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The diving area at Sabang Beach, Puerto Galera offers more or less 25 prime diving sites (for details please click on Dive sites). The sites are between 5 to 40 meters deep and comparable to the southern part of the Red Sea. |
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Puerto Galera is a coral reef paradise. Most of the 800 species of hard and soft corals known in the Philippines are found here.
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The sites are amazing for underwater photographers, marine biologists and enthusiasts alike. Soft corals, gorgonians, crinoids, colorful sponges and turnicates, crustaceans, shrimps and for MACRO-PHOTOGRAPHERS, the most popular invertebrates with their fascinating colors, shapes and sizes the "NUDRIBRANCHS" guarantee spectacular pictures. The house reef directly in front of the diving shop already offers various motives for underwater photographers.
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(Photos: Kai Velling)
On the house reef wreck, fishes life like batfish, angelfish, surgeonfish, wrasses, butterfly fish and other reef dwellers are already more than enough for a 36 exposure film. With some luck you can spot exotic fishes like spanish dancer, harlequin ghost-pipefish and at least 5 different colors of camouflaged frogfish, fire gobies and blue-ribbon eels.
Big fishes like white tip sharks, barracudas, tunas, even eagle rays, and turtles can be seen on selected diving sites like the popular canyons, shark caves or boulders, especially on a drift dive during big tide exchanges.
The water temperatures range from 26° 29° C. Since Puerto Galera is considered a warm water diving area, 3mm wet suits are standard. The tide exchange is from a few centimeters up to 2 meters. The selection of the diving sites depends on the tidal exchange and the slack tides, which is an important part of dive planning. The currents which are common in the area, are often brisk and unpredictable, creating conditions which may at times prove challenging for novice divers. Shallow, no-current or very slight current sites are always available for beginners. The visibility ranges from 15-25 meters average and on special days even up to 30-35 meters.
For divers interested in marine life and biology, we recommend checking books like:
Marine Fishes of Southeast Asia
by Gerry Allen
Marine Atlas
by Helmut Debelius & Hans A. Baensch
Nudibranchs & Sea Snails Indo-Pacific Field Guide
by Helmut Debelius
Living Corals
by B. Robin
Reef Fishes of the World
by Ewald Lieska & Robert Meyers