I, as not a frequent traveller or who just relies to a friend in organizing trips, find myself writing a blog just to share my latest trip to galera with a special friend of mine. The trip this time was organized by MOI so I need to Google every site related to the island dubbed as "poor man's Boracay". Hmm..what a snob remark I thought but in the end its up to the person on how he will spend and savor each experience to the limit. 
First move, as I've said, was to Google "Puerto Galera" specifically "Whitebeach". This led me to one reliable link http://www.puertogalera.org/blog/. This site helped me to narrow down my choices although I still need to visit each website of the resorts enlisted. Since we're planning to book a beachfront resort in Whitebeach and after looking/checking gal
era websites for weeks, I finally decided to go for Sea Jewel Resort. I went to this site http://www.seajewelresort.net78.net/ and finally talked to Emil Gonzales (+63906 304 0033) who is very kind enough to do the booking for us. I requested for a Twin Room good for 2 pax with a balcony (Room 201) and was granted! And most of all, when we got there we weren't disappointed. Very nice since everything is new then I later found out that it's open for barely a year pa lang.
It's just that you need to walk a few steps to/from the beach front and pass VM Beach Resrt and White Beach Hotel. Our accomodation of P1,500 per room includes hot/cold shower, aircon and tv with cable channels. You may request for a fridge with an additional P500 per night. Please note that their rates may vary depending on the season. Our P1,500 rate is applicable for the first week of March accomodation. On our second day, we booked Mendelluke Suites with a quite reasonable rate of P1,000. This time its facing the beach and our room is ok..just ok. Our room in Sea Jewel is better though. Mendelluke's room (Room 2B) has hot/cold shower, aircon and tv with cable channels as well. You may contact Novel (owner's niece) at +63906 465 2069.
Second step, buy the things you need especially food. If you're budget conscious, may I advise you to buy mineral 
water, few cans of beer and soda, chips and bread to make each penny last til you leave the island. Food there is twice the price of supermarket goods. Also, grab some cup noodles and canned viands to add in your grocery list. Mostly grilled so you'll get "sawa" having grilled liempo, pusit, chicken, kebab etc. There's Cia italia 
where we had dinner the second night and not bad! The owner and the chef are Italians anyway..I guess you wouldn't go wrong with that.
Third advise, please leave Manila as early as possible to avoid traffic. We left South around 7am yet along South Super Highway, traffic is quite bad already considering that it is just the first week of March (prelude to peak season). Assume heavy traffic during Holy Week and long holidays. Bus fare from Alabang to Batangas Pier is P137.50. Boat fare (we rode M/V Brian) is P250 one-way and P450 two-way. You don't have to worry about securing boat tickets as these are accessible in Batangas Pier and the boats of any shipping lines leave every 15 or 30 minutes. The boat trip took us 1 hour and 30 minutes via M/V Brian. Some shipping lines like Commando and FSL are way way faster so that's a piece of advise you need to note there ;-) You need to pay P50/head for environmental fee and P20/head for terminal fee when you get to Batangas Pier. Fares are as of March 2009.
Fourth thing to note ar
e the activities you might want to consider when you're there. From the moment you arrive til you leave the island, you'll be asked incessantly..."snorkel maam? / massage maam? / pearls maam?". Vendors will tirelessly asked you about these things unless you have a Post-it on your forehead saying "Tapos na Po" :-) Kidding aside, after we've been asked for the Nth time (and since we want to try the snorkeling experience) we gave it a try. Ate Benny (+63929 527 8924) who is one of the snorkel guides rated the Snorkeling Tour for P1500 for the whole bangca. So if you're a big group then good for you coz you just need to divide P1500 a
mongst yourselves. Btw, you can't haggle on the price because prices for parasailing, banana boat, snorkeling, island hopping and all sorts of activities are guarded and directed by Puerto Galera Association. They have a good system which is implemented by the management and abided by all vendors or else they will be suspended. So if you think you can get it for a lesser cost, I'm sorry but you can't. All vendors even the balut vendor, the bangca guide, massuese, and hiking guide follows a specific rate. These are the rates as of March 2009: Parasailing-P1,500/person; Banana Boat-P200/person; Snorkeling with gears-P1,500/bangca (please prepare an additional P100/person for the bangca guide, big bangcas can't go to Clam Shell or Coral Garden to protect reefs so only small bangcas are allowed); Island Hopping-P2,500; Massuese-P200 (whole body) or P100 (head,back&arms); Hiking Guide to Aninuan Falls-P100/person; Henna Tattoo is P100 (small design) and price may go up depending on how big your desired tattoo will be.
Aside from the Clam Shell and Coral Garden Snorkeling package, Ate Benny and her husband, Mang Bert (not the one in the picture), were kind enough to take us to Boquete Beach Club at Sand Bar and let us stay for atleast an hour. Other snorkeling guides will never let you stay that lon
g or even take you there. For those interested to reserve Boquete Beach Club, here are the details: http://boquetebeachclub.com/ +6343 2873 198. And since our trip includes life-sharing as well, we learned that they own the bangca and just to give you an idea their bangca of about medium size which can accomodate maximum of 15 people costs P150,000 and membership fee in their association costs P50,000. There are 117 bangcas doing the snorkeling business and Ate Benny/Mang Bert are competing against 116 bangca owners everyday (oh! only 115 coz they own another bangca). One bangca can only sail once a day to give business to others. And if a snorkeling guide was able to have a second booking the same day he had no choice but to pass it on to the next bangca in line. Or if he's madiskarte enough to convince the client to take the tour the next day, then better. The bangcas have terminal as well..like bus terminal system we have in the Metro. After a long days work, all bangcas will dock at Minilo Island.
Fifth is pasalubong stalls. Galera shirts range from P90-P100, board shorts may range from P90-P500, bracelets are P10/piece, anklets are P1
0 for 3 pieces. You may also buy for yourself a piece of swimwear and cover up for 120-P300 and shades are P100-P150.
Your Galera trip will never be complete without trying their signature drink: Mindoro Sling. According to one of the bartenders, Mindoro Sling is a mix of Tanduay Rhum, Sunquick Orange, Sunquick Lime and grenadine syrup.
