Philippine Day Tours

Philippine Hotels

Metro Manila

Luzon

Visayas

Mindanao

PUERTO GALERA

OVERVIEW
Puerto Galera features a reef system that is home to a remarkable assortment of ocean life. The variety of corals, anemones and underwater fauna is world-class.

The Pearl of Mindoro - is famous for its many excellent beaches, coral reefs and exquisite dive sites with something extraordinary to offer to both the experienced as well as first-time divers.

The marine life is wonderful with more than 3,000 species of fish and marine animals. In the waters you can see sharks, rays, moray eels, octopuses, and sea snakes, along with numerous different species of fish such as clownfish, groupers, surgeonfish, parrot fish, sweetlips, tuna etc. There are shallow coral reef gardens, easily accessible, and an excellent experience for snorkellers and underwater photographers.

Because of the tropical climate with average daytime temperatures of 27-33 degrees Celsius, diving is possible all year round.

Puerto Galera has some 30+ dive sites, and most of them can be reached by boat within 10-15 minutes. The great variety in dive sites make certain that divers with all levels of experience can have a magnificent and challenging underwater adventure.
 

RESORT PROPERTIES

DIVE SITES

Odie's Wall
After a blue water descent down to 25 m in the middle of nowhere, you will find yourself gazing at a rocky wall sloping down gently to about 42 m. The face of the wall is covered with numerous large gorgonian sea fans in colors from deep purple to bright orange. Numerous small holes and cracks along the wall are homes to thousands of bright turqoise red tooth triggerfish, only the fork shaped tails showing. Many different nudibranchs crawl along the wall, you will find mantis shrimps trying to hide from you and it’s very likely you come across giant frogfish sitting on one of the many sponges.

On top of the wall grow very large black coral trees, unseen on other locations in Puerto Galera, in which you will find hiding butterflyfish and hawkfish. Octopus and cuttlefish are also very common here, as are schools of moorish idols and razor fish and maybe emperor angelfish if you are lucky.

If the current is weak, you may finish the dive by slowly fin towards shore, swimming past a flat landscape with fire urchins, the occasional barrel sponge until you finally reach the shallower reefs. It’s a long swim though! This is an excellent dive on nitrox.

Manila Channel
The dive starts shallow in 5m, on a beautiful reef with an abundance of stony hard coral and schooling small fish - wherever you look there will be thousands of antheas, butterfly fish and sargent majors staring at you. The reef slopes off to a sandy bottom in about 18m and as you follow the contour of the reef, on a flood the current will help you drift into the channel. The divesite can also be done the opposite way on an ebbing tide.

You will be moving past a couple of small walls, covered in the famous “potato coral”, and the home to a few large groupers - very well camouflaged though! The walls are also full of large purple gorgonian sea fans and green tree corals. If you leave the walls and venture out in the channel, you will be rewarded with very large barrel sponges and long whip corals which often have commensal shrimps living on them if you look close. The sandy bottom is also home to an abundance of fire urchins and mushroom corals. Cuttlefish are often spotted here, even including the rare flamboyant variety, and lionfish and scorpionfish are guaranteed. There are also a couple of overhangs, where nudibranchs, mantis shrimp and often giant frogfish are found.

Coral Gardens
The name gives it away – a great dive for beginners and photographers, as well as for snorkelers, Coral Gardens is a beautiful divesite with large coral heads scattered on a white sandy bottom from the beach down to 10 meters. Between the coral heads, giant plate corals, staghorn corals and barrel sponges, you will find soft corals abundant with reef fish such as antheas, parrotfish, large schools of sargent majors, damsel fish butterfly fish and angel fish.

Look closer in the sand or under the outcroppings, and you will find gobies, lizard fish, shrimps, scorpionfish, juvenile lionfish and the occasional grouper. Check the tide table before you go, this can be a very easy dive – but also an exhilarating drift!

Batangas Channel
And excellent and shallow drift dive on the right tide. This dive site has many unusual sponge and coral formations, a strange lunar landscape of twisted shapes and undulating plains. You will see large sponges in all natures colors - as well as a few unnatural colors - whilst you drift past. Some rock formations, adorned with green tree corals and table corals will remind you of big mushrooms under which anything might hide.

The dive is best done on an ebbing tide, where you drop in shallow in the channel’s mouth and then drift gently along the shore towards the open ocean at a maximum of 15 m.

It’s a good place to fin unisual critters, look out for pipefish, nudibranchs and frogfish, as well as a big variety of small reef fish.

The Hill
The top of the hill lies in 5 m of water, covered with coral heads, sponges, large green tree corals and lush fields of soft coral. It then slopes down in all directions to a maximum of 15 m where a sandy bottom takes over scattered with hard coral and a proper treasure chest for finding unusual critters. The dive site is well protected between three islands, but the current can get quite strong on the wrong tide, so make sure to ask your dive master – or you might miss the dive site.

This is one of the dive sites where the shy but beautiful mandarin fish lives. They come out of their fire coral home around dusk to play, or if you’re lucky, to mate.

Blue ringed octopus and flamboyant cuttlefish have been sighted here, as well as giant cuttlefish and lots of moray eels. If you come here at dusk, you’re also likely to find shrimps, crabs and lots of brittle stars crawling over the reef.

Big LaLaguna
An easy dive site for the very beginners. The white sandy beach extends into the water and makes for a perfect place to start an easy dive. On each side of the beach, reef areas with both hard and soft corals follow along the sandy bottom, to make for a perfect first encounter with the reef. Teeming with reef fish such as antheas, parrot fish, surgeon fish, and the home of many species of anemonies with different kinds of anemone fish, the reef is mainly made up of staghorn or fire coral, as well as some table corals. This is also a good area to snorkel.

Look closely in the sand. Flounders, shrimps with their gobies, pufferfish, pipefish hiding in the grass, schools of juvenile cat fish and many other critters will not make you disappointed. If lucky, you may also come upon the wreck of a small speed boat in laying in 12 m of water.
 
more dive sites to be posted soon ...