Marco Vincent Dive Resort — Hotel in Puerto Galera

Recently returned from a scuba diving trip to Marco Vincent Dive Resort, Puerto Galera, Mindoro Island, Philippines, what a very enjoyable trip. For me, this was by personal 70th birthday celebration trip. The resort arranged ground and water transportation from Manila to the resort so all I had to do was board vehicles, ride, sit back and view the scenery with my best-ever dive buddy, Tammy Christian. When we arrived at the resort we went to the café, completed the necessary paperwork and ate lunch. Lunch and dinner meals all started with some form of soup (never knew I would like pumpkin soup, but there you have it; my favorite was the vegetable soup, 2-bowls). After lunch off to the room to unpack scuba gear, which was placed in a crate outside the door for staff to retrieve, take to the boat and set up your kit. A shower and nap and then a dive in-service in the café at 1800 hours and dinner. The staff are always smiling and happy to assist you immediately. Chen in the café is a real pleasure to see in the morning with coffee and a big smile on her face at 0630. In the evening Chen is there to greet you for dinner, still with that big smile on her face. As for the accommodations; I have read several reviews seeming to compare this dive resort to places like Waldorf hotels, not the same. This resort is best-suited for scuba divers. However there are plans for a bigger, better and nicer resort for those wanting that sort of ambiance; due to open in 2024. I am certain that will be pricier than current. (Talking to the owner, plans are to have both open for your particular pleasure/choices.) Now onto the most important part, the DIVING!! We did three-dives per day, two morning and one afternoon; a fresh, hot lunch was always prepared on the boat. The boat, Big Beth, is a very spacious boat, able to accommodate up to 30 divers, I think. Marlon and Sherwin are the two dive masters leading the underwater adventures. Marlon gives a very good pre-dive site briefing, with a map, of the dive site (take a photo so you will remember where you went). We dove Nitrox and every tank was checked for %O2 and pressure before each dive. Once in the water, both Marlon and Sherwin are on the hunt for those tiny creatures you want to see; like pigmy seahorses, octopus, nudibranch and various fishes. We saw a lot of different creatures there, so many photos to go through and to post later. Hoping my dive buddy, Tammy Christian, will post her best ones, she is so much better at photos than I am. There can be currents, as suspected, when the tide changes, but just drift along and enjoy the scenery and keep track of Marlon and Sherwin, they will show you new creatures. I recommend you bring along a scuba diving pointing stick to help slow you down to take photos. After your last dive of the trip Marlon and Sherwin thoroughly rinse your dive gear, inside and out, with fresh water. They will hang up rash guards/skins to dry (they will also do this nightly if left on Big Beth). Your dive gear will be returned to you in the morning before you leave. Pros: Very relaxing and pleasant atmosphere; extremely pleasant and efficient staff; the staff works to make you happy, feel welcomed and at home; the dives are FANTASTIC! (Most of mine were less than 70'.) They have pretty much thought of everything for your diving convenience and experience. Remember this is a “scuba dive resort”, not the Waldorf. Cons: Yes, there are always cons. First, they use 220v in the resort so be prepared to somehow reduce that to 110v like we use here in America, they loaned me a small transformer, they called it an adapter, for that purpose. Second, my stay wasn’t nearly long enough, I would have stayed weeks if it weren’t for work. Finally: Will I go back? Definitely! I am trying to decide on dates for 2024 The island is beautiful, diving is GREAT, and the people there are extremely friendly and laid back. I need more of this. A Big thank you to Marlon, Sherwin, Chen, Rizza, Mel and the entire staff for making my 70th birthday trip a BIG success!...

