puerto galera

For our holy week trip this 2009, our family decided to go to Puerto Galera. This trip included my mother, my brother, his wife and three children, me and my hubby.

Since we had children with us, we decided not to “go with the crowd.” We left for Galera on Tuesday (April 7) and went back on Thursday (April 9). We stayed in Talipanan, where it was quieter and not too crowded.

At around 6am, we met near Robinson’s Place Pala-Pala where the terminal for vans traveling to Batangas City port was located. The fee was Php 150.00. There was little traffic on our way to Batangas and we arrived at the pier after approximately 2 hours.

At the pier, we bought tickets for the Commandos motorized boat, which is the only boat which makes its stop at Talipanan beach. Tickets are priced at Php 300.00 (one way) or 550.00 (round trip). It is advised that you buy your round trip tickets when you arrive at the port.

After the standard inspections, we boarded the boat. Coincidentally, with us on that boat is JB Soriano, a reporter from GMA. He was making a report on people going to Puerto Galera. We gained a little screen time in his report which was shown in GMA’s 24 Oras.

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The boat ride was around 1 hour and 15 minutes long. During the travel, we were lucky enough to see a dolphin and flying fish (some sort of) jumping above the ocean.

Upon arriving at Talipanan Beach (the last stop after White Beach and Tamaraw Beach), we were welcomed by Ate Marge and Aya, the persons in charge of the resort we were staying in. We stayed at Mengie’s Beach Resort. The room we had was priced at Php 2500.00 per night. It was an air conditioned room, with a king sized bed, spacious toilet and bath, and a terrace outside. We also had an extra mattress which was setup on the floor of the room. Ate Marge is very accommodating; she lent us the kalan, fueled by coal, where we cooked our food. She also let us borrow one of her pitchers which we used for our water.

The resort also had a restaurant that served different kinds of viands and meals. The prices were also reasonable. We tried out the Sinigang na Tuna, which was priced at around Php 100.00 and was good for 4-6 persons.

One of the activities that we did was to ride the banana boat, which had a rate of Php 200.00 per person (the children were free). The first round was where my nephews rode, and it was made sure that the banana boat would not turn over. The second round however, which consisted of me, Junjun, my brother and his wife, and my niece, was the exciting banana boat ride. We were first bought up to White Beach and on the way back to Talipanan, they tried very hard to throw us off the banana boat, to which we happily complied to.

Other activities which could be tried were parasailing (at around Php 1500.00 for two persons), snorkeling, boat ride to coral reef (Php 700.00 per boat), and sea walking (this is at Php 1000.00, I think).

We also got to try the pizza from Luca’s, an Italian restaurant within the walking distance from Mengie’s. Their pizza and pasta servings were HUGE, and it was fairly priced. We had the Cañonero variety, which was priced at Php 380.00.

Before going home, Junjun, my brother, my sister-in-law and I also got henna tattoos, for a minimum of Php 100.00.

We enjoyed our vacation at Puerto Galera. We had lots of bonding time and lots of fun. I wonder where our next holy week would be spent…