Puerto Galera

Scuba Diving in Puerto Galera

Puerto Galera Diving Highlights

Puerto Galera diving offers a wide variety of dive sites, accessible via a 5 or 10-minute boat ride. It is a hub of marine biodiversity, offering some of the best diving in the Philippines - including macro, critters and wide-angle. It is home to a variety of dive operators and dive resorts and hotels that are sure to suit the most discerning dive enthusiast and photographer.

Where is Puerto Galera?

Puerto Galera is located on Mindoro Island, accessible from Manila. It is a lively place above and below the water. Here's what Bluewater owner Scott Gietler has to say about Puerto Galera:

"Topside, Puerto Galera is a social place, with easily walkable restaurants, picturesque happy hours on piers overlooking the water, and small shops. Underwater, Puerto Galera offers diverse diving including great macro within a 10-minute boat ride and incredible wide-angle including nice corals and huge sea fans at nearby Verde Island. Also easy to combine with Anilao."

Puerto Galera liveaboards & dive resorts

Both options, dive resorts and liveaboard diving are available at Puerto Galera. Apart from Verde Island, most of the dive sites are within just a few minutes boat ride away from the shore. Thus, a dive resort is a popular option when diving in Puerto Galera and really trying to get the best out of the destination. The liveaboard option is more suitable if you want to explore a larger area than Puerto Galera. Most liveaboards include multiple islands in their itinerary.

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Diving Information

Puerto Galera Marine Life

Puerto Galera offers an abundance of marine life. Divers can find an incredible variety of tropical marine life, in every shape, color, and size. You can also expect to see a lot of beautiful hard & soft corals. The coral reef systems are full of reef fish, nudibranchs, moray eels, octopus, sea snakes, and many other marine animals. Excitingly, divers have been consistently sighting thresher sharks at certain dive sites such as Kilima Steps since 2020.

Here are some of the marine animals you are likely to see when scuba diving in Puerto Galera:

Turtles
Thresher Sharks
Lobsters
Lionfish
Trigger fish
Moray eels
Nudibranch
Sweetlips
Snappers
Barracuda
Trevally
Reef sharks

Thresher Sharks in Puerto Galera - courtesy of Asia Divers & Captain Gregg's.

Diving Conditions

Water Temperatures: Vary from a maximum 30+ C/86+f in summer to 25C/77f in winter. A skin or shorty wetsuit will suffice in the warmer months, but a 3 or 5ml full suit and a vest/hood is recommended for winter.
Visibility: Averages between 15-25 meters / 50-80 ft, sometimes offering up 30+m/100+ft in some locations.
Average Depth Range: 5 - 50m (16 - 164 ft)

Best Dive Sites in Puerto Galera

Puerto Galera's dive sites are as varied as the species you'll find there. There are walls, sloping reefs, and the occasional small wreck, muck diving sites, all only a very short boat ride away. Many of the dive sites rank right up there on the 'pretty' scale, offering excellent wide-angle scenery. Of course, no trip is complete without a two-dive trip to Verde Island. The Verde Islands dive sites are one of the richest in biodiversity, vibrant reefs, clear waters and abundant marine life that all make this a dream dive destination for underwater photographers. Large schools of big fish, monstrous sea fans, walls and stunning reefs are the rule here and warrant at least one 2-tank trip. Of course, the rest of the dive areas in Puerto Galera are lovely too and there's never a shortage of interesting things to see!

Here are some of the top dive sites in Puerto Galera:

1. The Wall - Located in Verde Island, the drop off features huge sponges, fans, and a mix of colorful soft and hard coral. You can spot manta rays, eagle rays, barracudas, schools of bigeye jack and tuna.

2. Manila Channel - It is a terrific muck diving site with a nice sandy bottom and some hard coral spots here and there. It also features two walls that are covered with sponges and a variety of corals. Lots of mantis shrimps, nudibranch, eels, and crabs like this dive site. With only a mild current and good visibility, the site is good for all levels of divers.

3. Boatyard - Another fantastic muck diving site! You can spot frogfish, seahorses, velvet ghost pipefish, cuttlefish, nudibranch, and many other macro critters.

