Why go diving in Sabang, Puerto Galera
Sabang, Puerto Galera offers excellent diving with healthy coral reef, wide variety of fish, critters and nudibranchs and lively topside scene. Located in the north of Mindoro island, Sabang is a 3-4 hour trip from Manila not requiring air travel.
One of the most famous dive sites in Puerto Galera (PG) is Canyons – an excellent deep drift dive best done on nitrox. Delaruan and Giant Clams offer excellent muck diving – we saw all kinds of creatures there including sea horses, mimic octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, frog fish, unusual nudibranchs and variety of crabs and critters. Sabang wrecks is excellent on a night dive. Sites are nearby and the boats come back to the resort for the surface interval. Many resorts in Sabang offer day trips for diving Verde island – definitely worth doing if tides are favorable.
Sabang has a bit of a reputation for being a party scene and girly bars place. It does have those establishments, but if you stay in Small or Big La Laguna you would not know you are 5 minutes walk from lively night scene of Sabang beach proper. Basically, if you are interested in that type of scene it is available, but if not – you can easily avoid it. There is a growing number of restaurants and our favorites are Papa Freds, Blue Ribbon, Relax restaurant and Captain Greg’s.
What to see
Logistics
Sabang
Sunset view from Small La Laguna
There is plentiful accommodation in Sabang and Puerto Galera area. Sabang beach
proper is busy and noisy but Small and Big La Lagunas are quieter and have many dive resorts. Most resorts are functional but not too fancy and target largely diving guests. The Sabang-Lagunas area is small and it is only a 10-15 minutes walk along the beach from Lagunas to Sabang proper. There are also bigger and fancier resorts in the area but they are generally not in a walking distance to Sabang. If you prefer not to be isolated in a resort and have options for dining other than your hotel’s restaurant, it is better to stay in one of the Lagunas.
Sabang main street
Passengers disembark banca at Sabang pier
There are regular boats – bancas going to Sabang from Batangas pier. Schedules are here. If you miss the boat to Sabang – there are more boats going to Muelle, and it is about 10 minutes by tricycle from Muelle to Sabang. There are also larger ferries that go from Batangas to Calapan from which it is about 1 hour to Sabang by car. Normally, regular bancas are the best way to go. However, if the weather is stormy and bancas area stopped the roros to-from Calapan may still be running. We have been taking bancas all year round but it is a good idea to check if there is a storm or typhoon expected and plan accordingly.
To get to Batangas pier you can take a bus or arrange a private car transfer from resort. There are also private boats that go from Berberabe pier near to Batangas and you can arrange private car and boat through most resorts.