White Beach, Puerto Galera

White Beach, Puerto Galera Oriental Mindoro is one of the most visited beaches in the Philippines. I was able to experience that place last summer together with my office mates and family.

Going to Puerto Galera will not be possible without riding a ferry boat not unless one is travelling by air. It took us almost an hour before our ferry boat arrived in the place. When we saw the view of the place from the Ferry Boat, we were all clapping our hands and cheering for we arrived safe and sound. It was my first time to cross the sea and although my companions could not notice, I was really very scared and was praying all along.

Now let me tell you that if you want some privacy, The White Beach is not the place for you. There is certainly no privacy in this beach (unless you isolate yourself inside your rented room) because this is a public beach.  It was summer and holy week when we went there. The beach was crowded. It was peak season so what more could I expect.   As we arrived there I immediately took a look at the sea and how disgusted I was when I saw it almost grayish. But I saw the people enjoying  the water just the same, swimming, riding banana boating, doing all sorts of water fun, and taking photos here and there. Honestly, I was quietly asking myself why people would even cross the sea for just a very ordinary looking public beach like this.

It was only when the night came that I discovered that most people were actually flocking into this place because they want to enjoy a different kind of  night life in this place.  After we took our dinner we all went out to see how it was near the beach and I was so surprised to see the whole place turning into a big, big red-lighted area. The shops along the shore turned into small bars and each was playing noisy music that customers enjoyed while sipping their beer or any drinks of their choice. There were some gays performing to attract customers to their respective bars. Customers were really enjoying, some were even dancing, laughing and chatting and making the most out of their night life in every sort of way.  My whole family moved out of the noisy place for that was not the kind of enjoyment we went there for. We instead went farther near the coast were therapeutic massage were offered for only PHP300. After the relaxing massage we bid the whole beach good night and headed to our private room to sleep.

The next morning, while all my office-mates who drunk the night out were still fast-asleep, my whole family took advantage of the early morning to enjoy the privacy of the sea. At least there were not much people that very early 5:00 am and surprisingly I found the water clearer this time. The water felt good in that early morning and we were able to enjoy the picture taking without the hassles of too many people walking around.

Then, when the sun turned brighter and hotter, we moved out of the sea and enjoyed food tripping along the mini stores around. Then we started our shopping galore. The prices of souvenir, shirts, native bangles, necklaces, slippers, hats and many more are definitely lower here. I was able to buy scarves of different colors for only PHP100 each. A scarf cost around PHP 120 to 150 in the city so I took advantage of the lower price and bought all the colors of my choice. The bracelets could be bought for as low as PHP10 each only.

As the sun got even hotter we started  dropping from one stall to another again to have a taste of  halo-halo, ice cream, juices, sago, gulaman, and any cold stuff that helped quench our thirst and cool down our throats amidst thick groups of people that come and go . Later we went around the shopping stalls again to see what more could be bought. I should say I truly enjoyed my shopping galore here.

While my office mates truly obviously their very noisy night life, my family on the other hand enjoyed our early morning swimming, food tripping and shopping galore.  At least we enjoyed Puerto Galera in our own fun but clean way.