Puerto Galera Galore

Last January 7&8, Bi and I spent our weekend with my friends Lady, Michelle, Lourdes, Ate Llyann and Sir Mouse in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro. I have planned this get-away long before to celebrate Bi's birthday. I kept this as a surprise not until a week before the actual trip. Talk about slip-of-the-tongue moments. I easily convinced my friends to join us cause we really missed each other, gaaah it's been ages since we last met.

The Journey

All of us will be coming from different areas so we decided to just meet up in Batangas Port. Bi will be coming from Bicol, yes you read that right, Ate Llyann and Sir from QC, Mich from Tanauan and Lourdes from Calamba. Lady decided to stay in Mich's place to avoid morning hassle coming from Manila. Bi and I just met up in Turbina around 5 o'clock in the morning. We took the bus going to Batangas Pier via CALABARZON to beat the traffic . The blooper: We didn't know that Lourdes was riding with us until we reached Batangas! Tita Mi and Lady arrived first, then my group and Ate Llyann and Sir came last. Our ferry schedule was 7:30, just right in time. We boarded, I almost fainted, and found ourselves comfortable seats. The ferry has a maximum capacity of 129 persons, that I really needed to know, and was boarded with mostly foreigners. Life vests were distributed, I made sure we got ourselves with it. The ferry trip lasted one and a half hours, probably the longest sea travel of my life! Oh, did I mention that it was my first time too? And that I do not know how to swim? Paranoia it was. The ferry has three destinations, Sabang, Muelle and White Beach. We stopped at Sabang first, which was our destination, around 9:00 am.

My lovely girls while on the ferry.

Bi and I trying to hide our nervousness. haha!

Settling Down


Upon arrival to Sabang, I have to confirm with FSL our return ticket first so that we would be included in the headcount on our journey back to Batangas. Afterward, we headed to Big Apple Dive Resort where we will stay for the night. I didn't know that the check in time is 2:00pm, my bad. Good thing they allowed us to put our things in their office to free us from hassle during our tour. The receptionist is quite nice and really accomodating. She even promised us that we can check in earlier than 2:00 once the rooms are freed. We sat down first, thought of our itinerary for the day, until a lady approached us and offered some suggestions where we can go and spend the whole day with.

Upon arrival at Sabang.

Muchas always on the go.

The Itinerary


We decided to have our breakfast first, by the way, Big Apple has a 24-hr bar and restaurant so we didn't have to go elsewhere to eat. But, during that day, the restaurant was already fully occupied with mostly foreigners and divers so we resorted to eat on a canteen next to it. Sabang has many eating places, they even have mini-market and a grocery store nearby. Expect though that the price would be higher than what we know. After having breakfast, a boatman approached me and offered me a daytrip rental of his boat. For 2000, we agreed. He provided us with life vests and snorkels. He even went to the market to buy lunch for us. When all was set, we were good to go.

Gaaah. Boat. Sea.. I'm going to die.

Our first stop was at a place with a kubo where Kuya Eric, the boatman, cooked our lunch. I do not know what exactly the place is called, it is near the school anyways. While Kuya Eric was preparing our lunch, we also prepared to island hop. We rented smaller boats to tour us around. A fee of 400 per person was charged with the inclusion of snorkeling, underground cave tour, fish-feeding and giant clam sighting. And for the bonus, Kuya boatman took all our photos while doing those activities.

After that, we had our lunch, a very good lunch, rested for a while and we were off to go again  to White Beach. Upon arriving at White Beach, the girls indulged in buying pasalubongs. White Beach is where most of the souvenir shops are located and the night life here is much livelier than that of Sabang, they said. We never got the chance to swim since it was already getting dark so we left that activity for tomorrow.

The fun day ended around 6:00pm, already checked in at the resort and rested. My whole body ached, literally from those activities we had. No regrets though. Bi and I really enjoyed the day. :) I know the girls did too.

We ate dinner ahead of the others because we were already starving to death. Haha. Good thing that the resort allows free Wifi connection so the night didn't turn out to be a bore. Sir even posted our photos on Facebook on that very same night! Around 10:00pm, lights out.

On board. :)

Enjoying the snorkeling.

Fish-feeding session with Bi.

Underground cave.

The Day After


Bi woke up earlier than me, as always. It was his birthday! I asked him what he felt, I got no answer but a kiss. Ok so much for the mushiness. The call time was 6:00, Kuya Eric was already waiting for us outside the resort. The day was gloomy, rain was sneaking out. That morning was a low tide, I got to see lots of starfish! :) We headed to White Beach despite the raging waves and strong wind. There came the point when we needed to change route because it was too dangerous to push through. We stopped on a shore and just rode a tricycle to White Beach. Upon arrival, we pre-ordered for breakfast and swam ourselves with the waves. Weee!

My whole body still ached that day, even upon arriving home. We went back to Sabang and fixed up,  checked out at 12:00nn and boarded the ferry back to Batangas exactly 1:00pm. We headed home separately.

As always, parting time was one of the saddest time in a journey. But on the good side, we have something to look forward to everyday. :) See you Anawangin, our next stop! :)