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*NEWS* |
Sabang, Philippines Trip - August 2004 August 2004 saw a new dive destination in the Philippines. My first time, I was eager to check this out with buddies. Invited by Ralph and Gunther of the Sabang Inn near Puerto Gallera - we had to check it out. The scuba diving and whole experience was superb and one to be repeated many times in the future I am sure. The August 2004 attendees were:
The Traveling - Flying out of Bangkok at 14:00 hrs to Manila was not the most convenient time as with a 3 hour transfer the other end we would not make the resort that day. Hey, we're on holiday - we need to chill out a little. Landing in Manila at 18:00 (Philippine time +7hrs GMT) we were soon through passport control and customs with our 21 day "visa on arrival" in our passports. Time to get some money...Having changed Thai baht into $$$US at Don Muang (Bkk Airport) we now decided to change $$$US into Philippine Pesos. (Good job that we did as everything is cheaper if paid for in the Filipino currency). By the way - if your exchanger should give you $100US dollar bills from 1996 - do not accept them as there cannot be changed without the slight of hand. Once all changed money wise, we passed through arrivals to find our smiling driver waiting for us. 700 Pesos later we arrived at St. Illian's Inn (www.saintilliansinn.com), Makati district, to begin our time in the Philippines.
Destination Sabang - 7:00am came (all too quickly) and we checked out ready to head to Sabang via Batangas. Saint Illian's Inn is clean, inexpensive, quite well located (as far as I know) but I would sincerely avoid the continental breakfast if you wish to avoid bitter disappointment. Shockingly bad! On route to Batangas we got to see the crazy driving of the Philippine locals. I thought that the Thais were a little crazy but the Filipinos are scary to boot, and they drive on the wrong side of the road! - Maybe I should say the "right" side but the "right" side is wrong! Still due to the drivers impatience with all other traffic we made good time and hit Batangas by 10:00am ready for the ferry (80 pesos outrigger boat) across to Oriental Mindoro, Puerto Gallera and Sabang where we were booked. We had heard that there are no ATM machines at our destination of Sabang (true) and so stopped numerous times to get some additional Pesos. We traveled at the time of the Greek Olympics and even though VISA card were the only card sponsoring and accepted at the games - it seemed to be the only card NOT accepted on route in the Philippines. Not to worry - we had $$$US that we could change if need be. The ferry from Batangas was a small "outrigger" boat. At the cost of 120 Pesos it was a thoroughly pleasant journey. 1 hour of islands and sunshine. As the bay of Sabang opened up on approach we all agreed that we'd feel pretty settled there...
Sabang Inn - On reaching the pier (gang plank to the sand) we were flagged down by our baggage handlers - good job too by the amount of luggage that Jules had! From the offset the service was superb - the guys grabbed our bags and set off 100 yards down the beach to the Sabang Inn. Ralph and Gunther, the owners, met us at the resort forecourt where we were given our keys and a briefing on the resort and the diving activities. We got a really good deal and Ralph and Gunther were good enough to give me great prices for 5 and 10 day packages that I shall be running in the future - check here for the Sabang, Philippine accommodation and scuba diving packages. These trips are very nicely priced and ideal for interns that wish for a break or maybe like me - make a short holiday of any visa runs. I must say that the rooms were superb, each with a private balcony looking over the ocean through the forecourt. Each room was approx 20 Sq Meter with plenty of room to relax, fan and aircon, cable TV, separate kitchen and cooking facilities including kettle and hob etc - great for a snack and cup of coffee. The quaint setting of the forecourt had a small kitchen where Ralph and Gunther's wives prepared food from quite and extensive menu of snacks. What they produced in the 2 Sq Meter kitchen was truly superb. No money is used within the resort - everything is simply added to the room to be paid on checking out. We had a 6 day dive package with 3 dives per day - 18 dives. Over and above this we had a couple of days additional to relax and bask in the sun. Sabang Town - The evening of getting there we had a nice meal in a beach front restaurant and got to know the town a little. This was hardly a chore as very small indeed - you can walk from one end of the town to the other in less than 10 minutes (slowly). The entire beach front is no more than 3/4 km at most. The shops, restaurants, bars and discos only recess 3 shop fronts away from the beach And hence there is very little of anything but just enough to keep one entertained in a relaxed way. I was certainly impressed with the range of cuisines from Korean, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, German, American, traditional English, and Filipino food (of course). It was a very nice surprise coming from Thailand to be in a country that can handle making decent fresh bread and not charge like a wounded Rhino for it. Cheese and other dairy products were also very reasonably priced. Man, did I enjoy a freshly baked French Loaf Cheddar Cheese and salad sandwich of an afternoon in between dives :-) I must be deprived in Thailand - last time I bought some decent cheese in Thailand, I thought that I was buying the goat it was so pricy.
