The resort boasts 12 luxury villas including 6 all new Buri Villas of 2 stories, with plunge pool, 2 bathrooms and exceptional views of the Unesco voted “man & biosphere” protected area of Puerto Galera Bay.

Nestled in the Batangas Channel, inside Puerto Galera Bay, which was recently named one of the 32 most beautiful bays in the world by UNESCO affiliated Paris based Club des Plus Belles Baies du Monde, Buri Resort & Spa has undergone a dramatic transformation since it first opened with 5 simple villas in 2001. From December 2006 to end 2007 the resort underwent a total renovation and revamp with all the structures in the resort being rebuilt. Today the resort boats 12 modern villas, 6 of which have private garden plunge pools.

The resort’s dedicated “Nurture Spa” is located at the very top of the hillside resort and features breathtaking views of the surrounding resort and bay. Spa services include poolside massage, garden massage, in-room services and dedicated 3 to 5 hour full treatment courses. Buri Resort also offers regular programs for meditation, yoga, crystal healing and other specialist services with visiting masters.

Buri means “palm” and each of the villas are named after a flower and palm from the region to recognise the importance of nature and the environment placed in the redevelopment. The resort boasts many environmentally focused initiatives including recycling of all water for irrigation, capture of rain water for irrigation and service water use, solar cell use for exterior lighting and some pumps, water control mechanisms in showers to reduce excessive water use as well as training programs for the resort staff to constantly reduce energy use, recycle all possible materials and reduce the resorts impact on the environment.

The resort is offering rates from PHP 8,300 to PHP 11,300 inclusive of transport by its own motor boat leaving the Batangas Bay area 3 times a day. Onboard guests can enjoy refreshments while enroute to the resort, check-in and have the chance to observe dolphins, sea birds and the incredible scenery during the short 45 minute cruise to the resort.

The name Puerto Galera literally means Bay of Galleons due to the history over the past many hundreds of years of ships using the area as a safe haven during storms and typhoons. Puerto Galera as a destination offers many rich and diverse activities and has become one of the top diving destinations in the Philippines. Excellent diving is found less than 5 minutes from the Buri Resort area. The diving generally focuses around the areas either side of Escarceo Point There are upwards of thirty dive sites all within a 5-10 minute motor boat (Banca) ride from Buri Resort’s private jetty.

Marine life is highly diverse. 180+ species of nudi branch coral are found in the area and most species of fish can be seen. A variety of wrecks have been sunk over the years in addition to the one genuine wreck of an engine of a WWII Japanese patrol boat. A study by the University of the Philippines in the 1980s, claims that the Batangas, Puerto Galera area has the highest diversity of marine species in the world. It forms the centre of the golden triangle – The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia – renowned for their coral and fish species.

There are many small beaches dotted around the coastline and Buri Resort even has access for its guests to a small white sand beach for private picnics and use for relaxing if they truly need to get even further away from the hustle and bustle of 21st century living.

Verde Island Passages

Verde Island Passage is a popular domestic sea route connecting Batangas, Marinduque, Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental and Romblon.

Center of the Center of Marine Shorefish Biodiversity

A team of marine conservationist declared in 2006 that the Philippines is the Center of Marine Biodiversity in the world and Verde Island Passages as the “Center of the Center of Marine Shorefish Biodiversity”. Many threatened species which include sea turtles like hawksbills, olive ridleys, and green turtles; humphead wrasses, giant groupers and giant clams that thrive in the Verde Island Passage. It was particularly noted the rare red fin wrasse (cirrhilabrus rubripinnis) thrives in Verde Island.The area has more than 300 species of corals, which is considered one of the largest concetration of corals in the country or even in the whole world.A three-year study called “The Center of the Center of Marine Shorefish Biodiversity: The Philippine Islands” by the Global Marine Species Assessment of the World Conservation Union showed that Verde Island Passage Marine Corridor has 1,736 overlapping marine species over a 10-kilometer area, the highest concentration of marine life in the world.Famous Dive Sites in Verde Island 

Verde Island is one of the best diving places in the Philippines due to its pristine clear waters and nice under water view. Scuba divers rate this site as better than Puerto Galera and Anilao, both world-class diving spots.

The wreckage of a Spanish galleon that sunk in 1620 was found in the southern part of this passage. It was heavily salvaged in 1960. Until this time you can still see the wreck of this galleon in the same area where it sunk in 1620.

Verde Island Wall
There are three sites worthy of mention, but by far and away the most well-know and interesting is Verde Island Wall. You wil notice it immediately on the southeastern tip of the island by the rocks sticking out of the sea there. The wall descends almost vertically to unfathomable depths. Just after the initial descent, you will find some calm areas where you can collect yourself before really exploring.

Star corals, giant gorgonians and cascading soft corals are everywhere and you will amazed at the colours around you.

Marine life is prolific and large wrasses, mantas, eagle rays, and whitetip and blacktip sharks may be seen. In addition, schools of jacks and tuna are common and sweetlips, batfishes, emperors, surgeons, soldiers and tangs are everywhere.

You should take care with bouyancy and depths. Saftey stops can be made on the wall. Photography is excellent. This is a world-class dive.

Spanish Galleon and Drift Dives
There are opportunities for drift dives along the west coast of the island. Reef fish are not so prolific here as they tend to shelter form the currents. A Spanish galleon sank off this coast and whilst there are no noticable remains, treasure hunters may still be lucky enough to find some fragments of pottery or musket balls.