4. Coral Cove - This dive site not to be missed as it is home to some very interesting species. Pygmy Seahorses and Ornate Ghost Pipefish are often spotted at the site. And if scuba divers have some luck, thresher sharks might even pass by! Plus, it is also a dive site suitable for all levels.

5. Monkey Beach - This shallow dive site makes all the marine life lovers want to come back again and again. Scuba divers can see a huge variety of marine species. The soft corals are surrounded with eels, turtles, feather stars, Christmas tree worms and countless others. It is also a nice drift dive site.

6. The Canyons - The adrenaline junkie's site of choice during times of strong currents, boasting a thrilling ride with rests in the bowls as you watch in amazement while schools of trevally, tuna, and sometimes barracuda hang effortlessly in the current.

7. The Alma Jane wreck - The dive site is a favorite among wreck enthusiasts, is easily accessible, and is home to several giant frogfish, big schools of batfish, and small tropicals.

8. Shark Cave - Like the name says it, you can expect to encounter beautiful sharks in an exciting cave. The main residents in the cave are the white tip sharks and also blue spotted stingrays. Moreover, around the corals and sponges, you can spot pufferfish, tiny reef fish, nudibranch and sweetlips.

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Travel Information

How to Get To Puerto Galera

To get there you can fly into Manila (MNL) followed by a taxi ride to Batangas Pier, which takes around 2 hours. From there you can take a ferry to Puerto Galera, which takes about an hour. See our article Getting from Manila to Puerto Galera via public transport. Most dive resorts offer transportation from and to the airport at a reasonable fee.

Most major international airlines have scheduled flights to Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL).

How to Dive Puerto Galera

There are dive resorts & dive centers available in Puerto Galera. Atlantis Dive Resort is a popular resort option in the area, You can also explore this area on a liveaboard that usually combines several islands.

Options for Combination Trips

Trips to Puerto Galera can most easily be combined with Anilao, just a short 1 hr boat ride away. Many other great destinations in the Visayas can be reached via short, relatively inexpensive flights from Manila. And remember that the Philippines offers much more than diving!

If you have the time, there's everything from the rice terraces of Banaue and Batad to the Chocolate Hills of Bohol, just to name a couple. Wherever you go in the Philippines, you can easily meet some friendly locals and experience the culture.

Best Time to Dive Puerto Galera

You can dive here all year round. Wet season generally starts in June, with showers popping up regularly in the afternoon/evening. July through September are wetter, then late October and November bring the beginning of drier weather. Typhoons are regular visitors to the Philippines during the wet season, so while visitors during this time might enjoy amazing weather, they must be prepared for whatever mother nature delivers.

Other Things to Do in Puerto Galera

Need a day off from diving? Most resorts will help arrange boat or jeepney transportation to any number of lovely nearby beaches. White Beach is buzzing with many bars and restaurants, while Aninuan and Talipanan are smaller and quieter.

No visit to Talipanan is complete without a lunch or dinner visit to Lucas for pizza. There are also tours to Taal volcano, Tamaraw falls, Tukuran falls and the Manyon villages. You can even enjoy 9 holes of golf at The Ponderosa, a course built into the side of the mountain, boasting some of the best views you'll find anywhere in the area. Hint: don't use your best balls, and take plenty of them!

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Liveaboard availability

The rates shown below are per person in USD. Some of the operators quote in other currencies and the pricing at the time of booking may vary depending on the latest exchange rates.

Please contact us for the availability of the following boats: MY Resolute and Infiniti Liveaboard

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Other Useful Information

Practical Information

Currency: Philippine Peso (PHP)
Electricity: The standard voltage is 220 V and the frequency is 60 Hz.
Vaccines: Please check the CDC website for updated information on vaccines, health concerns, etc. It is recommended that you are up to date with Typhoid, Tetanus/Diphtheria, Hepatitis and Polio for any trip to the tropics.
Visa: U.S. citizens may enter the Philippines for purposes of tourism without a visa if they present a valid U.S. passport and a return ticket to the United States or an onward ticket to another country. Upon your arrival, immigration authorities will stamp an entry visa valid for 30 days on your passport
Language: Filipino and English are the official languages in the Philippines

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GOT QUESTIONS? READY TO BOOK?

