| Situated on a beautiful
national harbour, with many fine beaches, sheltered coves
and a backdrop of lush green hills, Puerto Galera (the Port
of Galleons), hag been a port
where ships have safely sheltered from typhoons since the
10th century. 150km from
Manila, Puerto Galera, billed as the pearl of Mindoro, is
now an international traveller's
beach destination. There are several beaches within walking
distance of each other and other,
more remote beaches and bars well away from the crowds. The
focal point is Poblacion
(which centre in Pilipino) where the main ferries dock. The
busy heart is Sabang Beach, with
its bars, discotheques, night-clubs and orts. Small and
Big La Laguna Beaches are slower
paced resort areas, with nice beaches, same good dining, comfortable
resorts and better
snorkelling.
The diving
The diving is famous for its diversity. There are all standards,
from easy dives for training and novices, weird and tiny reef
creatures fot macro fanatics, high voltage
drift-dives in strong currents and some deep dives where large
animals are encountered. The area is noted fot its macro photography,
fish and invertebrates, some of the remoter, beaches have
blue-ringed octopuses and most house reefs have ghost pipefish,
hut there are plenty of larger subjects to photograph: pelagic
fish, corals, gorgonians and barrel sponges, the reefs are
forever changing with the tides.
Pinnacles and walls
Offshore of Talipanan beach, about 8km west-southwest of Puerto
Galera centre, Talipanan Reef has strong
currents so there are good corals and pelagic fish species
hut it is more suitable fot experienced divers. A pinnacle
500m offshore tops out at 15m with stony corals, leathery
Sarcophyton corals and Dendronephthya soft tree corals, basket
sponges and a variety of small fish. The northwest face drops
below 80m with many gorgonian sea fans hut divers should not
live beyond recreational diving depth limits. In the open
water shoals of midnight and black snappers and surgeonfish
including unicornfish abound together with rainbow runners,
tuna, white-tip reef sharks and eagle rays. Off the northern
end of Paniquian Island, 'Oddie's Dingding'
has an 8m- high wall that hag large gorgonian sea fans and
black coral trees. Most of the small holes in the wall harbour
moray eels-if they do not have redtooth triggerfish (Odonus
niger). Stingrays are common on the sand below the wall. The
average depth is 25m and the maximum 33m.
Channel diving
The channel between Medio and Paniquian Island, 'Manila
Channel', begins from the
share and hag 2m rocks and a small, purposely sunk motor boat.
The dive follows rubble coral and sand, along the edge of
a 2-3m drop-off. aver the drop- off there are lots of good
stony and soft corals, though the latter are mostly of the
drab beige rather than the more colourful varieties. Large
leathery corals are everywhere, together with lots of mushroom
and bubble corals. There are several different types of anemones
with clownfish, leopardfish sea cucumbers colourful sea stars,
feather duster and Christmas tree worms and lots of small
reef fish. There is also good snorkelling all along the reef
edge.
Along the west face of Medio Island, 'Coral Gardens'
has very good snorkelling and is a good dive for novices.
The terrain shelves out from the share to 9m with lots of
stony and soft corals around the 2m level and sand with coral
heads in the deeper water. There are clams, frogfish, same
crevices deeper down with moray eels and the occasional juvenile
white-tip reef shark. The dive has its best visibility on
a flood tide.
Straight out from Batangas Channel, Sweetlips Hole/Marcus
Cave is suitable for
Technical divers. Usually the two areas of the hole and the
cave would be done on two separate dives. Sweetlips has a
hole to swim through at 45m where it is good to hang around
and watch the action of resident shoals of batfish and sweetlips.
Marcus Cave has a wall running east to west with large gorgonian
sea fans and schooling bannerfish.
At the cave there are often small reef sharks resting on
the sand at 50m. Surgeonfish school here and mantas have been
seen overhead. The cave itself is quite large and contains
a memorial stone to Marcus (he did not die diving). Further
out and only suitable fot technical divers, Secret Reef is
a reef on a sloping sandy bottom with gorgonian sea fans,
basket sponges and black corals. The north face drops from
50m to 65m. Fish life includes shoals of jacks, snappers and
batfish.
At the southeast end of the channel between Medio island and
Coca Beach, The Hill is a good dive for novices, so lang as
they hit slack water accurately. There are lots'
of good soft corals and sponges, nudibranchs and small reef
fish and the, depth is 12m.
Drift dives
At the northern end of the channel between Medio Island and
Coca Beach, Batangas Channel is best treated as a drift-dive
on a strong flood tide. There are lots o flarge barrel sponges
up to 2m high around the 14m depth. When the current is running
there are shoals of jacks, sweetlips, snappers and fusiliers.
There are lots of small reef fish, stingrays and the occasional
White-tip or grey reef shark.
You need a good guide to find Mamoods Reef.
Out from Coco Beach and best suited to technical divers, the
top is at 30m with sea fans, whip corals and basket sponges.
