Image courtesy Martyn Willes

The All Souls Regatta 2010 in Puerto Galera will be the largest All Souls Regatta yet organized, the news that the Philippine Hobie 16 fleet (from Taal Lake Yacht Club) will be joining the racing & cruising keelboats and multihulls is a guarantee of extra color and fun during this legendary sailing event.

The All Souls Regatta was first held in Puerto Galera, in 2004. It was specifically designed to be the first sailing regatta of each Philippine racing season. The Philippine racing season starts with the arrival of the drier northeast monsoon in October and runs until the following May, when the wetter southwest monsoon blows in . . . competitive sailing still continues throughout the year around the Philippines but the southwest monsoon weather keeps some of the less hardy sailors at home.

Image courtesy Asiapix

Ever since the Puerto Galera Yacht Club was founded, in 1991, there has been an Easter Regatta held every year whereas the America’s Cup is only held once the current America’s Cup holder has deigned to offer it up for competition.

The PGYC Easter Regatta is unique in that it actually extols the virtues of the sport of sailing and leaves hundreds of sailors and as many spectators wishing the America’s Cup could be so friendly and civilised. Unlike the America’s Cup, where every recent event has featured lengthy and costly court cases, the Puerto Galera Yacht Club Easter Regatta in 2010 will be no different from last year except it will mark the event’s 20th anniversary,making it even more fun.

Photo courtesy Martyn Willes

UPDATED 30/01/2010

Puerto Galera Cup 2010 Windsurfing Championship, 27-28 February, will be the second leg of the Philippine Windsurfing Series of 2010. The Puerto Galera Cup 2010 is open to all windsurfing enthusiasts from around the World.

The Puerto Galera Cup Windsurfing Championship will be hosted as usual by the Sandbar Beach Resort within Puerto Galera Bay - the Most Beautiful Bay in the World in the Philippines. If previous years are a guide then in 2010 there could be up to one hundred windsurfing sails and boards on the water, competing in categories from junior and novice all the way to National Champion standard.

Photo courtesy Martyn Willes

During Typhoon Mirinae ferry services from and to Batangas Port were suspended and the ferry boats sought shelter in Puerto Galera. By the middle of the evening the bay was full to overflowing with ro-ro ferries and cargo ships of all shapes and sizes. The Puerto Galera Yacht Club moorings were also full as sailing yachts, that arrived ahead of the storm, took up residence in preparation for attending the All Souls Regatta.

Unfortunately, the corals were to suffer from the anchors and chains dropped by these ferries but it is the only safe place to weather a storm for 50 miles in any direction.

Photo courtesy Peter Stevens

The Lawin Regatta 2009 at the Puerto Galera Yacht Club on 31st October and 1st November, 2009, is the best fun kids and kids-at-heart can have in a sailing dinghy. Organized in conjunction with the Royal Heavylift All Souls Regatta, the Lawin Regatta is for two-person dinghy enthusiasts who want to test their mettle against the creme-de-la-creme of Puerto Galera’s past and present sailing champions.

The Lawin sailing dinghy is built in Puerto Galera to a secret design that has a striking resemblance to the famous European, Mirror dinghy, except that the Puerto Galera Lawin sailing dinghy is virtually coral-reef-proof and far more comfortable on one’s posterior.

Photo courtesy Terry Duckham - Asiapix

The Royal Heavylift All Souls Regatta in Puerto Galera marks the start of the Philippine sailing regatta season. The cooler northeast monsoon brings excellent sailing breezes and the waters off Puerto Galera’s famous beaches are cut by the hulls of racing yachts, cruising yachts and sports boats of all shapes and sizes.

From 31st October to 2nd November, 2009, the Puerto Galera Yacht Club opens its doors to sailing enthusiasts of every age and from across the seven seas.

Photo courtesy Nautik Recovery Asia

Until recently Nik was one of the most popular dive instructors in Puerto Galera and then he just disappeared. Some said the Coral Cove thresher shark got him, others spoke of sirens. In fact he was one of two chief divers for Nautik Recovery Asia, a private company headed by Klaus Keppler on a secret mission to unlock the treasure and history of the Forbes – an English flagged privateer – that hit the then uncharted Discovery Reef off Belitung Island, Sumatra, Indonesia, in 1806. The wreck of the Forbes was discovered laying in 36-40 metres of water.

Today, Nik telephoned with the story of his work as part of the team who uncovered the treasure-filled wreck of the Forbes. In his first interview since the Forbes discovery became public knowledge, Nik described the moment the first treasure was recovered from the seabed.

Photo courtesy Bernadette Villaluz

The Philippine International Windsurfing Open 2009 brings the World of windsurfing to Puerto Galera on 6th - 8th February.

The 2009 International Windsurfing Open event is the fourth in the series of Puerto Galera windsurfing competitions and will be held at the Sandbar Windsurfing School on Boquete Beach, Muelle Bay. The 2008 windsurfing open event saw more than 70 windsurfers compete in Puerto Galera from as far away as Japan and Hawaii. The usually strong breeze, with wind speeds in excess of 20 knots, will ensure maximum enjoyment for the competitors and fantastic photography opportunities.

According to dive shop operators that we spoke to within the last ten days, in Puerto Galera, Mactan Island and Subic Bay, the Philippine scuba diving business is solid and shows no signs yet of suffering from the global recession.

Part of the reason for the resilience of Philippine scuba diving was put down to the fact that most international arrivals in the past month had already booked and paid for their Philippine diving vacations long before the recession took hold in the rest of the world. But along La Laguna and Sabang Beaches in particular the resilience was attributed to the “value for money” that scuba divers can find in the Philippines. Apart from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia