Traveling to Puerto Galera, although quite near Manila, takes some preparation, time and money. I haven't gone back since 2002, so I was bracing myself for a different kind of experience.
I. Packing.
I had to pack for 2 people - myself and my dear hubby. I'm the one with all the time so I had to do it. My budget for our whole trip was only P3000, so I packed whatever snacks I could find in the house, to minimize on our spending a little.
II. The wait.
My first long wait was for JR at 7-eleven in Buendia LRT. He arrived from work two hours late, at 10:30 AM. Luckily, I've uploaded enough music to my phone to last me the whole trip. We hailed the first bus bound for Batangas City, which will stop at Batangas Pier. We had breakfast on the bus, dozed off a little, but our butts were sore by the time we arrived at the pier almost 3 hours later.
III. The boat ride.
As soon as we got off the bus, we were approached right away by "boat barkers," all trying to make us ride on their boats. We paid for a two-way fare (Batangas pier - White Beach), that costs P340 each. We were surprised to learn we also needed to pay for a Mindoro environmental fee (P50) and a terminal fee of P10 each. Nevertheless, we were excited to be on our way. I wondered if we would be able to see dolphins like I used to before, back in the late 90's. Of course we could've done without the long 45-minute wait before it pushed off from the pier. They had to fill the boat up to capacity, or at least a decent crowd, that's why.
IV. Galera, here we come!
Nope, no dolphins. The boat curtains didn't help either, to have a nice view of the sea. So we just passed the time listening to music and taking pictures. After almost 2 hours, we could already see the tourist-filled shore of White Beach. Finally!
V. The resort.
We checked into the White Coral Beach Resort, the first one we found, or should I say, the first one that we were led to by a "resort barker." Yup, they have those too. I haggled the price of their standard room (with AC, toilet, ref and cable TV), down to P800/night. The receptionist/waitress also gave us a 50% discount on the extension rate/hour. It really pays to appear like penniless tourists, I tell you.
VI. Pretty sunset.
Our plan was to rest until around 7 or 8pm, then have dinner and drink the night away. But as expected, we were too restless to stay in our room. We quickly changed into our swimwear and had our first dip. The water was a little too cold for comfort, so we didn't stay in too long. We caught the lovely sunset with our trusty digital camera.
VII. Dinner by the beach.
We had dinner at Lenly's bar&resto. Breaded chicken with fries, and pansit bihon were our main course. We bought balut and nuts from a beach vendor, to go with our beer. We had the romantic sunset sky for our backdrop while we ate, which beats dining in a 5-star hotel, I think.
VIII. Rest.
After our long day, JR, who was up for 24 hours straight, was the first to crash on the bed. I, however, still had enough strength to take a quick shower and watch a little TV. The room wasn't too bad for the price, though I wished it was a little cleaner.
IX. A new day.
We planned our day carefully before we went out. We wanted to do as many things as we can, with the limited time left. For breakfast, we ate at a quaint resto called "Peter's inn&resto." We had their tapsilog and longsilog meals which come with instant coffee. These filled up our hungry tummies quite nicely.
X. Gotta get away.
I knew from my past trips to Galera, how you can get away from the hustle and bustle of White Beach. It's just on the other side of the rocks on the eastern most side of the beach. We set off to find it.
XII. Found it!
Now this is more to our liking. There's just a couple of resorts here. Not too many tourists around, no fishing boats to mar the horizon, and no beach vendors to disturb you. It's the ultimate beach experience we were hoping to get here in Puerto Galera. Of course, we were still approached by a few vendors who climbed over the rocks like we did. We bought ice cream and a couple of souvenir baskets from them.
XIII. A short walk back.
We left the tranquility and headed back to White Beach through the road above the resorts. Going down, we caught a gorgeous view of the beach.
XIV. Lunch.
We only had a few hours left. We needed to be packed up by 11:30, which was the check out time. We left our bags at the resort so we could move around freely until 4:30, the time we needed to board our boat. We had lunch at Peter's again. They had shark steak on their menu, which piqued our interest. We just didn't ask if it was the endangered kind. It was yummy.
XV. Souvenirs.
There's a lot of souvenir stalls and we managed to look through them one by one. We ended up buying beads, anklets, a scarf, and a pair of shorts. This is certainly a place where you can find fairly cheap and cute beach wear for the summer.
XVI. Mindoro sling!
We still had some time to kill after our shopping, so we tried out one of the bars. I only planned to have a fruit shake, but then we remembered that we weren't able to go out drinking the night before. So, we ordered the famous Mindoro sling. Our bartender, Wendy, convinced us to get a pitcher. If we had any leftover, she/he (he's gay) said we'll just take it with us in a bottle. Turns out we didn't need to worry about that. We finished the whole thing in 2 hours' time.
XVII. Closing time.
We were just about done hanging out in the bar when they called for boarding time. We got on the boat a little heavy-hearted and drunk. Good thing we didn't throw up in the crowded boat.
XVIII. The end.
It was great fun to spend the weekend in Galera. We wish we could have had more time to try out kayaking or go hiking to the nearby falls though. Maybe next time.