The reef drops-off to 50m with small caves and overhangs.
The site is best dived at slack watet, high tide.
N ear to La Laguna Point, the Dry Dock was
originally designed for lifting small boats out of the water.
Of steel and plywood construction, it was purposely sunk fot
divers by La Laguna Dive Centre in 1998. Lying on a sandy
bottom beside a small coral reef, the wreck harbours sweetlips,
snappers, batfish, surgeonfish, pipefish and barracuda while
bluespotted ribbontail rays are found on the sand. La
Laguna Point is a short wall from 12m to 15m with
lots of small reef fish, nudibranchs and colourful crinoids.
Sweetlips, surgeonfish, angelfish, trigger, lionfish and scorpionfish
are common. Soles and stargazers can be seen bete during night
dives. 100 metres out from Small La Laguna Beach, St.
Christopher (Aka St. Antoine's) Wreck can have strang
currents. This 22m wooden 'pig boat' was sunk by all the local
dive operators in 1995. Its hull is mostly intact with large
gaps to view the fish, snappers, lionfish, pufferfish.
angelfish, butterflyfish, emperors, jacks and occasionally
frogfish. Finish the dive ascending the reef, west to Small
La Laguna or east to the Point looking out for stingrays,
cuttlefish, frogfish and good corals in the shallows where
there is also good snorkelling. There is another wreck, The
Speedboat nearby at 12m with a resident frogfish.
Wrecks
Sabang Junk is an old 16m wooden fishing junk sunk in 1993
hut only the hull remains. Many friendly batfish and large
surgeonfish will investigate divers. Large morays, scorpionfish,
trumpetfish, lionfish, stonefish and the occasional frogfish
are found on the wreck while there are snake eels, gobies
with bulldozer shrimps, small rays, flounders and pipefish
all somewhere nearby.
Off Sabang Point, Sabang Point has a good
wall dropping down to 22m, with lots of stony and soft corals,
reef fish and invertebrates. Cutllefish are common here. A
ridge, which comes up from the wall to 5m is covered with
even more corals and colourful crinoids.
East of Sabang Point, Monkey Wreck is a
20m local island transport (Pig boat), sunk
by Asia Divers in early 1993. When scuttled it missed the
reef and now lies at 40m. There is a large shoal of batfish
and same snappers and groupers. The currents here can be somewhat
tricky at times. Monkey Beach often has less
current than the dive sites further east of it. A pretty coral
slope down to 18m, the small coral heads have crinoids, nudibranchs
and plenty of small blennies, gobies and other reef fish.
There are sea stars, sea urchins and cucumbers, stingrays
and cuttlefish on the sand. An easy dive for novices and popular
for night diving.
East of Monkey Beach, Ernie's Cave is in
fact two small caves, one at 22m and the
other at 27m. There is good fish life, shoals of surgeonfish
including, unicornfish, jacks,snappers and fusiliers as weil
as the smaller reef fish and occasionally white-tip reef sharks.
There are good stony and soft corals, sponges, crinoids and
small gorgonian sea fans in the deeper sections.
Currents
The first point west of Escarceo Point, Wreck Point can get
very rough with fierce currents. There are the remains of
two small wooden wrecks, one 12m long and the other 15m long,that
were sunk in early 1993 in 27m of water.
A gentle slope of sand with large coral heads of many types
of stony corals and same
rock boulders. There are lots of small reef fish, angelfish,
butterflyfish, damselfish including sergeant majors, parrotfish,
groupers, surgeonfish, triggerfish, trumpetfish, lionfish
and anthias. There are also pufferfish, jacks, sweedlips,
juvenile Pinnate Batfish and moray eels, with lizardfish,
goatfish, gobies, sea cucumbers and stars, down on the sand
in 30m are colourful crinoids everywhere.
Just west of Escarceo Point a good local diveguide is required
to know and allow for the currents, to fInd Hole In The Wall.
Allowing for possible fierce currents, you drop into 9m of
water, with fields of table corals as good as can be found
anywhere in the world. You then descend several stepped drop-offs,
each of about 3m and eventually reach the hole in the wall
at 12m. The hole is covered with mulricoloured sponges and
crinoids and leading to the Canyons. The area teems with small
reef fish, angelfish and butterflyfish, male Titan triggerfish
guarding eggs in nests, shoals of parrotfish,schooling bannerfish,
Moorish idols, snappers, sweelips, trumpetfish, pufferfish,
scrawled filefish, lionfish, and jacks, plus same tuna and
groupers. There are several species of nudibranchs on the
wall, sea stars and cucumbers on the sand,
moray eels in crevices and laiger pelagics in the open water.
Canyons & corals
Well northeast of Escarceo Point, The Fish Bowl is an advanced
dive within a bowl shaped depression at 40m where you sit
on the rim and look down. You need a good dive guide to allow
for the currents. Photographers can only operate by getting
into the shelter of large rocks. There is just about everything
here, in quantity hut the main reason für the dive is
to see bigger fish and shoals. White-tip and grey reef sharks
are common, as a large tuna. There are shoals of rainbow runners,
batfish, snappers, oriental and spotted sweetlips, jacks,
barracuda and groupers.
