Resort Diving

Best Scuba Diving Puerto Galera Philippines

Puerto Galera Coral Reef Philippines Scuba Diving — Puerto Galera Coral Reef

Updated November 20, 2022

Are you looking for your dream dive vacation? This is the ninth in a series of reviews of the best dive resort locations worldwide. In this post, the focus will be on Puerto Galera in Mindoro, Philippines.

In addition to this series on dive resort locations, the best worldwide liveaboard dive locations and services are reviewed in their own series. To check them out, or others in this series, click on Liveaboards / Resorts on the menu at the top and choose a title from the list.

Have you ever been diving in Puerto Galera before? If so, I’d love to know about your experience. What dive shop or liveaboard did you use? Which dive spots are the best and what are the conditions there regarding the visibility, current, water temperature, sealife attractions, etc.? Please post your response in the comments section at the bottom and we’ll all learn something we can use.

Scuba Diving Puerto Galera Philippines

My Story

Back in 1992, I found myself sitting in the second-floor window of Captain Gregg’s Bar and Restaurant on Del Pilar Street in Ermita (Manila) shooting the bull with my old Hong Kong friend, John Amos, who now has passed. I had just spent six years in Taibei, Shanghai and Hong Kong exporting goods to America and Europe and decided it was time for a big change. The PADI open water course I took in Hong Kong gave me a chance to get out of the factories, offices, and smoky conference rooms and back to my more physical side, enabling me to embrace nature a bit. Sitting with John, there, we talked about where to go to continue my diver education up to instructor level, as I had decided that would be the focus of my new life. He was an old hand in the Philippines, but had only done a little bit of diving and couldn’t offer much advice.

What really sparked my decision to make this move was a trip a few months earlier to Boracay. What struck me there, aside from the natural beauty onshore and underwater when freediving, was that it was ripe with opportunities in dive instructing, had very friendly people, and would be a great place to live.

While sitting on my stool with John for a couple of hours, I noticed the curly blonde-haired guy who sat inches away from me back to back. I took several opportunities to take a look at him more carefully and finally struck up a conversation, realizing that he was Larry Wolfe, one of my best friends from the swim team in college. Not only was it a huge coincidence that he was there, but I’m amazed that it took so long to recognize him. He was an international development worker with an outfit called “The Plan.” It was great to renew our friendship and to find out that he was part of the diving scene in the Philippines. Sitting in Captain Gregg’s there Larry said why not go to Puerto Galera, where the bar had one of the founding dive shops. Previously he had been based in Calapan and made trips to his small branch office in Puerto Galera weekly for a period of years. He indicated that the diving was excellent and the lifestyle the instructors had was satisfying if Spartan.

With that, I moved to Puerto and found out that what Larry said was true. I did all the rest of my coursework there up through PADI Open Water Instructor including the Divemaster training during which I made several hundred dives on the Puerto Galera sites. The diving was good then and it has only improved with restrictions on fishing and the local population becoming increasingly involved in environmental protection. In addition, many boats have been scuttled in the last 25 years creating even more habitats for wildlife.

The Puerto Scene

The whole scene has changed a lot from those days. In that era, transportation and communication were extremely limited and there were only seven dive shops. A lot of the time there was no reliable phone line and an inconsistent TV signal. That TV part was okay because the $4 guest room I lived in didn’t have one, but transportation and communication aid in business development and are essential in emergencies. Getting customers relied on repeat business, walk-ins, and buying drinks for people until late in the night in the bars and discos. Being an alcoholic was practically a prerequisite for instructing. I suppose there is always that risk when there are customers to be entertained. Several instructors I know ended up becoming problem drinkers and a number gave it up entirely.

Puerto Today

Today there are more than 30 dive shops, the hotels are more numerous and expensive (though still reasonable), transportation is much more frequent and easy to arrange, not to mention comfortable and safe, and all the diving services are state of the art. The underwater environment is massively enlarged with the development of tech diving, which is well represented by Dave Ross and his company, Tech Asia, which is leading the way in training and exciting exploration like the Karst Project (caves) and the scouting and development of new wreck sites. All the old deep sites have been made safer and extended even deeper.

