The grounds of Fishermen's Cove Resort
Whilst touring throughout the Philippines in 2010 we discovered Fishermen’s Cove in Puerto Galera. Every so often we stumble across something in our travels that surprises us in the nicest possible way and this certainly rings true of this intimate resort on the north coast of Mindoro island. The resort itself consists of a small number of well furnished rooms with superb views out to a bay surrounded by limestone cliffs, nestled in a coconut grove there’s colourful flowers and plants all around. Within the gardens there’s a pool and loungers for relaxing between dives and a number of restaurants and communal areas are where the sumptuous meals and snacks are served throughout the day.
The diving around Puerto Galera is wonderfully varied, in fact we struggle to think of a destination which offers such scope, there’s a number of wrecks to choose from including the Alma Jane which lies in 30 meters of water and is home to big schools of batfish and plenty of critters like frogfish and ghost pipefish. Sites like Canyons offering thrilling reef diving with plenty of pelagics which school in the currents, within the inlets and surrounding sand bays you’ll find critters in abundance, these diving locations are no more than 30 minutes by boat from the resort.
Further afield there are a number of full day trips on offer from Fishermen’s Cove including Verde Island which is a rocky pinnacle which breaches the surface and descends on all sides to beyond 80 meters. The reefs that blanket the faces are incredibly rich with marine life and the corals are genuinely pristine, on par with many of the reefs you’ll find throughout areas of eastern Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Horse eye jacks and barracuda appear to like the currents here and such as the exposed nature of the location manta’s make for frequent sightings. If you like muck diving and critters then a day trip to Anilao is highly recommended, this has to be one of the Philippines’ biggest secrets and we expect a revival of this destination over the coming years once people really start to understand the potential!
Here’s a video of Me and Sarah diving the Alma Jane wreck in Sabang Bay.
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