El Galleon Resort / Asia Divers Review

In our dive travels to Mindoro Island in the Philippines we have managed to be on dive boats that always pass by an inviting cove with a clean looking resort right at the waters edge named El Galleon Resort. We’d always thought it seemed to be a nice, quiet area for a resort.

At the DEMA show in Florida we were quite pleased to see the Philippines Department of Tourism had put together an entourage that included some active dive resorts and a representative from Philippine Air Lines. In the Philippines Pavilion we met Allen Nash, owner of that nice looking resort we had always been admiring when we passed by it on a bangka ferry boat ,El Galleon Resort and their dive shop, Asian Divers.

In short order we found out unboosted pure o2 was available for our rebreathers, so a trip was confirmed with Allan 2 days later via text messaging, and Philippine Airlines competently handled our air arrangements. We had always heard such great things about El Galleon resort and Asia Divers, so we were excited to begin our next Philippine dive adventure!

At our departure airport which was LAX, TSA pawed through our volumous bag of electronics, video, computer, and sundry voodoo dive goodies that make it in our carry ons.

One of the things we do now at all airports is we usually can capture a glance from the scanner operator just before advancing our carryon bags into the x-ray machine. When I make eye contact I advise them what is in the bags, often including a small 12 CF bailout pony bottle that they are told has the valve off which is mandatory. Some screeners have told me that the bailout bottle valve quite loosely has a profile of a firearm. Most hand check the carryon anyway, but this way they become accustomed to matching a scanner image to an object and occasionally they have me go through without further delay.

One of the things I find odd is how many times throughout the whole process that new characters continually ask for your boarding pass. Considering these are easy to print up from the Internet, I am not sure why they bother. I think the government has taken away more of my liberties than Al Qaeda, but forgive me if I choose to have dinner with a TSA agent over Zawahiri types. At least I will still have a head on my shoulders after my meal.

Even though it is all a grand charade known as “security theater”, I do salute the courteousness and friendliness of every TSA type I have ever run into as they expertly engage in unadulterated theatrics.

Once on board Phillipine Air’s 747, it appeared there were many seats quite open. The usual strategy is to wait till the door closes, then pounce on open seats to try to get 2 or more adjacent. If one can commandeer 4 in a row, you now have room to lay flat and sleep through the flight! Unfortunately the tradeoff was when they close the 747 door and you think you are home free to sleep during a good portion of your flight, the late arriving travelers took 10 minutes to get from the nose to the tail area and I just happened to be in their seats. Foiled again!

Philippine Air always schedules their flights to arrive early in Manila so you have time to leave the airport immediately and get to your destination without having to do an overnight stay in Manila.

We took the usual 10-15 minute taxi ride to the Pasay City bus terminal called the “JAM terminal. A word about Philippines taxi drivers. The ones that don’t turn on their meters will try to charge 2-4 times the normal fare. But let me put that in perspective. That means you may pay 4-8 US dollars instead of $2. I always tell them to turn on the meter, and I will give them a good tip for their honesty. In some regions taxi drivers will do everything they can to not turn it on, but stay firm, and ignore the nonsense about how many bags you have or how heavy they are, blah blah, as the driver is driving a car that rolls on wheels, he’s not carrying your bags. But reward the honest cab driver with a good tip or you train them to cheat you.

Although El Galleon Resort is quite happy to arrange for all your transfers from the airport to their resort, I prefer the adventure of going it alone so others know how easy it is if so inclined as it is so inexpensive and easy to get around in the Philippines and everyone is helpful.

From the Pasay City JAM bus terminal, it is a 2 hour air conditioned bus ride to the Batangas Port. The ride in itself is colorful, with characters hopping aboard moving buses with hand carried stacks of snacks, including the ubiquitous pies signaled by the hawkers chanting; “Buko! Buko! Buko! Buko!. This is a snack that is a cross between a slice of pizza with a shredded coconut topping.

The Batangas Port is quite fun in itself, with lots of fun vendor stalls selling snacks and drinks. An endless array of hawkers will pounce upon you when you get off the bus, and if you have a truckload of gear and equipment bags like me, I always use the porters, but they are aggressive, but in a “for your business” sort of way. I try to get one that gets a large cart to keep the bags all together, as I have nearing $40,000 worth of dive and video equipment in those bags.

Next they will direct you to the port terminal entrance area to buy a bangka ferry ticket, but some push their bangka ferry, not the one next scheduled for departure. Be careful about that. Do tell them you are going to Sabang, NOT the Muele pier, which is a half hour Jeepney ride from where you want to go, although tat too is fun and scenic.

You will go through a security checkpoint upon entering the terminal waiting area, which is curious considering your huge bags are not checked that are transferred by the porters. Also remember that your port baggage fees cover your porter, so no tip is needed although they won’t tell you that. The guys will always try to double dip, but don’t take offense, the just want to be able to put food on their families plates one tenth as easy as you can, so don’t be stingy with people struggling to make a living, plus it is all rather fun anyway all over a couple of US dollars.

