In October 2024, we are heading out to stay at Lalaguna Villas Luxury Resort and Spa (LLV), a 5 Star PADI Dive Resort, in Puerto Galera, the Philippines
We will be staying seven nights at LLV from Sunday, 13 October 2024 to Sunday, 20 October 2024. The resort is a perfect place to relax and unwind. It is right on the beach, has a stunning, large pool, 24/7 room service, 24/7 poolside bar and restaurant (if you fancy a roast dinner at 3.00am, you can get it), a gym, outstanding dining options, and a luxurious spa. The rooms are equipped with electronic door locks (you can conveniently wear your key as this comes as a wristband), air-con, international power points, a microwave, glasses, cutlery, and crockery, a hairdryer, safe, sound bars with connecting cables, a mini bar, coffee, and tea making facilities, a free unlimited hot and cold-water drinks dispenser, bathrobes and towels, and complimentary toiletries. The televisions in the room are firestick based, pretty much watch what you want when you want.
The trip cost includes seven nights’ accommodation at LLV, Small Lalaguna Beach, Puerto Galera, breakfast every day, private transfers by road and boat to and from the Coro Hotel in Makati, Manila to LLV, an eighteen-dive package (air tanks and weights only), with two days of diving at beautiful Verde Island. Lunch will be included on both Verde Island days.
The waters around this area are recognised as the world’s centre for marine life biodiversity. Diving starts directly at the front of the resort and the resort has the latest Scubapro equipment, diver propulsion vehicles, comfortable, modern dive boats, and nitrox available. There is a camera and charging station, and plenty of storage space. We will cater for individual diving needs including macro dives, deep dives, drift dives, wreck dives, relaxing easy dives, night dives, and any courses you might want to explore. There are regular sightings of thresher sharks on some of the local dive sites. The diving and underwater life offers something for everyone.
If you want to take a break from diving, there are plenty of other things to do in the local area including waterfall trips, a golf course, go-karting, and a host of water sport options at nearby White Beach. The diving package on offer is flexible, if you want to do more dives on one day and less on others, that’s fine. The included breakfast is also flexible, no matter what time you want to eat breakfast, it is included once a day.
Dive guides will be provided on every dive, and our Instructor Christopher Lim will be leading this trip. We stayed at LLV in October 2023, and the location, service, food, and facilities are exceptional. The swimming pool is massive and the centre piece of the resort, with plenty of loungers to use. There is a laundry basket in each room, simply leave your laundry in there and it appears back in your room automatically, washed and pressed, such is the level of service here. Nothing is too much for the staff at LLV.
It is an easy and picturesque 5-minute walk along the ocean from our base to the lively resort of Sabang with numerous restaurants, bars, and shops. Dotted along this walk are some trendy bars and some romantic hillside restaurants with stunning ocean views. The resort has everything you need onsite if you simply want to dive and relax. There are over 40 dive sites within 10 minutes of the resort with something for everyone, gentle relaxing dives, deep dives, and drift diving. It is super cheap to rent a motorbike or moped and do some exploring around the area with some cool bars and restaurants at White Beach, Muelle, and Small Tabinay.
To join this trip, you need to get yourself to the Coro Hotel, Makati, Manila for 12.00pm on Sunday, 13 October 2024. At that time, we will be met by our private airconditioned vans to drive to the Port of Batangas. This trip should take about 2 hours depending on traffic. At Batangas, our private boat will deliver us directly to our resort, the crossing should take about 50 minutes.
We will leave the resort at 12.00pm on Sunday, 20 October 2024 so, we should arrive back at the Coro Hotel in Makati at about 3.30pm. You can choose to spend some time in Manila, or we can have you dropped at the airport should you wish to head home that day.
On arrival at LLV, you will be shown to your room and can sort out your dive gear in the dive area to commence diving the next day. We have listed the rooms we are currently offering and prices below, however, there are other choices of rooms if you want to upgrade to a more luxurious room or even the Penthouse Suite.
We have set out our itinerary below with flight and hotel details should you wish to follow it. Our flights are with Malaysia Airlines with short transit times. The cost of the return flights we booked were $670.
We will help you every step of the way on the trip, however, it is ultimately up to you to ensure you meet the entry or transit requirements to join us on this trip. Once booked on the trip, you will be added to a private Facebook event page so you can communicate with other guests, share travel plans and ideas, and ask for any information you want.
Please ensure you obtain sufficient insurance to cover you as soon as you book on the trip in case you need to cancel for whatever reason, and that the policy covers scuba diving. All deposits are non-refundable or transferable. We do not get involved in flight bookings; we provide a point-to-point service once you arrive in the Philippines.
