Dive Review of La Laguna Resort and Divers/Rented Private house in
Philippines/Puerto Galera

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La Laguna Resort and Divers/Rented Private house: "One dive in Puerto Galera", Dec, 2016, by Robert L Short, CO, US ( Sr. Reviewer 10 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 9541.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Rented a large house in Puerto Galera with it's own private beach for a week over Christmas--had talked to a dive shop just down the beach before arriving about fun dives and he said no problem--he specializes in tech diving. As a lone diver it ended up he had no other divers when I wanted to dive so he contacted La Laguna divers in Sabang and arranged a dive for me. They showed up the next morning at my beach with a small boat and took my girl friend and me to the dive shop in Sabang to get my rental gear and do the dive. Nice big operation attached to a resort with plenty of rental gear in good condition. Since I was a lone diver they had to find a dive master just for me which they did after about a 30 minute wait. The young Filipina dive master asked me about my dive experiences and set the dive site after that. The same boat that brought me to the shop was used for the dive--the four of us - me, my girlfriend, the boat operator and dive master took the short trip (5 minutes) to Monkey Beach dive site. Negative entry off the boat and we were diving. Shallow dive site--15 to 20 meter--lots of small critters and nice corals but nothing with a wow effect. It was clear visibility up to about 60 to 70 feet but very dark since it was very cloudy and overcast. The dive guide went at a very nice pace as I was using my Olympus TG-3 camera to take pics and videos and she pointed out things to me and never rushed me. After about 50 minutes we surfaced back at the boat and it was raining like hell. Nice ladder on the board for climbing back aboard. We returned to the dive shop and I paid my bill--1500 pesos for the dive and gear--very good price (about $31 US) and they didn't charge me anything for the boat pickup and drop off back at my lodging which was very nice of them. The day before we had taken a trike into Sabang to check it out--small resorts, bars and dive shops all along the shore for a mile or so--not impressed--kinda ugly. No real beach in Sabang until you get much further down the beach where La Laguna dive shop is located. Was going to dive some more with La Laguna since they had treated me so well but the next day Typhoon Nina shifted course and blew through Puerto Galera--end of diving. Power out in all of Puerto Galera for the remaining 4 days we were there--only places with generators were up and running. Our house had a generator so we were good to go--still had a/c and power for everything. Trees and power lines were down everywhere you went--we went into town the next day and very few places open for business--clean up was the order of business. All boats to and from Puerto Galera were not running back to Batangas so no one was leaving for a few days. Water was just settling down by the time we left after four days and electricity still was out everywhere. But boats back to Batangas were running again so we were able to make the crossing no problem.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Utah, California, Akumal Mexico, Cozumel, Philippines
Closest Airport	Manila	Getting There	We took a public bus from Calamba (south of Manila) to Batangas harbor, you can catch a bus from Manila also. The bus will drop you right at the pier. Very busy port--had to ask directions a few times to find the ticket booth to buy our ticket on the boat to Puerto Galera. About $5 US for one way ticket--there are several different companies offering transfers over for about the same price--no advance reservations needed as plenty of boats back and forth all day. Know which pier you're going to
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy, rainy	Seas	choppy, surge, no currents
Water Temp	28-29°F / -2--2°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Being a sort of new diver I just followed my guide--I'm sure if you are an experienced diver you could follow your own profile.[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[While I was at the dive shop before my dive I saw a few divers in the shop unloading and setting up their camera equipment for their dives on a dedicated large table.

Subscriber's Comments

By Alex Mitchell in Singapore, SG at Apr 13, 2017 00:42 EST

Do you have details of the house you rented? Webpage or air bnb page?

By report author: Robert L Short in CO, US at Apr 13, 2017 00:51 EST

Alex, I rented it thru Trip Advisor vacation rentals. I just checked and it's still listed-2 bedroom Luxury Villa and Beach. Mike the owner also has a 3 bedroom villa there also if you need something bigger. You can read my review there also. Bob Short

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Dive Review of La Laguna Resort and Divers/Rented Private house in Philippines/Puerto Galera

La Laguna Resort and Divers/Rented Private house: "One dive in Puerto Galera", Dec, 2016,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of La Laguna Resort and Divers/Rented Private house in
Philippines/Puerto Galera