During the summer months, it can be pretty hot in the terminal waiting area, as although they have 4 or so huge standing air conditioning units, for whatever reason they leave the doors open frequently. But they have Dunkin donuts, ice cream, cold drinks and even a massage section, so relax!

They will call over the public address system when your bangka ferry is ready for boarding.

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Once you board your bangka ferry to Sabang, the pleasant ride is about an hour. Bangka boats are fun! Along the way you may see dolphins, and often the common larger forms of inter-island transportation.

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Once you arrive at Sabang Beach, the porters will offer to carry your bags to El Galleon Resort. They will want 50 pesos a bag, which is about 1 US dollar, but the going rate is 20 pesos a bag. However El Galleon Resort is one of the furthest resorts away from the disembarkation point, so give them 50 pesos. It is a nice 15 minute walk that is adventuresome anyway.

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Once you arrive a El Galleon Resort, sit down, relax, have a drink, you’re in paradise! They will take your bags to your room, and tell them which bags are your dive equipment gear bags, they will take those to the dive shop area.

If you want to unwind, then go take a hot shower in your new room, and either call for a room service massage which may set you back $15 for the hour, or take a nap.

The cottages are really nice, the perfectly blend of traditional island quaintness with modern amenities. Larger cottages like below are available for larger groups or families, with great views of Sabang Bay available from your private balcony or patio, where you can relax in your hammock and take in the sites of paradise.

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If you take a walk around El Galleon Resort grounds, you will notice the sparkling clean pool. One end is deeper to conduct in-house dive training and certification, with most common training and specialties available from in-house certified instructors. The pool has plenty of lounge chairs to relax on and read a book, then fall asleep to the sounds of the splashing waterfall that drops into the pool.

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As for me, I can never seem to wait to see what new bizarre marine critters await my HD video captures in Paradise, so an hour or two later and all my gear is assembled, checked out and ready to go. Most dive gear, spares and accessories are available immediately in El Galleon's Asia Divers dive shop. From there my gear was always carried and never dropped I might ad, to the dive boat on El Galleon's private jetty. If you freak out at the concept of stepping on some marine fish with spines, which in 200 dives has never happened to me in the Philippines, or getting sand in your booties, you'll love their jetty! I liked it because when a storm passed quickly through one late afternoon after a days worth of diving, I ignored the exit ramp to the secured dive bangka, lept off the pitching bow, bounced off the bobbing platform and unceremoniously landed in the water. Hey, the water is 82 degrees! Who cares!? At least I had fun!

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Typically there are 3 dives a day done at El Galleon Resort, with the possibility of night dives upon request. There dive staging and gear area is shown here, with fresh water showers and rinse tanks after your dive.

Most dive sites are within 5-10 minutes of the resorts private jetty, which gives you time to tweak your dive gear without spending much time getting there.

There are well over 50 dives sites around the Puerto Galera area. The dives guides know them all, just tell them what you would like to try to see, and they will schedule it for you when the tides are best.

As an example, if you want to see huge tridacna clams with their irridenscent mantles, they will take you to Manila Channel. If you want to see pygmy seahorses, they will take you to Kilima Steps If you want to see some wrecks teeming with fish and invertebrates, they will take you to Sabang Wrecks or the Alma Jane, both very consistent for holding large frogfish.

At Sabang wrecks, the middle wreck is a sailboat, wherein the left side has a large white seafan that usually holds a dozen clear shrimp and sometimes ornate and robust ghost pipefish.


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In the shallows of Sabang Bay, the small sea grass often holds razor fish, Pegasus fish also known as Sea Moths, and make sure you look for those solitary tube stalk anemones out in the middle of nowhere, there WILL be 1 or two species of commensal shrimp on the stalk portions, a Thor amboinensis shrimp commonly called a sexy shrimp, and a brevicapalis species shrimp doing their hilarious rhythmic barrel roll movements.

The floating bars right in front of Sabang Beach are good dive sites too, as they hold zillions of silversides shimmering in the sunlight, and you can often find pelagic ctenophores called comb jellies, who locomotive cilia refract the light into the spectrums of a rainbow. Pelgaic colonial animals called salps often drift by here and they are all easy to spot in the gentle currents. Turtles are often seen here grazing on the sea grass too.

Make sure you schedule a day trip to Verde Island! This is about a 45 minute bangka dive boat ride across the channel. The clarity of the water here is amazing. The first dive which is deeper is usually at a site called “The Drop Offs”. This is a site with a 45 degree sloping bottom that dives off to the abyss. Stay close to the coral encrusted sloping walls here, the down currents off the wall can be strong at times.

After a break with snacks, a second dive is usually done off the southern point. This is where the thermal vents bubble up hot fresh water, and my temp gauge says the vent fresh water is in the 85-87 F degree range. You can see bubbles coming up from the bottom, and the irridescent shimmer of fresh water mixing with salt water.

