Puerto Galera is a charming coastal town often referred to as the diving capital of the Philippines. Nestled on the northern coast of Mindoro, it sits right on the edge of the Verde Island Passage, which is often referred to as being in the “center of the center” of marine biodiversity.
While Puerto Galera is known for its beautiful white sand beaches, it’s what lies under the surface that truly makes it so special. This region is a tropical hotspot of marine biodiversity, with an incredible array of marine life attracting divers and photographers from all over the world. In fact, the region was declared a Marine Reserve by the United Nations in 1974 due to the high numbers of rare tropical species.
My favourite part about diving in Puerto Galera was how easy it was to access all of the dive sites! Within a 5-7 minute boat ride we were already underwater exploring the reefs, wrecks, and muck sites. I stayed at the Atlantis Resort and the guides there were seriously skilled! They could spot just about anything, even the tiniest animals you might typically need a microscope to see!
There were highlights to every dive, but I’ve narrowed it down to my top 4 favourites below:
1. Sanandagan Wall (AKA Nudi City)
Sanandagan Wall, often also called “Nudi City,” was definitely one of my favourite sites. Located on the right-hand side of Puerto Galera, this coastal dive is a truly spectacular coral reef that’s located only a few minutes away from the resort. I remember coming up from this dive with a HUGE grin on my face, especially after seeing such a diversity of corals and macro life, including a pygmy seahorse!
During the dive we dropped down and followed a gentle reef slope and some rubble, which eventually turned into a beautiful wall covered in soft corals and sponges. The colours were so vibrant, and amongst the reef were SO MANY nudibranchs that I lost count! There were green ones, pink ones, blue ones and purple ones. Nudibranchs of every colour, shape and size, it was seriously all I could ever ask for. We also spotted decorator crabs, pipefish and shrimps hiding amongst the structures.
This site’s vibrant and healthy reef is truly something special for this region. Aside from the reef, it’s also one of the best sites for macro, so for anybody else who loves the little things, this dive is not to be missed!
2. Mandarinfish Dusk Dive
As you can probably imagine, the dusk and night diving in Puerto Galera is absolutely unreal. In fact, it was so good that we often skipped an afternoon dive just to make sure we had the energy for night diving.
On the mandarinfish dusk dive, we geared up with red lights and a fin-full of patience. We dropped down and patiently waited beside a patch of branching coral (the mandarinfish habitat). These tiny, colorful fish are famously shy and only emerge very briefly at dusk to mate, so timing was crucial!
We headed out at 5pm, and after around 30 minutes of waiting, we were lucky enough to see a pair of mandarinfish mating! Together they rose up around 1m from the coral in a slow-motion spiral. It only lasted a couple of seconds, and I was super lucky to capture a photo!
3. Giant Clams
Giant Clams was a shallower dive site that was perfect for practising our photography. And honestly, after the briefing I wasn’t expecting too much from this dive. But boy was I wrong! Not only did we find a beautiful giant clam garden (as promised), but we also managed to spot a blue-ringed octopus AND a harlequin shrimp living amongst the corals! Very quickly, two of my bucket-list species were ticked off in just one dive! Oh, and did I mention that I spotted both of them myself?! (My guide was extremely proud of me and offered me a job).
In the sandy patch nearby we also saw seahorses, garden eels and crabs. Overall, I loved this dive site and would definitely go back to see if I can find my octopus friend again.
4. Montani
Montani is one of Puerto Galera’s best muck diving sites and a favourite among underwater photographers. With its dark volcanic sand and scattered patches of rubble, it may not look spectacular at first glance, but when you slow down you’ll discover an incredible diversity of macro life.
This site is known for housing frogfish, nudibranchs, pipefish, octopuses, shrimps, and a variety of crabs and other colourful crustaceans. Every dive offers something different, making it an exciting site to dive over and over again!
5. Verde Island
Verde Island is a must-do day trip from Puerto Galera. The small volcanic island is surrounded by some of the richest marine biodiversity in the world and is known to be some of the best reef diving in the Philippines.
We were certainly not disappointed with the dives here. We saw SO many fish everywhere, with massive schools moving across the reef, along with huge barrel sponges and beautiful sea fans scattered throughout the walls and slopes.
Compared to Puerto Galera’s muck and macro sites, Verde feels more dramatic, with fish constantly moving in every direction. It was also a nice change up to trade the macro lens for a wide angle setup and focus on the larger reefscapes. So if you are wondering if it’s worth the day trip, then in my opinion it absolutely is.
Puerto Galera’s dive sites have a diversity that is truly unique to the region. From macro critters to spectacular wide-angle reefs, each dive has something new and special to photograph! In one trip, I ticked off almost every species on my bucket list, and we are already planning our next trip back!
Words and images by Tiani Dun
