MisterShauniverse

1. Leave Manila as early as possible. I suggest, be at the bus terminal by 4am especially on a weekend on a summertime. We were at DLTB in LRT Gil Puyat at 5am and we were on a hot queue waiting for the Batangas Pier bus to arrive for at least an hour. Try to wake up early and sleep on the bus going to Batangas Pier instead. Otherwise, you'll get haggard right away on the first 2 hours of this trip.

2. Once you reach the port, book your boat and accommodation right away. The boat schedules are selling fast like pancakes. Be sure to buy your boat tickets and environmental fee once you are at the Batangas Port. Some fixers may approach you and they can buy your boat tickets and environmental fee for you. If you're on a tight budget, you can always do it for yourself. Also, I don't book my accommodation in advance, not until I reach the island. That was before. I still do not book online but there are now service desks inside the port once you have your tickets and done with security. You can usually get better rooms and rates there as you can haggle for prices instead of booking it online. Unless you have a direct contact from the resort itself, you can skip this part.

3. Secure your return tickets ASAP once you reach White Beach, Puerto Galera. Again, boat tickets are selling like pan cakes and if you're particular with the time that you wish to leave the island, you have to trust me on this part. If you're fine waking up early to catch the 6am boat ride or cross the seas going to Batangas Port at night, again, you can always skip this part. lol. There's another Environmental Fee before you enter the island.

4. Travel as a group and pay less. Aside from the fun because you'll get to enjoy the activities there with your friends, you'll get to lower down the cost of your accommodation, food, and water activities (the latter is optional). Trust me, most rooms in Puerto Galera are designed to cater for groups. If you're not maarte and fine with room sharing, you can divide the bill into four. Same goes with food; you can order group meals instead of individual orders and split the bill at the end. For water activities, you can haggle and get better discounts if you have companions that are paying with you.

5. The best time to take photos is from 3pm-5pm. Aside from the natural day light to capture a great outdoor photo, you'll be surprised that you'll have the beach all for yourself. There are no photobombers and if you get easily awkward with people around while doing your poses, then you have to thank me for including this tip. Trust me, all of us wants to capture instagrammable photos of places we are visiting. This time is perfect as it is not too hot and just right timing to go for a dip once you're done taking photos.

Other than that, you can be more flexible with your itineraries on what activities you want to do. Also, the bands and loud music is only until 12 midnight. Don't sleep and set your alarm after midnight to party, you'll end up gulping your beer while sobbing. lol