Puerto Galera Diving

Most of the top dive sites are only 5-10 minutes away from the 3 main side-by-side beaches, Sabang and Small and Big LaLaguna. There are a few to the west closer to White Beach, and then, of course, there is Verde Island about 30-40 minutes away across the Verdi Island Passage. Excellent training spots are available right off the beach. Today Puerto is a marine sanctuary with an ever richer reef and a fantastic variety of hard and soft corals, sponges, and invertebrates, along with reef sharks, eagle and manta rays, turtles, and occasional pelagics. Macro life is fabulous with a variety of nudibranchs, frogfish, ghost pipefish, seahorses, scorpionfish, stonefish, snakes, octopus, cuttlefish, and Pegasus fish, as well as reef fish like fusiliers, surgeonfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, and a big range of others.

Significant Current

Dive guides need to have a good command of the tide tables as there is a significant drift based on tidal water movement. The horsehead reef drift dive along West Escarcio on down below the Canyons and the Kilima drift dive coming from the other side of the lighthouse past shark cave and ending up at the Canyons are two of the most fantastic fast drift dives in my experience. Watching what wildlife appears and how it behaves under such conditions is remarkable and you have to be a strong experienced diver on top of your game to stay safe. A lot of the bigger fish will be out feeding including schools of barracuda and jacks and the reef sharks may also be cruising.

Season, Water Temperature, Visibility

Diving is good year-round in Puerto. April to September is the best time for warm water and the best visibility. The water temp ranges from 26-29°C with 15-30 meter visibility. During the rest of the year, it might be cooler, down to about 23°C in December. It is rainier from June through October with the wettest month being August. It is quite dry in January and February and relatively so in March and April.

Liveaboard Diving

Liveaboard cruises only touch on the Puerto Galera area. The MV Dolphin, Flying Dolphin 3, and PY Atlantis Azores liveaboards all begin and end their Coron Wrecks/Apo Reef cruises in Puerto Galera. Catching the opportunity to wrap some Puerto Galera diving around the safari would be well worth it, in my opinion. To take a look at my review of that cruise click here:

Best Coron Wrecks & Apo Reef Liveaboards

For other posts about Philippine diving, check these popular reviews:

Puerto Galera Dive Sites

Puerto Galera Accommodation Panglao Island has many hotels and resorts from the lowest price backpacker hostel to luxurious full service resorts. From December to April, particularly around Christmas, Chinese New Year and Easter, it can get very busy and the prices also get jacked up a bit. Between May and November it is more relaxed and at times pretty slow. At such times, discounts can be arranged. Generally, though, the pricing is very reasonable, especially for diving and diver training. This website is a good source for the available options and can arrange booking: Puerto Galera Accommodation Scuba Dive Insurance A cushion for emergencies provides peace of mind when on vacation. I recommend this diving insurance as they have worldwide coverage and provide scuba divers a quality insurance and medical assistance service. I hope you found this post on Panglao Island resort diving interesting and useful. If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to share them in the comments section. If there is no comments section directly below, click here: >>comments<< — Puerto Galera Dive Sites

There are at least 30 dive sites in Puerto Galera in the Sabang area, represented on the map above, and at White Beach just to the west and Verde Island to the northeast. Here is a website with a thumbnail sketch of most of them: Puerto Galera Dive Site Descriptions

Puerto Galera Photos

With the macro life, beautiful, diverse coral reef, megafauna, and lots of fish, there are many excellent photo opportunities. For information and reviews of diving cameras, click here:

Best Underwater Cameras Compared and Reviewed

Puerto Galera Accommodation

The many Puerto Galera resorts and hotels range from budget to luxury in service and facilities. This website is a good source for the available options and can arrange a booking:

Puerto Galera Accommodation

Scuba Diving Trip Insurance

A cushion for emergencies provides peace of mind when on vacation. I recommend this diving insurance as they have worldwide coverage and provide scuba divers quality insurance and medical assistance service.

Feedback and Comments

I hope you found this post on Puerto Galera scuba diving interesting and useful. If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to share them in the comments section. I’d love to know of any experience you have diving there. If there is no comments section directly below, click here: >>comments<<

Best Scuba Diving in Cape Verde Islands

1:49 pm by Joe 6 Comments

Cape Verde - Loggerhead Turtle — Cape Verde – Loggerhead Turtle

Updated September 22, 2023

This is the fortieth in a series of reviews of the best dive resort locations worldwide. In this post, the focus is on Cape Verde.

Have you ever been diving on the Cape Verde Islands before? If so, I’d love to know about your experience. What dive shop or liveaboard did you use? Which dive spots are the best and what are the conditions there regarding the visibility, current, water temperature, sealife attractions, etc.? Please post your response in the comments section at the bottom and we’ll all learn something we can use.

