Hanging at Pandan Island – Occidental Mindoro

Sitting on the ferry from travelling from the port of Batangas to San Jose; I was excited about my upcoming week. Pandan Island is a secluded private island just off Occidental Mindoro, a sustainable eco-resort on the door-step of the famous Apo reef, the famous Philippines dive site.

San Jose is the principal port in the Occidental Mindoro province, the least expensive method to get to San Jose is by ferry from Bantagas. The bus trip from Manila to Bantagas by Victory Liner was orderly and well priced. The ferry trip was relaxed and uneventful; this is a bit of a luxury in the Philippines and I thought it was all going well.

But first, an arduous bus trip from San Jose to Sablayan awaited me; when I first crammed into the bus I was under the misconception that this bus would just ferry us from the port to the bus station.

The bus was so crowded that I was unable to get a seat as it was standing room only and this was pretty much the trip in the cramped conditions for the next five or so hours. We had bags of grain, animals and all types of cargo on board the open windowed bus that was travelling on mostly unsealed roads.

The trip across from the mainland to the island is a real clunker heading down the crowded river over the open water landing on the beach. The boat from the mainland could never be accused of being overpowered; just a single cylinder Robin engine chugging along merrily.

The eco-resort consists of small bungalows, a restaurant and beach bar and of course a dive centre. No generator exists on the island; instead all electricity needed to run the lights is produced by a 12 volt solar system installed in each individual cottage. That means there is no air conditioning, no television and the lights aren't all that bright either - the rooms do have some flow through ventilation but it still gets pretty warm in the cottages.

The local dives around the island can conducted from a catamaran style boat; on one dive they dropped us at the site and we swam back to shore. As we swam closer to shore, on the sea grass we spotted turtle after turtle.

There are plenty of great dive locations; between dives we returned to the island for a relaxing break and a meal before an afternoon dive. A late return from a long trip to Apo Reef; a great day, my only regret is I didn't get the opportunity to have some more dives at Apo.

Cruising around the island; plenty of clear blue water, the reefs are pretty good and untouched. Pandan is a small private island, there are only 16 cottages on the island so it is never going to get crowded. The clear blue waters surrounding Pandan Island; there are numerous dive sites when you aren't diving Apo Reef.

Between dives on the banca; did 10 dives around Pandan and I would like to explore some more in a year or so to add to my tally.