Moving from Metro Manila to Puerto Galera

[katie23]

^thnx for the info. Good to know. Yeah, I hope it's profitable for them, else they'll stop the route & vehicles will have to go via Calapan again. Hopefully there'll be more ppl in the summer months.

[Shutree]

I wonder where the nearest chamber is to PG.

I half remember being told that there was a unit around PG somewhere but now I look on the web I don't see one. There are a couple of hospitals in Batangas offering hyperbaric medicine, they don't specifically mention hyperbaric chambers.

[TizMe]

^thnx for the info. Good to know. Yeah, I hope it's profitable for them, else they'll stop the route & vehicles will have to go via Calapan again. Hopefully there'll be more ppl in the summer months.

Batangas has a large "Park and Ride" storage for cars. I guess a lot of people find it easier and cheaper to leave their car and just use local transport once here.

One thing good about bringing the car, is that you don't have to deal with the crowds in the passenger terminal.
You just drive into the marshalling area, a guy comes to your car window, takes down your particulars and your money, then he goes off and organises your ticket and terminal fee. We just wait in the car until he returns, gives you the ticket and then you drive onboard.

Of course it's also nice not having to carry bags.

[TizMe]

I half remember being told that there was a unit around PG somewhere but now I look on the web I don't see one. There are a couple of hospitals in Batangas offering hyperbaric medicine, they don't specifically mention hyperbaric chambers.

Yes. I think there's one in Cebu, and another in Quezon City.
I have heard of those places offering hyperbaric medicine, but not sure how it works.

[TizMe]

Out for a bit of snorkeling

[Edmond]

Cannae beat living in paradise with a beautiful young woman.

[TizMe]

Cannae beat living in paradise with a beautiful young woman.

She wants to buy her own banka now.
There's quite a lot of small islands with sandy beaches we could pack a picnic and visit for the day.

[katie23]

^reminds me of the "origin story" of the owner of the resort I stayed at in Coron island. He started out with one boat & used it to ferry tourists around the surrounding islands. Then he got another boat & another. A foreigner ex-client loaned him some money & he was able to repay it. (Foreigner said he was the only Filipino who repaid his loan, among others that he loaned money to.) That resort owner now owns 2 resorts & several boats for touring. He also had a big loss some years ago when their area was hit by a strong typhoon - he lost several boats.

Maybe your partner can buy a number of boats & be a tour operator!

[Edmond]

^reminds me of the "origin story" of the owner of the resort I stayed at in Coron island. He started out with one boat & used it to ferry tourists around the surrounding islands. Then he got another boat & another. A foreigner ex-client loaned him some money & he was able to repay it. (Foreigner said he was the only Filipino who repaid his loan, among others that he loaned money to.) That resort owner now owns 2 resorts & several boats for touring. He also had a big loss some years ago when their area was hit by a strong typhoon - he lost several boats.

Maybe your partner can buy a number of boats & be a tour operator!

Reminds me of the Thai story: A western lad sees a Thai lazing in his hammock next to a lake. The westerner says You should get up and go fishing, catch some fish and sell them in the market. After a few weeks you can buy a boat to catch more, then hire a crew to operate it. In a few years you could have a fleet of crewed boats and relax all day. The Thai looks at him and says: I relax all day now.


#deep

[TizMe]

Maybe your partner can buy a number of boats & be a tour operator!

The tourist police in Muelle Bay control all the boat operators. There is a roster and sequence. You can't negotiate with the boat operators.

[katie23]

^ooh, I didn't know that. The policy is similar to hiring of guides in most of my organized mountain hikes - there's a roster of guides and they follow a sequence.

In Coron, we had a packaged tour & it included lodgings in a budget resort, breakfast, the boat tours & airfare (Clark to Coron, Coron to MNL). Breakfasts were "silog" meals. Lunch was provided & prepared by the boat crew. For the boat tours, I didn't know how it was arranged. I think our tour agency in MNL was allied to the resort/ tour operator in Coron. I didn't know the specifics since it was a colleague who knew the tour agency. I just paid & tagged along.

For the boat ride in Boracay, a boatman just approached our group (while we were walking along the beach) and offered us a boat tour. We agreed on a price & pick-up time. I don't know if that's still the system in Boracay or if they've changed it to a queuing system similar to that of PG.

[TizMe]

For the boat ride in Boracay, a boatman just approached our group (while we were walking along the beach) and offered us a boat tour. We agreed on a price & pick-up time.

That was same for us when we went to El Nido.

[TizMe]

We went for drive "up the hill" during my lunch break today.
This is taken from about half way up.
Muelle Bay is in the centre of the photo.
Montemaria is in the distance to the right.

[TizMe]

Met a lady today when were were walking home from the beach.

Her husband, 4 kids and her have moored their yacht in Muelle Bay. They'll stay for about 4 weeks.
They are Canadians, sailing around the world.
They are home schooling their kids.
What a great adventure.

[Topper]

^ that's pretty cool...

[katie23]

^^that's cool!

I wonder what's the visa policy for them, since they entered via water? If it's the same as others - 30 days free visa-on-arrival?

Edit: good to see that there are still many "wild"/ green areas in PG/ Mindoro island. I think some areas are protected since they're the habitat of the Tamaraw (relative of the water buffalo but smaller & leaner).

[TizMe]

Yeah, I don't know what they would need to do for visas as the nearest immigration office is in Calapan.
I don't know if PG is their first port in PH

[TizMe]

Not a bad view from the Ponderosa Golf Club

[TizMe]

This is looking back towards Muelle from the Ponerosa.

[helge]

Very nice thread.

I have very fond memories of Puerta Galera and surroundings those 35+years ago.

And if I may add: You still have the best avatar on TD

[TizMe]

They are in the process of building the road between Puerto Galera and Abre De Ilog.
As you can see below, its currently a 9 hour, 450 klm drive to travel a distance of 9 klm as the crow flies.

[TizMe]

We took a drive west from PG to see how the road is progressing, we made it passed the WildTrek Beach Resort, but thats about as far as it goes until they finish building a bridge.

[Norton]

Quite an adventure Tiz. Thanks for the pics.

[TizMe]

Nice view from the View Point Restaurant as the sun goes down, about half way between Sabang & Muelle.

[Topper]

Thanks, keep it coming!