Puerto Galera Adventures: Sun, Sea, Sand and Fun

Sheesh! It’s May, and it’s summer break for some, including us.

It’s definitely about chasing the sun, white sand, and water, right? So, we planned out our beach getaway. We don’t know yet, how we even choose wherewith so many beautiful summer destinations around.

In the first place, we are craving a comfortable paradise to relax with, and an off-the-beaten-path discovery, and we believe Puerto Galera fits our liking! It is a town on the Philippine island of Mindoro. It’s known for its dive sites and beaches.

Reached Batangas Port at 7:30 AM to catch our Roro going to Puerto Galera.

Tourists and residents are at their peak number since the national election will be in just two days.

From Batangas Port to Puerto Galera, the roundtrip fare for an adult costs Php 685.00 and Php 585.00 for a student.

To avoid getting tickets at the last minute and worst might cause delay, it is important to have advance bookings to avoid long lines and to proceed to the boarding gates in an instant. We were assisted by JACN Puerto Galera Tours to book our trip going to Puerto Galera.

Our Roro Reina Delas Flores waiting for us. 🚢⚓️

Actually, we’re 13 and here’s the first batch for 8AM float 😂
Aaron, Kyle, Paul, Russell, Me, Ric, Claire, AC, Jaryl 👩‍👩‍👦‍👦

Uhm, let me have this moment to stare how blue the sea is. It’s been 2 years, since the last time I went in a ship for a trip. 😅🌊 🌫

Normally, it will take a 2-hour ride on a roro (ship) and a fast craft takes an hour. Since it’s affordable to take the ship, so we did. It’s important to carry water and sweet treats with you when taking a ship because the motion of the wave can make you feel nauseous.

Landed at Port of Puerto Galera just in time, 10 AM. We were welcomed and accompanied by the personnel of the Travel and Tours we booked.

Rode on our service jeepney heading to our hotel. 🚙💨

Authorities require us to present our vaccination card, S-pass and pay the environmental fee amounting to Php 120.00 per head. S-pass was also processed by our travel agency to avoid hassle on documents.

Here’s the Villa Monica Hotel where we stayed for our comfort in Puerto Galera.

We were accommodated in this family room, which has a capacity of 10 persons. 🛌🏼

Our check-in time is 1PM and the hotel accommodation includes air conditioning plus the fan 😂, cable T.V., hot and cold shower, Wi-Fi connection, CCTV, kitchen on the rooftop, bathroom, and towel.

We arrived here, and it’s still not overcrowded since it’s 10:30 AM, besides it’s pretty early for the tourists to roam around on a Friday morning. ☀️

Fresh Buko Juice to refresh and quench the thirst I’ve been feeling since we arrived. This costs Php 100.00.

Puerto’s hair braiding is popular as it serves as a hair souvenir that you are on an island. Price varies depending on styling, Php 250-300.00.

Claire getting her hair done in pink yarns since she’s a proud kakampink??? 🌸🎗

Jaryl, one of his hair goals is to get it braided and PG made it happen. 🏆

There’s also Taho (Filipino Silken Tofu with Sago Pearls and Syrup) which costs Php 30.00 for the smallest size.

It’s almost sunset, and it’s the golden hour. 🌅

This Ice Scramble is quite different from what’s available in my town, it has pearl sinkers in it. It costs Php 30.00 for the smallest size. 🍨

I also get to enjoy playing beach volleyball with random guys in PG. No warm-ups, just dive on the sand. 🏐

Our first group photo by the beach. We’re complete here, catching sunset before diving into the sea. 💦

Our first dinner in “Foodtrip sa Galera”, each order costs Php 200-250.00, and it’s unli-rice with either chicken, Pork Kebab, Tilapia, Liempo, Squid, and the fruit shake costs Php 100.00. 🍗🍡🦑

That’s a wrap for our first day stay in Puerto Galera before we finally began to explore more of what the island offers for its tourists. We have had ample time to soak into the sea and talk about things that we don’t normally talk about on busy days. We have the time to enjoy the cold water in the sea, vibe with the music, eat dinner, and enjoy the nightlife during happy hours.

