I longed to go to Puerto Gallera for the longest time and finally made it this weekend with my girlfriend. Going there was pretty easy; we first took a bus from Alabang to Batangas Pier particularly the bus with the Batangas Pier/Calabarzon sign board(bus fare ~ 130 php). This bus passed thru the Star Tollway/Hi-way, a speedier route which saved time and traffic by not going thru Lipa City. Our Travel time was approximately 2 hours to reach the pier. At the Batangas pier, several booths offered tickets to Puerto Galera particularly to the two destinations- Sabang and White Beach. Sabang Beach, from what I gathered, apparently was more of a diving site compared to White Beach, which apparently was more of a swimming and partying place. We opted for the latter simply because we don’t know how to dive.The boats leave Batangas pier to Puerto Galera every 45-60 minutes. A single journey boat trip costs 250 php/person but luckily the ticket booths offered discounts for round trip tickets at a cost of 450 php/person. We got round trip tickets for obvious reasons and just when we thought we had saved dough, we learned that we still have to pay environmental taxes (php 50/person) and terminal fees (30 php/person) prior to entering the boat terminal. The transactions, however, was surprisingly fast. After paying the appropriate fees, we entered the boat terminal and off we go to the boat. The boat, more of a large banca, looked sturdy and approximately can accommodate 50-75 people. We took a seat in the front area of the boat because the back section allowed people to smoke. We left Batangas pier at around 1 pm, the weather was hot and the sea was calm. The boat trip was smooth and the cool sea breeze eased the intensity of the heat. After 2 hours of smooth boat trip we arrived at the shores of White Beach, Puerto Galera. It was pretty!Now we only need to look for a place to stay.Watch out for Part 2 ( Puerto Galera place to stay and things to do)
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