Puerto Galera Adventure April 2006

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I always wanted to go to Puerto Galera after going to Boracay of last year. To know why the place always been compared to Boracay for a beach destination during summer. So when my cousin invited me to go with them I immediately said YES!

The day was set... we will go to Puerto Galera 3-days prior holy Thursday to avoid the usual holy week hassle.

APRIL 9: We leave Manila around 5:00 in the morning boarding a Tritran bus to take us to Batangas port. I'm with my wife and daughter and our usual travel mates... my cousins.

We arrived in Batangas port around 9:00am. The port was already jam packed with travelers resulting to a little bit chaos at the ticketing booth. Luckily my cousin managed to squeeze in to buy tickets. The ferry ride was quite relaxing, the sea was calm and the ferry has good air-conditioning system. I managed to get some sleep even though my daughter and 3 pamankins (niece and nephews) are VERY noisy at the back.

We arrived in Puerto Galera around 11:00am. We are met by my cousins officemate friend to take us to the house we reserved prior our trip. However, we only stayed there for 1 day after knowing that a lot of houses offer cheap transients accommodations near the beach. But before we could cancel our reservation we had a little bit argument with the owner.

The beach we visited was popular for evening socials because of the cluster of nighspots abound in the area which make it popular for teenagers and young professionals. But for me it wasn't ideal for children... the beach had deep shoreline and tourist are congested in one portion of the beach because cottages and entainment facilities are all in one location and not well planned location of facilities resulting to a small very hot labyrinth type of walkway, plus massive sex trade especially at night.

Anyways, we still manage to have a good time during our 4-day stay. We went to the town proper to visit the museum, churches, and the market place. We also stopped on a small souvenir shop to buy t-shirts for pasalubong (given by one arriving from a trip). The second day was spent on island hopping and snorkeling. The boatman brought us to different snorkeling site. I encourage my wife to snorkel with me but she was hesitant, but due to my non-stop nagging she finally agrees. We saw beautiful shallow coral gardens and different colorful species, like crabs, shrimps, sea anemones, moray, and trumpet fishes. We had great time seeing fishes with their natural habitat.

Our third day was spent at the beach. We have found an area that has shade all day. My daughter and pamangkins had the time of their life they swam from 9am to 5pm.

See our video and pictures during our Puerto Galera adventure
>> Video in Puerto Galera

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