Northeast of Escarceo Point, The Canyons
is another advanced dive that requires a good dive guide to
allow for the currents, to get you swept into position. You
drift past the hole in the wall and race over several small
drop-offs covered with soft corals and sponges. There are
a couple of smaller canyons where photographers can briefly
shelter but again the main reason for the dive is to see the
teeming fish life that includes six-banded angelfish, Regal
and Emperor angelfish. There are same large barrel sponges
and gorgonian sea fans in the deeperwater.
East of the Canyons, Horsehead takes its
name from one of the rock formations that resembles a horse's
head but there are other numerous rock formations. A flat,
rolling seabed with a wall and slope to the north and east,
it is best treated as a driftdive from The Canyonson a flood
tide
Very large gorgonian sea fans and whip corals, soft tree
corals, turtles and sea snakes, shoals of jacks, sweetlips
and snappers, enormous starfish and occasionally Spanish dancers
even during the day. Hammerheads and thresher sharks have
also been sighted here.
Shark caves
East of Escarceo Point, Shark Cave is really
a 30m-long overhang at 29m. It is 1m high at the opening hut
closes to 15cm about 4m back. White-tip reef sharks rest up
here during the day. Nearby there is a large boulder covered
in soft corals, green Tubastrea corals and small sea fans
and barrel sponges. The area is teeming with the
smaller reef fish, has many different species of nudibranches
siX-banded angelfish, longnose Butterflyfish, shoals of Moorish
idols and schooling bannerfish, filefish, triggerfish, surgeonfish,
parrotfish,pufferfish and small shoals of soldierfish hang
under the overhang during daylight.
The Big Rock is an atoll shaped rock 15m
wide, rising from 33m to 21m. There are lots of fish around
but in particular, several lionfish under the overhangs and
crevices and bluespotted ribbontail rays on the sand.
Just south of the southern headland of Escarceo Point, Kilima
Steps is a series of several small drop-offs descending in
steps. Best dived as a fast drift dive, on an ebb
tide, there are plenty of good stony corals, soft corals,
reef fish and invertebrates. As well as stony and soft corals
there are shoals of batfish, tuna and surgeonfish and
various species of triggerfish, pufferfish and parrotfish.
Eagle rays and turtles have been seen here. There is no point
in going deeper than 30m.
Off the headland at the southern extremity of Escarceo Point,
Sinandigan Wall drops to 40m. There are many species of corals,
especially soft, at least seven different varieties of nudibranchs
and the larger fish species: groupers, snappers, jacks, trevallies,
tuna, barracuda, lionfish and occasionally White-tip reef
sharks. The average depili is 25m and maximum depth 40m plus.
The slope at the bottom of Sinandigan Wall continues to a
large rock at 45m called Turtle Rock where white-tip reef
sharks and turtle are sometimes seen. However sweetlips and
snappers are more common, as are gorgonian sea fans and whips.
Off the next headland south of Escarceo Point, The Boulders
has several big boulders, down to 24m forming overhangs, tunnels
and swim-throughs. Big fish are often seen here while stonefish,
scorpionfish, lionfish, snappers and sweetlips are common.
Small lobsters and prawns can be found in holes,gorgonian
sea fans, basket sponges and soft corals on rocks and Linckia
starfish and sea cucumbers on the sand. South of the Boulders
the Japanese Wreck is the engine block and propeller shaft
of a World War II Japanese patrol boat on a flat sandy bottom
at 42m. There are moral eels, stonefish, lionfish and many
small reef fish.
Verde Island
The East Point of Verde Island has one of the best dives in
the area. A true wall from the surface to 60m plus with plenty
of large soft corals and sea fans, reef fish and pelagic visitors.
White tip reef sharks rainbow runners, narrow barred Spanish
mackerel, Napoleon wrasse, tuna and trevallies are found together
with many species of smaller reef fish. Off the centre of
the south side of Verde Island, The Washing Machine is a high-voltage
dive made over a series of seven shallow canyons at 15m with
the current throwing you around.
Off the centre of the west side of the island, The Galleon
is popular with divers having popular beaches to secluded
barbecues on the beach, this is the site of the wreck of the
Nuestra Senora Dela Vida, which sank in 1621. Built in Cebu
she was bound for Mexico but ran aground in a storm.
The wreck hag been excavated hut you can still find porcelain
shards in the sand between 5m and 20m and on the beach.
Off the north western end of Verde Island, Black Fish Pinnacle
tops out at 24m but it is quite small and easy to miss in
a current, which is when the fish lifes is at its best. The
pinnacle drops-off steeply into deep water. Divers can descend
the side of the pinnacle to 40m where the reef has soft corals,
large gorgonian sea fans and whips plus large basket sponges.
- get up -
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