Hello Travelers! 👋🏻
“Enjoy the sea, not the bed” ~ Ma’am Beth 🤍

On Day 2 at Puerto, at 9:45AM we were picked up by our driver to start our activities for the day. Our package tour is an Island tour which costs Php 1,580.00 for 10pax above including the hotel accommodation. The Island tour activities include an underwater cave, giant clams, snorkeling in a coral garden, sandbar, Muelle heritage park, Spanish galleon replica, Canon replica, and Muelle bay (one of the most beautiful bays in the world).

Muelle Bay

Muelle Heritage Park

Spanish Galleon and Canon replica

Muelle Bay

Sandbar ⛱🏝
Jaryl, Me, Aaron, Kyle, King, Maan, Clarence, Cris, Ric, Claire, Paul, AC, Russell

Before we go to water activities, we were reminded of several instructions to mind before diving into the water. There are also aqua shoes being offered, it is a type of footwear that is typically used for activities where the feet are likely to become wet, such as kayaking to prevent abrasions when walking in wet, rocky environments. It costs Php 100.00.

With my co-two-faced Gemini buddy, Ric. ♊

With the always feeling, Jaryl. 😋

With the rumored top-student and fave, Claire. 🙄

We went boating as we head to the giant clam and snorkeling. ⛵️

We were amazed by the creatures that we were able to see underwater. It’s my first time, and it’s really admirable. 💦

In the underwater cave, it’s just the annoying life-vest that makes it very complicated to float. 🤣

At the stop-by mini-shore near the underwater cave. I’m holding here the super pricey-worthy Calamares 🦑 (breaded fried squid dish) that costs Php 60.00.

The scorching heat of the sun really burned my skin, in spite of having layers of sunscreen. It was pretty late lunch that we finished all the water activities like around 2:30 PM we went back to our hotel to freshen up and change. We were tired and rested, and got asleep till 4PM. We had the chance to explore the place and look for souvenirs and items to bring home to our loved ones.

And oh there’s a café here on the island where we could stay that’s cozy if there’s an urgent call for work.

Also, available are souvenir items, the usual clothes, keychains, ref magnets, mugs, tote bags, slippers, and a lot more.

There are far more stores, bars, and food stalls to explore in the place and yet to be experienced once. We enjoyed our second night by watching comedic stunts by the bay, we ate dinner, had happy hours, and rested.

Morning breakfast by the beach. Each meal costs PHP 119.00 with unli-fried rice, and free coffee/iced tea.

Here’s our view while we’re on breakfast.

A legit strawberry milkshake. Super tasty at PHP 170.00 💯

It’s our last day, we need to check out at 11:30AM and catch the 12:45NN ship back to Batangas port. We only have a few hours left to enjoy the island and take pictures of and with the place.

Here’s a sandcastle photo booth that costs PHP 20.00, not free either, but you can take a shot as many as you like, you just got to beat the heat of the sun. 🔅📸

Time to go home now. Thank you, Puerto Galera!

We were casually waiting to be called, and we were just in time to catch our float. 😆 We paid Php 10.00 per head for the terminal fee.

How I wish we could stay a little longer, or a day, perhaps. But we need to get back to our home now to face the responsibilities and get back to our same lives in order for us to get back to places such as this. This trip gave me so many realizations, it’s okay to spoil yourself sometimes, it’s okay to ignore pressure for once, and it’s okay to feel free and happy because we all deserve it. Practically, we are all not blessed to have the financial capability to treat ourselves to a vacation we all are craving but, we have the physical capability and the discipline to work hard for something that we really want.

I’m constantly learning the idea of travel, new friends, and food. I always feel the excitement and fear at the same time, but never the boredom, and I think it’s the most rewarding thing above all. Thank God for guiding us all throughout, and we all went back home safely with fragments of memories we once experienced on this trip. Thank you, Puerto Galera.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re going, it’s who you have beside you.”

