White Beach, Puerto Galera

Puerto Galera in Mindoro is approximately four hours travel from Manila. First, we took the bus from Buendia bound to Batangas, costing us P146.00 each for the fare. We get to Batangas pier after two hours, where we have to pay an additional P10 and P50 for the terminal fee. This is followed by another two-hour boat ride from Batangas pier to Puerto Galera. In our case, we chose FSL/Blue Pelican-Penguins, which headed straight to White Beach. Boat costs us P348 for a round-trip ticket each. Just remember to confirm your departure time as soon as you reach the resort…this will save you from trouble.

We learned that the ferries left Puerto Galera pier daily at 0900H for the return trip, just in time to catch the bus coming back to Manila. You could also opt to travel with your personal vehicle, and park at Batangas Pier.

So we landed at White Beach with no reservations at all. Worst is, all rooms are fully booked that day. One agent, Helen, approached us and offered one of her own unoccupied houses for only P3000 overnight. It’s some sort of a blessing in disguise, though. The house is fully furnished, with 2-bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining, and all equipped with tv, ref, stove, barbecue pit, which we could not definitely find in an ordinary beach front accommodation. Since we could cook, we decided to market for our dinner, breakfast, snacks, and lunch. For all these food, we only shelled out P300 each…not bad! Food/drinks/liquors from White beach are not that expensive. They are just acceptable. Beware though, because vendors from Batangas pier would actually lure you from buying from them declaring that its cheaper and will save us a lot. But that’s not the case. We actually paid P80 for each 1.5 liter of coke, when its only P40 in Galera. Grrrrr!

We like the crowd of Puerto Galera. It’s very youthful. And we love how the sun set at night -- breathtaking! We were actually amazed that the water remained clean despite of how crammed the resort was. At first, we had hesitations in staying at White Beach because according to our peers, the beach has gotten too crowded and noisy already. But since we went there as barkadas, FUN is on top of our agenda. We would not recommend White Beach though, if you are looking for a private escape.

We also enjoyed shopping for souvenirs. You could get 3 anklets for P10 pesos; sea creature key chains and ref magnets cost P35.00 or get 3 pieces for P100.

You could practically go to this resort unprepared. As long as you have the money, you could still get yourself a good pair of swim wear, slippers, accessories and other must-have beach items from the number of stalls surrounding the resort.

Of course, spending a get-away like this is double the fun when you are with friends. Daytime, there are a lot of things to do aside from swimming. You could either try para sailing, kayaking, banana boating, scuba diving, snorkeling, hiking, and even shooting. Along with this, you don’t have to end the night inside your room when you could still party all night and drink their famous Mindoro Sling with friends.

White Beach is in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro 5203, Philippines

Contact Agent:
Helen Garcia of M/B Lady Kharel (+63) 916-7964765.