g
glass.Puerto Galera is located at the northern tip of the Philippine island of Mindoro and is a wonderful place to encounter creatures of all shapes and sizes. This area has been a marine reserve since 1973 and is so popular with divers that dozens of dive resorts line the beaches at Sabang, Small La Laguna, Big La Laguna and Coco Beach. Forty odd dive sites are regularly dived in the area and each one has its own special attraction.
We recently spent five days diving Puerto Galera with La Laguna Beach Club and Dive Centre (LLBC) and experienced some of the best critter dives we have ever done.
Our first dive at the Sabang Wrecks was so great that we returned to this site two more times. The Sabang Wrecks consists of three small boats, scuttled by the local dive operators in 18m to 22m, that are great fun to explore. They are all decorated with lovely corals and home to many fish species. On each wreck we found batfis
h,
giant anglerfish, hawkfish, moray eels, mantis shrimps, lionfish, scorpionfish
and a great variety of colourful nudibranchs. Even the sand between each wreck
would produce surprises, like sea pens out in the day, sand anemones, pretty
gobies, sea stars and octopus. From the wrecks you can head into the shallows
where there are patches of reef and more critters like ornate ghost pipefish,
shrimps, clown anemonefish, spotted soapfish, boxfish and groups of shrimpfish.As most of the dive sites are close together and close to the dive centre, only one to fifteen minutes away, LLBC run single dives. They also run a live boat, so you jump in at the deepest part of the dive and follow the terrain into the shallows to do your safety stop. On most dives we only had the two of us and our guide, Ogin, who is fantastic at finding critters.
For pygmy sea horses Ogin took us to Sabang Wall and Sinandigan Wall. Both of these sites have lovely walls covered in colourful and healthy corals; sea whips, gorgonians, soft corals, hard corals, ascidians and giant barrel sponges. The fish life was good at both sites, plenty of reef fish and a few pelagics. While invertebrate species were represented by featherstars, crabs, shrimps, sea stars, urchins, sea cucumbers and especially nudibranchs, which seem to be all over the place. Of course the highlight of these sites were the tiny Bargibant’s pygmy sea horses, pink in colour to match the gorgonian they live on. You really don’t appreciated how beautifu
l
and tiny these delicate creatures are until you have seen them with your own
eyes.Wanting to see slightly larger sea horses Ogin suggested we dive The Boulders. This site has numerous large boulders coated with pretty corals, but we went onto the rubble beyond the boulders in 30m. Here Ogin located three thorny sea horses for us to photograph in only a few minutes. At this site we also saw a tiny octopus, lots of sea stars and sea pens, and some royal hypselodoris nudibranchs, a fabulous purple colour.
For sharks we headed to the Shark Cave, where whitetip reef sharks rest under ledges. The reef here was lovely with large gorgonians, barrel sponges and sea whips. Under the first ledge there was one reef shark sharing its shelter with squirrelfish and rock cods. At the next ledge we found three more reef sharks all trying to have a sleep. Heading into the shallows we saw clown anemonefish, lionfish, fairy basslets, globefish, parrotfish and three moray eels squashed together into a small hole.
Facilities at LLBC are wonderful. Located on the beachfront at Big La Laguna they have 31 air conditioned rooms, a pool, restaurant and bar. The dive centre run daily boat dives, dive courses, a liveaboard boat to Tubbataha Reefs, Apo Reef and the Coron Wrecks and is the largest Tech diving centre in the area.
Requesting Mandarin fish, Ogin took us to The Hill, a pretty coral garden with giant clams and abundant reef fish. At 15m there are sea grass beds where thorny sea horse live, we saw three and also an unusual weedy type of sea horse. We also found ornate ghost pipefish, nudibranchs, sand anemones, jawfish and a snake eel with only its head protruding from the sand. Ogin then took us over to a patch of hard coral and there hidden deep in the coral were three splendid Mandarin fish.
The best wreck dive at Puerto Galera is the Alma Jane, a 35m long cargo ship that was scuttled in 2003. The wreck sits in 30m and is fun to explore, with access to the hold and wheelhouse. However, it was the marine life that makes the dive. Inside the wreck live lionfish and lovely banded pipefish, while swarming around the ship are schools of sweetlip, rabbitfish and especially batfish. The coral reef in the shallows nearby was also impressive, with huge barrel sponges and some large gorgonians. We found cuttlefish, moray eels, angelfish and several giant anglerfish.
Diving conditions are generally excellent all year off Puerto Galera, with the water temperature varying from 25C to 30C degrees. We enjoyed 15m to 30m visibility, which is typical, but it can be even clearer at times making this area fantastic for photographing and finding critters.