Sources : http://www.asiadivesite.com :::::: http://en.wikipedia.org/ 

Photo Credits : http://www.wetexpedition.de/

The tamaraw is unique only to Mindoro and is the largest native land animal in the Philippines. The horn is triangular in cross section. 

The tamaraw was first documented by Western science in 1888. It has never been recorded from any area other than the island of Mindoro in the central southwestern part of the Philippines. Prior to about 1900, most people had avoided settling on Mindoro, since it harbored a particularly virulent strain of malaria. Thus human impact on the tamaraw had been slight. At one time the tamaraw lived throughout most of the island. With the advent of anti-malarial medicines near the turn of the century, Mindoro became more accessible to human settlement.

Since that time, the tamaraw’s population has been reduced from abundance to a critically low level. By 1966 its range had been reduced almost entirely to 3 principal areas: Mt. Iglit, Mt. Calavite, and the vicinity of the Sablayon Penal Settlement. By 2000, reports suggested that tamaraw were restricted to just 2 areas: the Iglit Ranges, in Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park, and Aruyan, with very few data about numbers in either site.

There are not too many places in the world where you can do 2 dives for under $40, but the Philippines offers many places where this is possible, and if you have your own dive gear, and dive more than 5 times, you might even bring the price down lower.

My two favorites while I was there was Puerto Galera and Cebu –Bohol. Both dive areas are very easy to get to. For Puerto Galera I went using local buses and a local ferry an easy cheap trip from either Angeles City where Clark Air base is located and even easier from Manila. Getting to Cebu-Bohol was equally easy and cheap with a few regional airlines like Cebu Pacific and the Philippines national air carrier, Philippines Air offering lots of cheap flights from either Manila or Clark.

The diving at Puerto Galera was a real treat seeing numerous butterfly species including tear drops, saddle backs and lots of different noses including orange nose, blue nose, and hump nose. There were also a lot of angel fish including everyone’s favorite the regal and some great pipefish and nudibrachs action as well. Puerto Galera also has some wreck diving, with 3 wrecks doable in one dive at Sabang Beach. These wrecks are shallow enough that open water divers can swim around the outside of them without a advanced open water card or wreck diving specialty rating.

Cebu is one of the larger islands in the Philippines. Bohol is attached to Cebu by a bridge. Alona beach is on Bohol, and is the main jumping off point for Balicasag, which is where the best diving is located, roughly a 25 minute boat ride on the local catamarans from Alona Beach. Shore dives are also possible off of Alona Beach. I was rewarded with a sea snake and a hoard of schooling catfish, as well as some very beautiful pipefish when I first arrived, and did a free diving snorkeling sortie. From the beach it took about 10 minutes to swim too and went down to over 40 meters. The main place for the divers that go to Cebu -Bohol is Balicasag island which is a marine park, while I was there we had some high winds, so were on the lee ward side for two days of wall action that was great!. A highlight of the trip was swimming right into a large group of tunas in 40 meters of water, who swim by close enough for me to see all of the beautiful coloration. Balicasag Island had a few different types of nudibrachs as well that were quite beautiful to behold in their outrageous fluorescent color schemes. There is also some real good shallow reef that held at least 4 different types of clown fish, finding Nemo here is a snap

For all our dives in the Philippines we had local dive masters. I must point out that they were not very good at briefings, and I found it a little disconcerting not getting a boat safety brief, especially when the life preservers were not in sight. English was the language that was spoken mostly on the dive boats that I scuba dived off of. All in all I will go back and dive there as it is a great value in the off season.

Fred Tittle has lived and worked in holiday vacation resorts his entire life, from Lake Geneva’s Playboy Club, as a rock jock for KSPN FM in Aspen Colorado, he became a PADI Pro Scuba Diver in Hawaii, diving on Maui, Kauai, Kona on the big island, and Waikiki on Oahu. He now owns EcoSea Dive in Sihanoukville Cambodia where he teaches SSI and PADI scuba diving courses and runs liveaboards in the gulf of Thailand and Asia adventure tours, http://www.ecosea.com

Fred’s new project http://www.CheapCharliesHotels.com where he reviews cheap hotels , budget guesthouses , discount accommodations and cheap international flights, but is really an excuse to vacation more, China is up next.

Useless subtitles

Originally uploaded by MFinChina.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) will conduct a Basic Korean Language Course to be held at the DOT Bldg. T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila from January 8 to March 2, 2007 (120 hours) Mondays thru Fridays from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The program aims to provide a basic appreciation of the requirements and culture of Korean tourists. It will equip the participants with the skills in speaking/writing Korean language. This program will also serve as a stepping stone for those who will choose a career in tour guiding wherein language proficiency is a requirement. Instructors who will handle this language course were imported from Korea.

To qualify, participants must be at least 2nd year college level, of good moral character, proficient in English and must be working in any DOT accredited tourism oriented establishment. Seminar fee is P500.00/participant.

Maximum number of participants is 40 only. Acceptance of application will be treated on a first-come, first-served basis. Deadline for submission of application form is on December 29, 2006.

Interested applicants may secure application form at the Standards Development Division, Rm. 203, DOT Bldg., T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila. For inquiries, please call Mutya Aguirre or Haidee Ampatuan on telephone nos. (632) 5257980 / (632) 5361128 / (632) 5238411 local 182 and 176.