Call us today at 310-915-6677 or email us info@bluewaterdivetravel.com

And let us book your dream vacation!

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Region:

Philippines

Southeast Asia

Reviews (6)

Top Reviewer

sasdasdaf

11 Reviews

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Top-side

Puerto Galera is a good place for nice and easy diving at a slow pace. It is much more developed than Anilao, which is just 1 hour away by boat, and the value proposition is completely different. Anilao has better marine life and critter diving, but Puerto Galera has more resort choices, non-diving options, dining options, and nightlife. If you are looking for a laidback place to relax and dive at a leisurely pace, Puerto Galera is for you.

There are plenty of dive shops and accommodations in Puerto Galera so it is easy to customize your trip to be whatever you want it to be. I prefer to stay in the areas of Big La Laguna or Small La Laguna, which are quieter than being in Sabang town proper. That way, I get to enjoy peace and quiet, and I can head to Sabang for a meal or nightlife. I highly recommend Captain Gregg's in Sabang for a hearty meal.

Puerto Galera gets deep very quickly so all the dive sites are only minutes from shore by bangka boat. The Alma Jane is a nice metal wreck in about 30m of water and very close to shore. It is covered in marine life and several schools of fish make their homes there. For exciting dives with strong currents and big schools of fish, take the 1 hour boat ride to Verde Island. Marine life is a combination of general reef fish (sweetlips, snapper, barracuda, parrotfish, etc.) and strange macro critters (seahorses, octopi, crustaceans, etc.)

Visited on 04/2010 - Submitted on 08/24/2014

Top Reviewer

Nitroxjunkie

Fountain Valley, CA
United States

58 Reviews

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Top-side

I booked a package at a dive resort in Puerto Galera and arranged for my own transportation, including transfers. I chose to use a public transit bus from Manila to Batangas and the ferry to Puerto Galera. Dive resort staff met me at the ferry dock and led me across the beach to the resort. The town of Puerto Galera has a beautiful white sand beach backed by hotels, restaurants and bars. Although I spent a great deal of time at the resort, both diving and eating, I used off time to walk into town. During the day, people are enjoying the beach and eating at the beachside restaurants. There is a bustling nightlife after the sun goes down. The bars are loud and fun.

The diving at Puerto Galera is quite diverse. We did reef diving, wreck diving, and some “muck" diving looking for critters. We also did a trip to Verde Island. All of the diving was beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Bottom line: Puerto Galera is a warm, friendly place with a welcoming population, superior diving, and top-notch food. I loved my time spent here and would return again.

Visited on 02/2016 - Submitted on 02/21/2020

blibecap

9 Reviews

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Puerto Galera - Mindoro. This is a special place to dive. The marine life around the island is special and very special. A lot of small like 3inc and less specimens due to the local pollution of the waters. If you can get away to a outer island trip the reef and animals are much better and larger and in better shape, The flight over and back is about 24 hours each way so you should plan to stay for two or more weeks at a time.

Visited on 06/2006 - Submitted on 03/11/2021

st52wood

2 Reviews

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In Puerto Galera, specifically the resorts on La Laguna Bay and the town of Sabang, Happy Hour is in the late afternoon. The problem with Happy Hour is that participation in the festivities means that you, dear diver, are NOT doing the night dive. And if you are not doing the night dive in PG, you are missing out. The bars don't close immediately after Happy Hour, they continue to serve patrons even after the night dives are complete. The beer and mixed drinks are still cheap, just not 2-for-1 like during Happy Hour. But they taste so much better later ... since you have another PG night dive to talk about.

A dinky blue ring octopus dragging a mollusk back home for dinner, tiny octopus hiding in the sand, bobtail squid watching divers watch them. Ghost pipefish of all varieties out hunting. Mollusks, some small and some huge, motoring around the sand, looking for dinner. An assortment of pleurobranchs and nighttime nudibranchs and flatworms, some nudis imitating flatworms while some flatworms do their best to look like a nudibranch. Demon stingers and stargazers. A near-overload of critters to find and observe. And this wasn't even your best night dive at Puerto Galera! That was at The Hill, or maybe Sabang Bay, or the Boatyard, or it could have been on St. Cristopher wreck or Coral Cove. You can't remember .... because you've enjoyed every PG Happy Hour underwater.