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One Fine Day at Matabungkay Beach Resort

It’s Lenten season, and it’s as special as any of the regular holiday seasons, especially for devout Catholics. Including ours, many families prefer going to the beach on Easter Sunday after a week of solemn contemplation on the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, this year, we’ve anticipated a getaway, mainly for my Lola and her sisters.

Let me share with you our beach experience through this blog.

I haven’t been to a beach for a while, so as my relatives. After a long while of searching through Facebook travel groups, I chose to book our trip to Matabungkay Beach Resort, located at Brgy. Matabungkay, Lian, Batangas, Philippines.

Because of its proximity to Manila, Matabungkay is still one of the top beach destinations in Batangas among Batanguenos and tourists.

I’m checking Waze from time to time to check how long are we still going to wait before touch down.

At 3AM we headed to our trip and I can’t drive this early, so we rented a Van and a Jeepney where we could also store our goods and bags. We are 30 pax, each vehicle costs 4,500 Php.

I feel well-rested tho, I slept almost 6 hours prior to our onboarding since I’m excited, and I’m in need of much energy, so I won’t be feeling tired soon as we’re there. Most of our passengers in this van are asleep to gain energy for the activities they look forward to at the latter.

Or maybe, I’ll take a nap, a short one also.

After 2 hours of travel, we already did make it to the entrance of the resort, it’s just a bit of traffic we had experienced as we enter because we have to pay the environmental fee which costs 25 Php per head. Oh! The parking fee costs 100 Php per vehicle.

I miss this sight, the horizon that separates the sky and the sea. The calmness that the scenery is channeling caught me. I need to send this to my friends and bae. 🌊😋

Matabungkay Beach House Batangas floating cottage

The shore was filled with floating cottages (balsa) which makes it overcrowded at first sight. We were able to sail a few distances away from the other rafts, so we have ample space to swim near our cottage. We got this type for 25 pax at 6,500 Php this season. Since we’re 30 pax we were allowed to situate here for the whole day since we’re lightweight.

We’ve already settled and I already dived in. 💦

Here’s Garcia Brothers with Dad. Insert mom. 🧏‍♀️

Garcia cult. We weren’t able to have a whole group picture as others were busy doing water activities. 🏊🏻‍♀️

WTF! I mean, Where’s The Food? I forgot to snap a shot of our food, maybe because I’m too hungry to take a photo first. We served and ate pancit, spaghetti, puto, sandwich for breakfast, fried chicken, caldereta, fried bangus, and salted egg for lunch, mango, watermelon, singkamas, macaroni and vegetable salad, and chips for snack.

We went boating and snorkeling as a new experience for my dad, ninang, lola and bestie. They seem happy — evident on their faces.

It’s really a struggle for me to find a sunblock. I manage to apply Belo’s tinted sunscreen, retrieved from my old box back in 2020. I think I saved my face so. 😎

The sea is really inviting, but not this one that’s too deep for me. Although I have a life vest, I’m scared of the creatures down there. 🤪

Aside from boating and snorkeling which costs 150 Php per head for an hour, there are other activities available like jet skiing, riding on a wagon, banana and dragon boat, and island hopping, the price varies.

Look who’s burnt. Sorry for my happy feet. Since I’m wearing sandals, I’ve had tan lines on my feet.

I’m so worried about the burnt skin that I’ve got, but I realized that it will get back to its color thru time, but the time spent will forever be cherished and the memories of the experience that my family and I had here despite our schedules and whereabouts will be kept. I thank God for the time given and the strength of everyone to be able to be with us here. Also, for the financial capacity. It’s really not a bad idea to treat yourself and the people around you when you are saving. I don’t want to deprive myself of vacation just because I have bills to pay ahead of me. This hard-earned money spent for this getaway is a much deserve one, I must say. I’m just happy that I am able to take my whole family on a trip once in a while, and seeing the smile on their faces is a big win.

We stayed from 6AM-4PM there and at exactly 6PM we were home safe and rested because Monday is already waving. I’m looking forward to our next family getaway. On my 25th Birthday maybe? We’ll see.

Blessed are the curious for they shall have adventures.

Lovelle Drachman

Care to share your Lenten season stories and escapade? Let me know. ღ

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