $25 less than getting open water certified in Japan, I was able to get the course and 3 nights accomodation right behind the dive shop...cheap and convenient.
John Barrett was my instructor and the owner of VIP. I was lucky enought to get one-on-one instruction for the entire open water course. I found the course rather easy. I can see it taking significantly longer if I would have shared the course with other students. I'm very happy with my experience in the course.
This guy (can't recall his name) went on a couple of boat dives with us. I really enjoyed the scuba diving. On the first couple of dives, I was so focused on maneuvering in the water and controlling myself in the current that I missed alot of the scenery. But, once I got the hang of it and was able to relax, I was able to take more of it in. On my last dive, I got to spend 5 minutes about a yard from a rather large leatherback turtle. He was just sitting on the bottom munching on something...indifferent to the three divers staring at him.
Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of what I saw of Puerto Galera. Aside from the diving, I think I'd prefer to spend my time elsewhere. It was just a little too noisy and crowded for my tastes.
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