Luzon
Puerto Galera (Series 2): Of Sunset, the Night Sky…
Travel dates: March 14-15 2015
Decided to have an overnight getaway to the beach with a few friends. Relying on what I know on how to go to Puerto Galera, we embarked on a journey.
We rode a bus in Cubao, the JAC Liner, that would take us to Batangas Pier. The bus ride costs less than 200 Pesos and journeyed for almost 2 hours. As we arrive to the pier, there was a battalion of people offering to let them buy you tickets and offer your inns. You don’t need to take their offer and go straight to the ticketing office and pay your own terminal fee. We learned this the hard away.
We bought a round trip ticket for about 500 Php, not including the terminal fee that costs about 20 Php. As our bags are checked and tickets paid, we proceeded to our boat.
Before enjoying the beach, we first went out for lunch as it was almost one o’clock. As we finished lunch, we went searching for places to stay in. We found a place for three at Delgado’s Resort and Restaurant, and it costs about 2,300 Php a night. After finding a place to stay in, we strolled the crowded beach.
As the twilight approaches, we strolled back to the beach, deciding what to do next. The locals offer a lot of services. There are tour guides that would take you to the coral garden, fish feeding, the Underground Cave and island hopping, there are masseuse, and of course, diving shops, souvenir shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants with different cuisines. The bangkero we found told us that they have a cooperative as to regulate the prices of the different services that they have. We booked a tour for the next day at an early time with the bangkero for snorkeling the coral garden and island hopping and it costs 1,500 Php.
After booking a tour, my friend and I decided to have a massage before dinner. The massage would be by the beach, which is kind of awkward, but it was a must for us. It was also a great experience having a massage by the bay.
We had dinner afterwards at a place that offers local cuisine. After that, we found a place where we could just sit and talk for hours (and probably check the internet). We never tried Mindoro Sling but grabbed some bag of chips and drinks, while checking out the fire dancers and the entertainers in the restaurants, and went back to the darkest part of the beach so we could see the night sky.
We were not able to take pictures of the night sky (need more practice to do that and we left our tripods) but I could tell you that even if I can’t tell where the constellations exactly are, I could tell that the night might be horribly dark, but it was dotted with tiny pearls, and sometimes it was lined because of falling stars. We might have wished a thousand times. We would’ve sleep there and then, with the chilly air, the sound of the waves, and the picturesque sky. That reminded me that there is beauty in the dark.
It was very late as we decided to retire on our inn as we needed rest for the 6 AM call time of our next adventure.
The bangkero was already waiting for us as we had our light breakfast. We then rode a tricycle that would take us to where the boat is. The tricycle cost us for about 50 Php per head.
We first went snorkeling. As we are riding the boat, there are smaller boats who tailed us. Turns out we need a smaller boat for us to go snorkeling and fish feeding, as the corals might be destroyed if the bigger boat would be used. Smaller boats cost 200 p hp. We docked at the nearest island so we could transfer to the smaller boat, with our snorkels and life vests on. The bangkero bought two bags of bread at the sari-sari store then we proceeded to the coral garden.
There are areas of sandy bottoms as we snorkel, but the garden is still vast. Kind of tiring, as the way we do our snorkeling is to grab hold of the rope of the bangka while in the water while the boat is going around, with the motor on. So we should not release from the rope or else. It was quite a challenge, but it was a nice way to snorkel. We don’t need to swim more farther to see the whole area. We had stops to feed the fishes and further see some area of the garden. We were quite early, and the bangkero said that might be the reason why we saw the Pawikan. They don’t prefer crowds that’s why they venture early. The Pawikan we saw might hatch in some island.
As we finish touring the underwater garden, we paid the bangkero of the small boat and get back to the bigger boat so we could island hop.
We went to three unnamed islands, newly discovered, as what our bangkero told us. The second island has big holes in the sands, signifies that there are many crabs in the area. Never saw one though. We spent time there to kind of sunbathe and of course, take some pictures. The islands are clean, and there are only few people visiting the area. On the last island, we bought halo-halo and tried to snorkel the seaweed-infested seaside while waiting for the dessert and saw some sea urchins. Big, sea urchins. That’s why we just get out of the water after a little time.
As we finished our island hopping, we went back to White Beach to check out. We ate lunch while waiting for the boat ride, and went back to reality again.
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Hi, I’m Anthea, a Filipina trying to live in the moment. A registered pharmacist with an office day-job, a traveler of sorts in weekends-whether in actual outdoors or within books, through the screen, or through music. This blog is dedicated to all the wonders of this world (and the universe).