PG diving is mostly muck and rubble and coral heads, but with a surprising number of beautiful reefs or small wrecks thrown in just to keep you guessing. You spent so much time at the bottom of Manila Channel, probing the coral rubble or looking over the tugboat wreck for dragonets and nudibranchs and frogfish, that your dive computer nearly shrieked out an alarm. You headed up the side of the channel to do a long safety stop, and found a stunning coral reef waiting for you. Wait a minute, I thought this dive was supposed to be in coral rubble! Ah, that was your "dive", this is your safety stop. Enjoy the crinoid with a squat lobster underneath, crinoid shrimp and clingfish inside, and an ornate ghost pipefish hiding in the fronds.

While in PG, don't miss an opportunity to dive on Verde Island. It's a journey, a long-ish 45 minutes in a speedboat out to Verde, but you'll realize why you're there within 5 minutes of getting in. Clear blue water, a gorgeous reef
covered with hundreds of types of coral and crinoids of every color, fish, fish, and more fish. Soak it in. And if you're
so inclined, stick your face down in the reef and find some nudibranchs that you haven't seen before, even in the muck back in PG.

Water temps at PG dive sites are in the low to mid 80s Fahrenheit (or 28 to 30 C), in April and in September. Air temps? It was in the upper 80s in the afternoons. Currents are generally mild, but you will whip around one corner at Verde Island, and The Canyons dive site will give you some big fish action due to the currents there, and diving Manila Channel at the wrong time will be a workout. Usually, you will be in little to no current, searching for every macro critter you can find. Getting to PG from Manila requires a 3 hour ride in a van to Batangas, and a one-hour boat ride to the island in mostly sheltered waters.

The resorts in Sabang/La Laguna Bay area have access to Sabang, which is a big enough town to have a large collection of shops and restaurants and markets and drinking establishments. So if you need some sort of uncommon battery for your dive computer, or to visit a cigar shop for a celebratory smoke, or you need some mangosteens for a snack, or get a 10 meter long banner made to alert everyone that your dive buddy's 50th birthday is today (Curt, ydw), you can get it in Sabang.

Diving in Puerto Galera has something for everyone. Some nice wide angle sites, some small wrecks, some pretty reefs. The most satisfied diver will be the one who wants to look for the small and strange, on a sandy, mucky, rubble-strewn, or seagrass-covered bottom, or in between the coral heads. Go slow, look around carefully, and maybe you'll be the next PG diver to have a blue ring octopus swim in over your left arm, flashing like crazy, and land on the coral head right in front of you .... to mate with the other blue ring octopus you didn't even notice was there.

Visited on 04/2013 - Submitted on 05/26/2014

xcetra

2 Reviews

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Top-side

Coming directly from one of the top "muck" dive areas in the world -- Anilao, I was pleasantly surprised by the diving around Puerto Galera (PG). I saw just as much interesting creatures in PG as I saw a week before in Anilao. I love muck diving and by far my favorite dive site around PG was "Giant Clams". For a muck site, it's relatively deep (18m) so our dives were limited to about 60 minutes. In just 8 dives, we still found lots of interesting animals -- two wonderpus octopi, mototi octopus, lots of nudibranchs, seahorses, stargazer, frogfish, hairy shrimp, skeleton shrimp, mantis shrimps, a couple flamboyant cuttlefish, and various scorpionfish. We saw all these mainly going to three dive sites -- Giant Clams, Boatyard, and La Laguna house reef.

General conditions were good. Water temperature 27C, 20m visibility. Most dive sites were 5-10 minutes away. You can go to dive site with no current or strong current (Channels).

Topside there's no shortage of restaurants and bars to go to in Sabang. It's a little too crowded in Sabang for my taste. Better to chill out in the nearby coves of Little La Laguna and Big La Laguna. Drinks at El Galleon on their pier was quite nice during sunset. The Point Bar there was also nice. Other topside activities include renting a buggy and driving off road or visiting other less touristy beaches.

Visited on 06/2014 - Submitted on 07/30/2014

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