The point pinnacle here often has pelagic big jacks. Look for the occasional dark jack, who will also be swimming like a remora over the top of a silver colored one. Why?

Do NOT venture out away from the pinnacle and into the school of jacks, as the manner in which even fish are getting swirled around belies the significant down currents that can come out of nowhere. Stick with your dive guide and do as they say, you will have a great time!

Lunch is served next and it is fun to walk along the shored of Verde Island. There will be cute little kids from the village gawking at you, wanting your empty aluminum cans or trying to sell you broken plate pieces from an 1800’s wreck that still washed up pottery pieces to this day. The kids will also offer to sell you shells. Normally eco conscious divers refuse to have anything to do with shells sold as souveniers, but the shells the kids sell arre the ones that wash up on the beach, they are not harvested from live animals like commercial souvenir places do, so feel free to give them 50 pesos or $1 for a shell or two.

The last dive is done at a site aptly named “Washing Machine”. Only once has it ever lived up to it’s name, and I received a fun thrashing that made videotaping anything but my demise futile. If the current is strong, stick with your dive guide and buddy here. Most of the time it is a great dive with all sorts of soft coral like xenia abounding.

Back after a days worth of diving, one walks up the short steps to the staging area where you can take a fresh water shower, dump your gear in the fresh water rinse tanks, and stow your gear.

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Now after an exciting days worth of diving, it is time for an hour long massage which can be arranged with the front desk right in your own room for about $15-$18 or so dollars-for the hour! Try THAT at home! When you wake up, it is time for dinner. Below are my two favorite dinner dishes at El Galleon Restaurant, whose breakfast, lunch dinner and snacks and sweets are QUITE up to Western standards. My favorite was these giant barbecued shrimp basted in garlic butter sauce. These shrimp are caught by local fisherman when small, sold to families who have ponds next to their houses who feed the shrimp daily till they are the size of nightmares, then sold to fish vendors who deliver to restaurants.

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After dinner, I enjoy the 15 minute beachfront walk into the small town of Sabang, which by the way, is not pronounced "Suh- Bang" but is properly pronounced Sah -Bahng where the a is a shwa, or the neutral sound of two combined vowels, short form of a and the short form of o.

Sabang is a fun little town crammed full of small stores, eateries, watering holes, dive shops, small mom and pop markets, a camera store, money changers, motorbike rentals, clothing shops, etc. make sure you walk to the open air fish market, where vendors offer every sort of freshly caught seafood. You can also take the ubiquitous Jeepney's, which are a blast, or for more fun, rent a motorbike for $10 for the entire day. T-shirts can be had for 180-200 pesos, which is about $3-4$. Same goes for board shorts and bathing suits No need to pack expensive clothes and weigh down your checked luggage. And beware, the Rolex watches are all fake, and 20% of them WILL fog over inside if you take them on a dive. But what did you expect for $20?! :)

The below T shirt vending stand, this is not the $3-$4 dollar T-shirt vendor, but a stand run by the sister of an incredibly talented local Philippino artist who airbrushes marine animals on t-shirts. She can arrange for something custom for you too, with your name airbrushed in script if you have 4 or 5 days to wait. But be forewarned, it takes several days for airbrushed custom designs to dry, and I ruined two when they stuck together when I was in a hurry. Oh well, I guess I will just have to go back and get two more, and of course get in some diving while I am at it!

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Open every night, but packed Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights is El Galleons “Point Bar”, aptly named as it is right off the point up high next to the dive gear area, and just past the below stream which cascades fresh water down the side, giving you a scenic view of Sabang Bay and an excellent venue for sharing good food and drinks, and tall dive tales with old and new friends. They have all manners of appetizers available, and do a once a week buffet dinner here for guests.

If you get too tipsey, there is always the house dog that will bring a leash to attach to you and he will gently guide you back to your room.

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El Galleon Resort conducts all manners of tech diving and instruction via their Asia Divers' “Tech Asia”, which has has pure 02, helium and trimix available along with double rigs and Halcyon tech gear. Nothing like a 175 foot dive on trimix in the tropics with water temps in the 78-80 degree range at those depths and visibility in the 100 foot range!

And unlike many resorts in Asia, El Galleon Resort and Asia Divers is quite Internet savy and responds to all e-mails quite fast I might add. And rather than some character off who knows where ignoring the business, you will usually find the owner Allan Nash and his lovely wife right in the thick of things making sure all the guests are happy as clams.

Sadly, even though we stayed for 8 days, our time too soon came to an end and we sadly had to depart.

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Much thanks to Allan Nash and his lovely wife, dive guides and staff for serving up another grand adventure in Paradise that is guaranteed to be the time of your life.

In the meantime, enjoy the below HD video we shot there.

http://vimeo.com/851172