Puerto Galera

One of the best known beach resort areas in the Philippines, Puerto Galera lies on and around a peninsula near the  northern tip of Mindoro. It is centered on  the village of Muelle, which is sits on a stunningly beautiful natural harbour formed by a series of drowned valleys. This is used to be an important anchorage for Spanish Galleons, hence the name. To both east and west lie a string of small bays, each home to a village and collection of resorts, the largest being Sabang, east of Muelle. The most beautiful beaches are west of Muelle, at the White Beach and Aninuan, but Puerto Galera's main attraction is diving, well protected coral reefs offering a string of stunning and easily accessible dive sites.

Top: With the few roads in and around Puerto Galera, bancas represents the best way to get around. As a result, many of the beaches are lined with them, as seen here at the village in the entrance to the Muelle harbour.

Above:  Puerto Galera is well protected reefs and well-stablished  diving operation attract scuba divers from all over the world. Here a group of Japanese Divers makes its way across a reef flat.

Above: A group of divers comes ashore at Sabang after an early morning dive. With almost all the reefs easily accessible via a short boat trip across well-sheltered waters, most dives needs use only small, lightweight boats.

Above: A dive group prepares to head out from Big La Laguna Beach, using a traditional banca to reach the reef. With so many divers visiting Puerto Galera, dive groups come and go from the  various resorts all day, every day.

Above left:  The beautiful golden light of the sunset illuminates coconut palms, shops and cafes along the waterfront at Sabang. Here the buildings crowd so close to the shore that at high tide no beach remains to be seen.

Above right: A dusk coconut palm leaning across Small La Laguna Beach becomes a glowing advert for a beach side restaurant.

Above : In early morning sunlight, bancas at Small La Laguna Beach are readied  for the day's tours and diving trips.

Above: One of the longest  established hotels on Big La Laguna Beach Club and Resort. It is an important dive and a mecca for divers.


Left: One of Puerto Galera's boatman helms his banca, a water taxi linking the beaches and resorts, through the narrow channel that separates Muelle harbour from the sea.


Right:  At a Big La Laguna Beach, actually quite a small beach, lines of bancas crowd the seashore, while clusters of lodges and hotels line the beach, providing all the facilities that visitors to Puerto Galera could need.

Below: A clusters of corals, the most prominent of which is the large Mushroom Leather Coral. 'Sarcophyton' species on one of the reefs of Puerto Galera.