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Philippines (Puerto Galera & Sangat Island) : April 2000 by Cliff Coggin
Helen and I were looking through the Explorers Tours brochure for a cheap week in the Red Sea when H spotted a mention of Japanese WW2 wrecks in the Philippines, so our plans immediately changed, i.e. the cost tripled. A few telephone calls and e-mails later we were both hooked and booked. One week at Puerto Galera on the island of Mindoro, then a week at Sangat Island, near Coron.
PUERTO GALERA
Getting there involved a tedious 12 hour flight to Manila, (a horrendous city with no redeeming features at all), followed by a 3 hour drive to the south, then a one hour boat trip to Puerto Galera. Five yards from the end of the jetty was Asia Divers, above it was the Point Bar, and a further 30 yards away was our accommodation in El Galeon Beach Resort. Needless to say we didn't exercise much over the next five days.
Asia Divers is a PADI centre, and looked to be the most organised of the 27 dive centres along two miles of beach. The staff was friendly, professional and almost too helpful: I am just not used to having my cylinder carried on and off the boat, or my clips done up and air turned on for me. The dives were all guided, with limitations on time and depth emphasised in the excellent dive briefings. Some might find this disagreeable, but considering there is no recompression chamber within six hours travel, and the fact that I twice managed to drop my computer and dislodge the battery, it was probably wise.
The diving at Puerto Galera is mainly on reefs and walls, though there are a couple of mildly interesting wrecks. The coral is in excellent condition with no sign of bleaching, and the fish are stunning. I reckon it is better than I have seen on the Great Barrier Reef, but not quite up to Red Sea or Maldives standards. Nitrox is available though we were on air: 200 bar aluminium 12 litre singles. Water temperature 27 º, air temperature 30º, so our 3mm wet suits were ideal. I did 10 dives here, a few of which are below.
Sinandigan wall
Actually a steep shelf bottoming at 21 metres. A gentle current took us past the soft and hard corals, plus the usual anemones with clown fish. The best features were the number & variety of nudibranchs, and the spectacular colouring of the crinoids.
Canyons
A series of gullies off a headland where two opposing currents meet. The 7 knot current (not for the faint hearted) swept us past gorgonias and frantically feeding soft corals so quickly it was difficult to get any photographs except in the bottom of the gullies, where it was just possible to remain stationary by finning hard. The fish of course merely give you a withering look as they hang there as if tethered by invisible lines.
Sebang beach
Another drift dive starting on some enormous table corals that were about 8 feet across, inhabited by tiny pale blue fish (possibly neons) which had an aversion to having their pictures taken. Then on to some bommies where tubeworms of blue, pink, white and brown abounded.
SANGAT ISLAND
The trip to Sangat Island meant we had to return to Manila (ugh!), then fly to Busuanga Island, drive overland in a jeepney (a sort of stretched jeep unique to the Philippines that carries 14 passengers inside and as many as can hang on to the chrome outside,) to Coron, and finally a boat journey to our island. It is worth mentioning that all the boat trips, including diving, were on bancas, a sort of oversized wooden canoe fitted with a diesel engine and two bamboo outriggers tied on with fishing line.
The resort on Sangat Island is a 250 yards long beach accessible only by sea because of the steep cliffs behind it. It comprised eight bamboo huts for guests, a bar & restaurant, a bamboo dive shack, and bamboo accommodation for the staff. The huts have bamboo shutters instead of glass in the windows (doors and windows are never closed so what’s the point), electricity only from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. (but you do get a kerosene lamp for visits to the bathroom), no air conditioning or even fans, and no hot water (who needs it when the cold water is 30º), but don’t let this put you off. What you get is a tropical beach resort built exclusively for divers. The whole place is run by an English eccentric by the name of Andy Pownall with dreams of declaring independence from the Philippines.
The diving here is based on the Japanese wrecks sunk during the Second World War, though there are a few other sites worth investigating. Most divers in the area are based in Coron which, apart from being a dump, is further from the wrecks so it is worth the extra expense of staying on Sangat. What you will not find here are pristine corals. The currents are not strong enough and there is extensive damage from anchors and dynamite fishing. The wrecks on the other hand are outstanding, not warships admittedly, but largely intact and open for exploration. The first time on each wreck we were guided by the dive master, a local lad by the name of Bong, but after that we were free to dive as we wanted. The approach to diving is far more relaxed than at Puerto Galera, with no check on qualifications or experience, but you do have to sign a waiver excluding the resort from any responsibility for anything. Surprisingly for such a remote and undeveloped resort nitrox was available. Helen & I used 230 bar, 12 litre single cylinders. I did 12 dives here, a sample of them are shown below.
Olympia Maru
A freighter on its starboard side at 25 m. The holds are all open for exploration but completely empty apart from schools of glassfish and silt at the bottom. We managed to squeeze past the two aft boilers, under the bridge, and out at the bow. It is also possible to swim up the prop shaft tunnel though we did not try this as air was running low. It was on the hull of this wreck that we saw for the first and only time two sea horses. On a second dive, the Danish couple with us surfaced into an air space in one of the holds, unfortunately he did not notice the layer of fuel oil on the water, so the wash down after the dive took on a special significance for him: two packets of Tide for the equipment and a whole bottle of shampoo for his hair.
Akitsushima
A flying boat tender on its port side at 39 m. At the stern is the crane used to hoist the flying boat aboard, though there is no sign of the plane itself. Moving forward there is a gun barbette just aft of the remains of the bridge. Further forward again is a bomb hole where the funnel used to be, and then a mast, and then the largely undamaged bow. The interior consists of vast open spaces connected by quite small openings in the bulkheads. We also came across two large winches inside the ship, which I can only assume were for the crane.
Kayangan Lake
A fresh water hot spring that is not intrinsically interesting except for the temperature, and the difficult access from the mooring involving an exhausting climb over a15 metre high ridge of rock. The surface temperature was 32º, which increased as we descended. Bong reckoned he had been to the bottom where it was 45º, but at 39º I was in danger of fainting so I aborted the dive, and we returned to the thermocline at 14 metres to study the rock formations through crystal clear water.
Irako Maru
Another freighter, this time upright at 39 m. We went straight into the engine room where the machinery seemed to be undamaged – not only was the engine still there, so were all the pipes and valves. At this point I dropped a clanger by hanging back to get some photographs while the other four went on. I failed to see the direction they took out of the engine room and under the bridge, so I went out of the first exit I could find and promptly got caught in some fishing line. It did not take long to free myself but I had no chance of finding the others inside an unknown wreck so, going by the textbook, I went up the line to decompress. By this time the others had missed me and were frantically backtracking along their route. Not being able to find me, they too ascended to the deco stop where I am grateful they could not speak, but their expressions spoke volumes! Naturally the beers were on me that night. Unfortunately we did not have time to return to the wreck for me to catch up on the bits I missed.
SUMMARY
Although there is a little local difficulty with a Muslim separatist movement at the moment, I would gladly return to the Philippines at the drop of a hat. There is diving to suit all interests: corals, fish, scenic dives and wrecks. The water is warm and generally clear, (15-25 metres), the Philippinos are a friendly people, and even the San Miguel beer is palatable. The holiday was booked through Explorers Tours who did an excellent job.
© Cliff Coggin - April 2000