Our itinerary is as follows:
Friday, 11 October 2024, at 02.10am, Malaysia Airlines flight MH126 from Perth to Kuala Lumpur, arrives in Kuala Lumpur at 07.50am, then Malaysia Airlines flight MH704 at 10.10am to Manila, arrives at 2.05pm.
Friday, 11 October 2024, and Saturday, 12 October 2024, stay at the Coro Hotel in Manila https://corohotel.com/. The hotel has a fantastic pool bar and restaurant. It costs about $90 per night and is right in the centre of Makati with plenty of bars, restaurants and shops on its doorstep. There are plenty of other hotel options nearby such as the City Garden Grand Hotel approximately 100 metres away. This hotel has a rooftop pool with great views of the city.
Sunday, 13 October 2024, at 12.00pm, pick up time from our hotel and on to seven nights at LLV.
Sunday, 20 October 2024, at 12.00pm, leave the resort to travel back to the Coro Hotel, to stay two nights there, or head straight back to the airport, it’s your choice.
Tuesday, 22 October 2024, Malaysia Airlines flight MH807 at 12.50pm from Manila arrives in Kuala Lumpur at 4.50pm, then Malaysia Airlines flight MH127 at 7.40pm, arrives in Perth at 01.10am on Wednesday, 23 October 2024.
There are several options to get to Manila other than our itinerary, you can fly via Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong, or via Sydney with Jetstar/Qantas, an ideal option if you have some Qantas points saved up. Philippine Airlines currently operates flights direct to Manila from Perth.
The cost of the trip is as follows:
Standard Room based on twin share $2,196. Standard room, sole occupancy $2,371.
Superior Studio based on twin share $2413. Superior Studio, sole occupancy $2,588.
Superior Villa based on twin share $2,642. Superior Villa, sole occupancy $2,817.
There are several other room options available including Premium Suites, Two Bedroom Standard Rooms, Two Bedroom Superior Villas, Two Bedroom Premium Villas, and the amazingly luxurious Penthouse Suite. The two-bedroom accommodation is ideal for families. Please contact us for price details on room types not priced above.
If you have booked a dive/stay package and want a non-diver to share with you, the cost for them to join will be $950 staying in the rooms priced above, this includes private transport to/from Makati, 7 nights’ accommodation, breakfast daily, and two trips to Verde Island with lunch on both days.
All prices quoted are per person in Australian Dollars, and do not include flights. If you think the prices quoted appear expensive for the Philippines, please bear in mind that this is a luxury resort, and you get what you pay for. Look at the resort pictures and facilities which speak for themselves. Other dive travel companies may offer trips which include flights. This may make the trip appear better value, however, with flights at less than $700 return from Perth, it is not expensive to fly to and from Manila. We believe it is better to allow guests to plan their own travel options for greater flexibility and control. Please feel free to compare our prices with other past and planned diving trips to Puerto Galera and the standard of the resort the other companies are using.
If you want to book onto the trip and secure your place, please request a booking form. We will send that out to you, and once a deposit of $500 is received by us, we will confirm your place on the trip. You can pay by card, cash or bank transfer. All deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. Once we receive your deposit, we will confirm your place and send the deposit to the resort. The balance for the trip is due on 13 July 2024.
We have listed the inclusions above. You are responsible for getting to the Coro Hotel, Manila for 12.00pm on Sunday, 13 October 2024. You are responsible for any additional accommodation in Manila. If following our itinerary, we will provide free transport from Manila Airport to the Coro Hotel on arrival in the Philippines. If travelling independently, the Philippines’ equivalent of Uber is Grab, you can download the Grab app and the prices are reasonable. The distance from the airport to the hotel is about 11km and takes 20-30 minutes depending on Manila’s wonderful traffic. If you don’t want to download the app, walk outside the airport and you will see a Grab cubicle where you can book a car. The cost should be about 230-400 Pesos – about 6-10 bucks. Do not get ripped off by unmetered taxis or touts.
There are currently about 37.5 Philippine Pesos to the Australian Dollar. To give you an idea of costs, 80 Pesos will get you a litre bottle of rum in a supermarket, 200 pesos will get you a massive meal, we have seen beers for 39 Pesos in bars. It costs about 370 Pesos a day to hire a motorbike, and about 30 Pesos in fuel for the week.
The Philippines is an amazing diving destination, and we cannot say enough good things about this top end resort and their wonderful staff.
If you want a booking form, or have any questions about this trip, please email us at info@indidive.com or telephone us on 0457 122 314.