Best Scuba Diving in Cape Verde Islands

Background

Cape Verde, the name English speakers use for the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an archipelago of 10 main islands (9 inhabited) located 570 kilometers (350 miles) west of Senegal on the African continent.

Primarily of volcanic origin, with Pico de Fogo last erupting in 2014, it is spread over 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 square miles).

Originally uninhabited it became a hub of merchants, privateers, pirates, and slave traders starting with Portuguese settlement in the 1400s. Upon the abolition of slavery in the late 1800s, the economy declined markedly.

With few natural resources and an arid climate, redevelopment has come with an emphasis as a commercial center, a stopover for ships, service industries, and tourism.

Today the population of 540,000 of mixed European, Moorish, Arab and African ancestry has a stable democracy, and a flourishing economy and standard of living.

Kriulu, a local variation of Portuguese with several dialects, is the main language. Most can also speak standard Portuguese, with many speaking French and a few less speaking English.

Undersea World

The volcanic undersea terrain combined with warm tropical waters and cooler Atlantic currents has created a unique environment for a great diversity of wildlife.

Volcanic rocky formations, walls, caverns, crevices, nooks and crannies with colorful encrusting corals, sponges, and other invertebrate life and sandy bottoms provide excellent habitat for fascinating macro critters including moray eels, nudibranchs, slipper, and spiny lobsters, shrimp, sea spiders, frogfish, cushion starfish, scorpionfish and sea snakes. There is a great variety of reef fish like schooling surgeonfish and cape yellowtails, sergeant majors, trumpetfish, filefish, pufferfish, angelfish, cardinalfish, and goatfish.

Larger inhabitants are stingrays, groupers, sand tiger, and nurse sharks with the currents bringing the likes of tuna, wahoo, schools of barracuda, lemon, hammerhead, mako, tiger, bull, and whale sharks along with manta rays, and hawksbill, leatherback and loggerhead turtles, which have a major nesting area on Cape Verde. Dolphins, pilot whales, and humpback whales are also sighted year-round with the humpbacks breeding nearby.

In addition, more than 70 wrecks went down from the 16th to 18th centuries, many not accessible or largely salvaged with little remains. There are a few more recent wrecks, some still largely above the surface.

Liveaboard Diving

None of the popular liveaboard yachts offer services to the Canary Islands. For liveaboard diving opportunities to the Red Sea and other attractive areas, please click here:

Liveaboard Diving Options

Here are reviews of other Macronesia and West African scuba diving areas:

Seasons and Conditions

It’s nice and warm year-round with average highs of 26.14 °C (79°F) in January at the coolest and 30.6 °C (87.1°F) in August at the warmest.

Water temperatures range from 23-27°C (73.4-80.6°F). For most divers, a 3 mm wetsuit will suffice during the coolest period.

Visibility is often quite good but ranges from 10-40 meters (35-140 feet).

The current is usually not strong, but it occasionally can be in some locations. A bit of current bodes well for the introduction of nutrients and the interesting pelagic life that often comes along with it.

Suitable diving is available for all levels of divers. There is an established scuba diving infrastructure on Sal and Boa Vista Islands that can handle dive courses, equipment rental, and guided dive tours.

As time goes on more and more diving is happening around some of the other islands and some less established operations are in place. Distances can be substantial between the islands, so if you are on Sal or Boa Vista, most of the dives will be nearby, but cruises to more distant sites can be arranged.

A Sampling of the Best Cape Verde Islands Dive Sites

Sal Dive Sites

20 to 25 dive sites total around the island

Santo Antao: 12 meters (40 feet), 53-meter (178-foot) long cargo vessel sunk in a storm in 1966, in 3 pieces, top at 7 meters (22 feet), lots of fish including, porcupine puffers, barracuda, parrotfish, trumpetfish, stingrays and nurse sharks, all levels

Buracona: 30 meters (100 feet), a labyrinth of caves with an entrance at 26 meters (87 feet), entrance is 9 meters (30 feet) wide, horseshoe tunnel moving up to 7 meters (22 feet) with sunlit exit, crustaceans and macro critters in the cave, big fish outside, experienced level

