Posts Tagged “Batangas beach resorts”
We were supposed to book a room or cottage at the Sigayan Bay Beach Resort but for very strange reasons, the contact persons at that resort refused to answer our calls and text messages (perhaps their inner psychics sensed we’re serials killers and they won’t allow us within their shores) so we just booked one of the biggest rooms at Triple G Beach resort.
Riding a regular passenger jeep which we contracted from one of my wife’s relatives living nearby, we left our meeting place in Tagaytay at 10:30 in the morning of March 28. Two hours and a half later, everyone (especially the most excited ones who didn’t had breakfast before leaving) was so hungry so we decided to stop at the random space along the road for lunch. The random space happened to be under a cotton tree held captive by political posters of, what else, politicians.
After lunch, we were back on the road (like we really left the road) to find the beach resort. One more hour, a rough road and fifteen annoyed and impatient souls later, we passed by a public cemetery and reach what seemed to be a dead end. Someone had to convince himself/herself that we were lost and badly needed to ask for directions. Thankfully, an almost willing volunteer told us we’re more that one kilometer past our destination so we had to go back and eat more dirt. Finally we found what we were looking for.
Thanks to the resorts miniature sign board, we already saw that cluster of signboards but still had to eat dirt because Triple G’s was just too small to be noticed. So here’s a note – if you’ll come here in the near future, look for the Sitio Magalang sign. That will lead you to a cluster of beach resorts in Laiya, San Juan, Batangas.
The entry road to Triple G beach resort is very very narrow. You’ll have to maneuver your jeep carefully and don’t let your ears outside the windows if you don’t want them amputated.
That narrow road will lead to the Triple G beach resorts entrance (the photo was taken from the exit side)
Which will lead you to the rooms here…
Which will lead you to the rooms here…
and here…
to here…
and finally, to here.
There already were too many people to think that we’ve only been here a week before holy week. Imagine how much more people would be here during the holy week.
We’ve been planning this family outing since March of this year and you can’t imagine how many times we had everyone’s agreement on certain resorts only to be discarded later on due to conflicts which ranges from allocated budget, location and schedule. Even the original number of attendees were dropped to 8 (excluding our little Tifa) because of their own personal reasons. But it was thanks to random bloggers that my wife had stumbled upon during her eternal search for the perfect location that we were able to find this place and finally had everyone’s agreement. Special thanks to Rajavoom who took the liberty of navigating us through text messages on our way to Calayo. (Go pester him on his blog, Prosti).
What’s so exciting about the beach is the fact that, because it’s undeveloped and un-commercialized, you don’t have to rub elbows with strangers either while swimming or simply rolling you naked self on the fine grains of sand along the shore. The only drawback is that you can’t find a closed cottage, a room or a hostel to leave your things while your swimming or sleeping. But you could find open cottages that you could rent for Php500 for a day or Php1,000 overnight. Or maybe you could get it for less depending on your skills in haggling. Just don’t leave your important things unattended or just have someone to watch over your things while your swimming or burying yourselves under the sands. There’s also a sari-sari store nearby where you could buy Coca-cola products, gas for your kerosene lamps (if you have) or for your coal grill and bonfires. I can’t remember if there were ice cubes being sold there so you had to buy before you go or stop by along the sari-sari stores along Nasugbu proper. We bought our ice tubes drinks from a store near Jollibee Nasugbu.
The waves on the center shore carry small pieces of woods which probably came from the bonfires lit during the nights which were carried away by the wind to the water. Also, about 3 feet deep, you could still see grains of sands floating with the water because of the strong waves disturbing the surface underneath. But if you would go to the far ends of the beach where the water is more calm, you could see the sand clearly from the water surface.
There were white sands, according to the residents, on the other side of the beach which they call Calayong Munti. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to reach that part because in order to reach that, you would need to swim or take a boat because the water half-way is deep. We can’t swim, can’t afford a boat (haha) and there weren’t anything you could cling upon on the wall of rocks bridging the two area so we just contented ourselves taking photos of what could have been white sands from a far.
There were reported sighting of Butanding or whale sharks in the coasts of Calayo but the last reported sighting was way back in March 2009. According to the residents, the whale sharks probably started leaving the place when people starts knowing about the beach.
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Somewhere in Lian, Batangas, my in-laws’ relatives own a private resort. I couldn’t recall the name of the resort or at least the barangay where it is located but definitely it’s not in Matabungkay so definitely, it’s not the Matabungkay Beach Resort. Though something tells me that it could either be Humayingan or Malaruhatan because those two names sound closest to when I googled for the names of barangays belonging to Lian, Batangas. Or maybe it’s neither of those two.
Anyway, we went to that private resort as part of the yearly reunion among my in laws and their relatives. We left the house at exactly 3 o’clock in the afternoon as scheduled though we only got actually on our way to that place because we still had to pass by a children’s party and pick up other relatives on the way.
I’ve never passed that high-way going to Nasugbu before so I was just staring on the road on the trip. I saw some interesting views including a house that looked like there were two giant firecrackers waiting for a set detonation. Too bad I wasn’t able to take a photo because the speed of my father-in-law’s driving only caused blurred images on previous attempts and asking him to stop even for a while just so I could take a decent photo is like asking Taal Volcano to erupt right in front of me. Though I was able to take this photo of a truck carrying sugar canes.
Yes, there were several sugarcane plantations along the highway and there were sugar refineries, too, causing unpleasant aroma along the highway.
The sun already set when we finally arrive on the resort but I was still able to take (bad) silhouette photos of a boat docked near the shore.
When we arrived, the shore clearance between the beach waters and the cottages is barely an arm’s spread but it got wider and wider as it midnight approaches. Our two-year old daughter and I both took dips in the water an hour later but my wife is still busy with my mother-in-law and other relatives preparing the food and whatever “housewife thingies” they can busy themselves with.
It was already dark but the spotlights coming from the cottages were enough for us to see the sands under the water and whatever creature lurks underneath. The water is clear so I was able to see so many starfishes under the waters so I called the small kids nearby to show them what I’ve been seeing. They were so excited with that discovery so we started taking them out on the shores. I’ve never seen this many starfishes so I, too, was excited. We got more than 20 starfishes so I told the kids we should cook for kilawin which caused them to stare at me as if I said something like the “F” word. There were also hermit crabs and other small crabs on the shores so we raided them, too. One of the kids even caught two red snake-like fishes. I don’t know what those were but a parent suggested they could be some sort of eel or sword fish. I told the kid they were water snakes to scare him.