My three-day solo scuba dive trip to Marco Vincent was a side trip during my travel to the Philippines. Most of my diving has been in Grand Cayman(GC) where I logged close to 100 dives. My other diving experiences were in Palawan Island and in the Caribbeans.||And while I enjoyed the deep wall dives and fun pass-throughs in GC, the diving here in Puerto Galera was incomparable! ||The marine life diversity was extraordinary. The vibrantly beautiful diverse corals, the unique sea life, such as the Pygmy seahorse and the Frog fish. I mean it was amazing!||I also experienced muck diving for the first time. Wow! The tiny, colorful and unique nudibranch species were awesome. So colorful and a tad bigger than the ones I’ve seen in GC.||I also did some wreck diving - will practice opening my jaw wider next time to let the cleaner shrimps enter and clean the inside of my mouth! 🤣||I was also able to experience drift diving with the current for the first time. Their MV day dive boat would come pick us up anywhere we decided to surface. ||Because I was the only diver during my three-day 3-tank dives (two morning dives and one afternoon dive), I had the amazing experience of sharpening some diving skills, such as practicing inflating my surface marker buoy (SMB). During our shallow reef dives, I practiced my peak performance buoyancy skills. And my favorite…becoming comfortable with the 3 minute safety stop without holding on to a lead weight normally dropped at 15 feet for the divers to hold on to during safety stop. ||Warren, my exclusive dive master and guide throughout my three day dives, was kind, patient, attentive and fun. Great eyesight he had to find all the unique and tiny marine life to astonish and enhance my dive experience.||In fact, even though I was literally a solo diver on the day boat, they had a full eight-man crew and dive staff to ensure my every need was met. That is white-glove high level service. Another organization may have put me on a small boat. Not Marco Vincent Dive resort.||Riza, the General Manager for the Dive resort was amazing. She made sure my stay and dive experience was top notch.||Even though I was the only diver those three wonderful days, and I might have been lucky enough to be only hotel guest for a few days; I say that because the hotel was gloriously quiet for my first three days. I was lucky enough to arrive during “the quiet before the storm” before the holiday Easter break crowd. They still delivered full service extravaganza for me!||My meals were freshly prepared and delicious - including breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lunch in between dives were either on the beach (on my first day) or on the day boat for the second and third day. They actually had a chef and waitstaff on the day boat to cook and serve my meal!||And every night, the interns performed a themed folk dance especially for me. The staff removed tables and chairs inside their restaurant and decorated with a different theme EVERY night just for me. I was so touched. They also seemed to discover the type of foods I liked. Then served them to me the next day!||The whole Marco Vincent dive resort team was amazing! ||Kudos to Riza and the management team for creating an environment where even a solo diver can experience the full buffet of high level services.||I will definitely come back again to enjoy this wonderful scuba diving paradise. I highly recommend Marco Vincent Dive resort, whether you’re a solo diver or come with a...

My wife and I just got back from a one week stay at Marco Vincent Dive Resort. It was without a doubt one of the best dive experiences I have ever had. I am a former Scuba Instructor and have done a considerable amount of dive travel. Even though resort and dive boat are land based the entire operation is run more like a liveaboard. The dive boat is a large 84” outrigger design, that comes complete with a sun deck, dining room, full kitchen and ample dive deck space for up to 20 divers (we only had 5 divers during our stay). Entry was done via giant stride

Despite the boat’s size it had no issue getting to any of the local sites, or drift diving we were doing and was particularly comfortable for the longer transit to Verde island. The schedule would be a morning dive on a reef or wall, followed by a tea service between the first and second dive. After the second dive there would be a three course hot lunch, cooked on board, followed by another hour surface interval, finally the third dive of the day would typically be a “muck dive” in the harbor area.

The diving in the Puerto Galera area is interesting. We came in the off season, early January. Water temperature varied between 78-80 degrees, and the visibility was on the low side, about 30-50 ft. However the biodiversity on the reefs is off the charts. The corals are very healthy with very dense patches of soft corals, and large table corals in the shallows. Fish are everywhere, and the area is a macro enthusiasts dream. There are cuttlefish, octopi, sea horses, frogfish, small coral shrimps, and dozens of species of nudibranchs in every color and pattern imaginable. As far as bigger animals go we saw plenty of turtles, sea snakes, clownfish and anemones, giant clams and large schools of fish.

The afternoon muck dives were some of the most interesting. These dives would be done almost entirely over the sandy bottom, while the dive guides looked for some of the more unusual and well camouflaged critters. This is more exciting than it sounds. Our dive guide Warren was excellent, and frequently I would need to choose between photographing the ghost pipefish, stargazer, and flamboyant cuttlefish that were all sitting in the sand within 4 ft of each other. Tough choices. The other highlight was diving the coral pinnacle at Verde Island. This was a longer boat ride, about 1.5 hours from the dock, but was definitely worth the trip. Visibility here was the best we had during the trip, closer to 100 ft, and the reef itself was spectacular, with giant sea fans and corals swarmed by schools of Anthias and triggerfish, as well as large schools of Jacks and snappers swimming in the blue. As a word of warning though this is not the place to go if you are looking for large pelagics like shark or rays.

The hotel itself was comfortable, but not luxurious. We were happy with the room, and the resort is kept very clean, but some of the furnishings and electronics are getting dated. The resort is not directly on the water but about a 3 minute walk from White Beach, which was perfect for taking a sunset stroll before dinner. The food at the resort was very good, and the staff and hospitality were excellent, everyone went above and beyond. I couldn’t recommend the resort...