After our meal we had a wander about until the wee hours. There are pubs and restaurants lining the beach with pretty much the same drinks menu - I hope that you like San Miguel :-) There is one shooter bar on the hill with a cocktail and shooter list of over 300 drinks. Food and beer is relatively inexpensive - Under $1 for a beer and a really good meal would cost $5. There are several bars in the centre of town catering for wanderers passing for the odd beer, most notably the ********* bar. This is a pub type environment with some of the best pool tables and cues that I have had the pleasure to play with in Asia. The main bar is at the front with the disco at the rear. Disco is a very loose term. Only 4 discos are in town. The Sunset, The Sabang Village Disco, ********** Disco and Sabang Disco. All are good for a beer or two and kickback and relax and located within 100 yards of each other. This really is a lazy persons paradise. The Diving - One superb aspect of the diving in Sabang is that all of the dive sites are a maximum of 10 minutes away. Simply give your gear to the resort guys and it's ready for each and every dive with 210 bar in the tank. Write your name on the board of any time that your group wishes to take a dive and you will get a dive at that time. The dive sites are all within the immediate bay area or just outside the mouth and around either corner. We'd congregate in the forecourt of the inn at the time of the dive and all of our gear would be assembled and ready. Once we had determined the dive site - the divemaster would brief us on the protocol. Generally it was a case of, "......this is the dive site - just follow me". I was more than happy with that. Briefed and ready, we'd take our fins, weight and mask to the boat (small wooden boat) and clamber aboard from the beach. Zzzzzz, zzzzzz, zzzzzz - literally, 3 tugs on the engine and we're at the stipulated divesite. Make sure that you have an equal amount (or weight of) divers each side of the boat whilst you slide into your BCD else watch the boat rock and roll :-) BCD on, weights - check! Fins - check! Mask - check! 3 - 2 - 1 and a backward roll (all at the same time) and you are on the dive. With the visibility a minimum of 10 metres you will not be losing your buddy on descent. Most of the dives sported approx 15 metres vis on average, many times 20+. Wonderful. We dived most of the major dive sites (see photos - apologies - no big stuff) but the very best has to be the Canyons. Apart from Shark Caves - the canyons had the largest marine life. Huge grouper are dotted around. Large schools of Batfish surround the out canyon. The current is a true washing machine whipping you up and then down, back and forward - a true ride. The max depth of this dive is 30 metres and we get approx 25 mins bottom time before kicking back to ride the current out into the deep blue for a safety stop. Deploying our safety marker buoys, the small boat can follow us during the stop and pick us up upon surfacing. It's superb diving and great fun in the boats to and from the divesites. For 9 days we chilled out in a sleepy village, dived all day and shared stories over evening meals. It really was a great trip, retreat and holiday. I thank Jez, HMS and Jules for making this Philippine trip of August 2004 a great time for me. Their company was good and most appreciated. I have used this trip as a spring board to other fantastic trips in the Philippines. Please check out the resort - I shall be running more trips there approximately every 4 months. Want to come along - contact me.
Philippines Diving, Resort and facts - quick reference links:
Join us on the next Sabang Philippine Scuba Diving Trip - contact me |
