Scuba Diving: Sabang,
Philippines
Sabang, Philippines
November 7, 2004
Over one thousand islands with pristine, white sand
beaches and coral gardens to explore. Hand rolled cigars
that rival Cuba's. Delicious local and international
cuisine, friendly people, warm nights and cool tropical
breezes complete the mix. That's the Philippines and
there's more; how about scuba diving?
Puerto Galera is a port and district on the island
of Oriental Mindoro, an hour by boat southwest of the
main island of Luzon and 3 hours from Manila. My flight
from Busan to Manila arrived after midnight so I prearranged
for airport pickup, 5 nights hotel including breakfast
and diving instruction for PADI certification in a package.
I wasn't disappointed. You can check it out at www.actiondivers.com.
Tell Roscoe Randy sent you ;).
The 2 hour road trip from the airport to the dock at
Batangas was pretty uneventful. The driver Antonio stopped
at a store so I could buy some local beer. Good conversation
and a few San Miguel Pale Pilsners made the time go
quickly. At Batangas I was the only passenger to board
a huge pontoon boat called a Banca. The boat is long
and narrow with a flat roof, open sides and bamboo pontoons
that act as stabilizers. The water was like glass as
we cruised away from the dock. The wake from the pontoons,
filled with fluorescent algae, left a sparkling trail
behind us.
 An
hour later we arrived in Sabang, a small village in
the Puerto Galera district. We docked on the beach in
high tide 2 meters from my hotel The Deep Blue Sea Inn.
The Inn is a terraced network of rooms with steps running
up the middle to the top. My room was on the fourth
terrace about half way up with a great view from the
balcony. I stood there for awhile gazing out across
the palm tree-framed ocean with a big "I'm in the
Philippines" grin on my face. Yah, I still get
that euphoric realization of being someplace I've never
been. I took a long, deep breath. A wafting breeze filled
my lungs with an incredibly intoxicating fragrance.
But where was it coming from? I climbed the steps to
the top following the scent. At the top was a small
garden and in the center was a large flowering tree
called a Galachuchee. I picked up several of the fallen
orange and white blossoms and returned to my room for
some aromatic sleep. Tomorrow was my first dive instruction.
I had never given much thought to scuba diving. I like
snorkeling and swimming but they are not big passions
with me. Being from Canada I'm more of a snow/ski fan.
The first day was pure theory, reading the book and
getting familiar with the equipment. The next day myself
and 2 other dive students, Carlos and Lena, were introduced
to the sea on a confined dive in about 2 metres of water
just offshore from the dive center. We sat in a circle
on the bottom and went through the various skills using
the regulator, mask and weight belts. Breathing through
your mouth is not difficult but it does take some practice.
 After
10 or 15 minutes of skills, Klaus, the instructor indicated
it was time to go for a swim to check our buoyancy control.
I turned and there was this amazing new world that had
been behind me all the time. I was so focused on learning
skills that I hadn't really looked around. The place
was teeming with life. We swam in a slow wide arc over
a multitude of colored coral formations and through
an infinite variety of fish. And this was only the first
confined water dive. For the open water dives we would
be diving from a boat.
Each of the four open water dives were at different
locations and each location had its own unique characteristics.
One location was just off the point were the island
turns sharply southward. The coastline drops straight
into the ocean with no beach. Beneath the surface a
coral wall continues down in 2 or 3 stages deeper than
my training allowed. At one point I stopped in mid-ocean
at about 10 meters with nothing for a reference; no
bottom, no coral walls and no visible top, nothing,
just filtering bluish white light. I floated there,
spinning around in the blue, looking up and looking
down, seeing nothing. It was very peaceful and relaxing,
almost meditational.
Halfway through the training I had a free day to do
other things. Eugene and Angie, the proprietors of The
Deep Blue Sea Inn asked me if I wanted to do a day trip
with them around the island. It was a nice break from
diving. The roads aren't that good and sometimes quite
steep and rocky in mountainous terrain but still accessible
by 4 wheel drive.
First we visited The Ponderosa, a local 9 hole golf
course ... built on a mountain top. Seriously, some
of the greens can only be reached by lobbing the ball
across a ravine. It is a challenging course but I think
most people come for the view. The entire bay of Galera
and neighboring islands can be viewed from there.
 Next
we headed back down to the beach for a casual lunch
at a friend's resort. Uli owns Aninuan which is further
west of Sabang on a quiet white sand beach. Again, the
hospitality in the Philippines is genuinely superb.
People are friendly and love to talk. We passed the
afternoon sitting in the shade enjoying good food and
conversation.
After this Angie dropped Eugene and I off at the head
of a trail so we could do a quick hike. The trail winds
through a lightly shaded forest and continues up some
rolling hills by a stream and then back down to where
Angie would pick us up close to her family's original
house. Angie was born here but the government forced
all the families to move down from the mountains, fearing
local sympathizers with rebel groups. Some native people
still squat in the area, living in Nipa huts and etching
a meager existence from the land.
There are a few more stories like snorkeling with giant
clams, a visit to Luka's ("crazy's" in Tagalog
language) Italian restaurant on a nearby island and
lounging with local friends on the Floating Bar but
this page is already too long so I'll skip ahead to
the end.
My final night in the Philippines started with a quick
shopping trip for a few presents for friends. Probably
the best kept export secrets in the Philippines are
the quality cigars and rum. For less than the price
of a postage stamp you can buy a mickey of some very
smooth 80 proof Tandaquay rum or a couple of equally
smooth hand rolled Alambra cigars. After this I met
Eugene and Angie at Le Bistro for some authentic french
cuisine and wine.
 Later
I met up with some of the dive instructors and locals
for a night on the town. The night life in Sabang during
October and November is pretty laid back with most people
lounging in the open air restaurants and bars along
the beach after a late supper. It can get pretty wild
if you want and probably more so during high season
from December to March. We bar hopped, played pool,
karaoked and danced till the all-too-soon departing
boat at 2:30 in the morning. After a riotous goodbye
on the beach we boarded the boat. Alan, a dive master
and I were the only two passengers. We were in very
high spirits singing "Bob" (Marley and Dylan)
songs all along the way, most of which is a blur.
So all in all I had a pretty good time in the Philippines.
Already I'm planning my next trip there including some
other island destinations. What I liked about Puerto
Galera was the easy access, no hassles and friendly
people. The atmosphere in Sabang is laid back with a
good mix of age groups, local population and international
tourists. It's not really an exotic or unicultural experience
and hasn't been for perhaps centuries. The real appeal
for me is the diving and the multicultural cuisine.
Secondly I like meeting other travelers in this kind
of atmosphere; it always makes for good conversation.
It was simply a great vacation.
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