Kwarcit Wreck: 28 meters (93 feet), 50-meter (168-foot) Russian fishing boat sunk as an artificial reef in 2006, lots of coral, schools of fish, scorpionfish, lobster, fireworms, flabellinas, stingrays, experienced level

Cavala: to 65 meters (215 feet), wall beginning at 28 meters (93 feet), a cave at 30 meters (100 feet), large fish, pelagics including hammerhead and tiger sharks possible, experienced level

Choclasse: 30 meters (100 feet), a plateau with an overhang full of yellow coral polyps, a wall from 14 meters (46 feet) down, schooling fish, morays, crabs, tuna, Atlantic sailfish, sharks, experienced level

Lost Anchor: 20 meters (68 feet), lost anchor above 12 meters (40 feet), lots of tropicals, stingrays, nurse sharks, a small wall at 16 meters (54 feet), all levels

Boa Vista Dive Sites

Around 15 dive sites total around the island

Shark Bow: 27 meters (90 feet), reef top at 22 meters (73 feet), reef opens up at 25 meters (83 feet) to a broad open area with overhangs wherein are moray eels, lobster, fireworms, nudibranchs, and resting nurse sharks, outside are turtles, large schools of sergeant majors, bream and Guinean grunts, grouper and amberjacks, experienced level

Channel: 18 meters (60 feet), from 10-18 meters (35-60 feet) a canal or channel runs with rich marine life, possible stingrays and nurse sharks, all levels

Bodega de Tchoco: 14 meters (46 feet), large rocks on a sandy bottom, moray eels, octopus, snails, schooling fish, all levels

Bodega de Francoli: 14 meters (46 feet), a canyon with large rocks providing cover for crabs and lobsters, triggerfish, cornetfish, turtles, all levels

Teliarte Wreck: 10 meters (35 feet), fishing boat with a section broken off and scattered, lots of fish, snails, crabs, fireworms, and other macro critters, all levels

Cape Verde Photos

With the macro life, wrecks, rays, sharks, schools of colorful fish, dolphins, whales, clear water, diverse underwater terrain, and beautiful and historical onshore targets, there are many excellent photo opportunities. For information and reviews of dive cameras, click here:

Best Underwater Cameras Compared and Reviewed

Cape Verde Islands Transportation, Resorts, and Dive Shops

Transportation

Cape Verde has 4 international airports on the islands of Sal, Santiago, Boa Vista, and São Vicente with daily flights from Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

Between islands, domestic flights provide the fastest service.

Speedboats and ferries are also available.

Most places have metered taxis and the big cities have a periodical bus service.

Resorts and Dive Shops

Most of the scuba diving is based out of Sal and Boa Vista Islands. A number of dive operations are located on these two islands with a few more on Santiago, São Vicente, Maio, and Santo Antao.

There are dozens of resorts and hotels available there from $9 to $268 per night. This website is a good source for the available options and can arrange a booking:

Cape Verde Islands Things to Do (aside from scuba diving)

With such an interesting history, rich culture, and varied natural environment from island to island, there are many things to do when you are not diving. Here are some possibilities: beach activities, surfing, kite surfing, loggerhead turtle nesting observation on Boa Vista, hiking to a volcano, horseback riding, fishing, salt mine tours, quad biking tours, shopping for local crafts, whale watching, trekking, wildlife area tours, historical landmarks, churches, botanical gardens and zoo, local cuisine, restaurants, live music, and nightlife. Check out the video below.

Scuba Diving Trip Insurance

Feedback and Comments

I hope you found this post on Cape Verde scuba diving interesting and useful. If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to share them in the comments section. I’d love to know of any experience you have diving there. If there is no comments section directly below, click here: >>comments<<

Scuba Diving the Galapagos Islands

1:44 pm by Joe Leave a Comment

Marine Iguana - Galapagos Islands — Marine Iguana – Galapagos Islands

Updated April 7, 2022

This is the ninety-forth in a series of reviews of the best dive resort locations around the world. In this post, the focus is on Panama. In addition to this series on dive resort locations, the best worldwide liveaboard diving locations and services are reviewed in their own series. To check them out, or others in this series, click on Liveaboards/Resorts on the menu at the top and choose a title from the list.

Have you ever been diving in the Galapagos Islands before? If so, I’d love to know about your experience. What dive shop or liveaboard did you use? Which dive spots are the best and what are the conditions there regarding the visibility, current, water temperature, sealife attractions, etc.? Please post your response in the comments section at the bottom and we’ll all learn something we can use.