“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the Philippines and it was his first time to go for a proper visit (stopped over on the way to Australia back in ’99). I wanted to make sure he sees how beautiful the islands are and make him experience local culture and the Filipinos signature hospitality without compromising some luxuries. Boy, oh boy, this place made an impression! Our first time in Cebu coming from an awesome 3 days in Boracay, we thought this place will have to work really hard to impress us. We arrived at the Cebu Mactan airport and was picked up by a friendly “”Kuya”” that we arranged with Sir Bryan. His car was clean and he let us do a bit of shopping at the nearby Savemore supermarket while he waited at the parking lot. I admired his patience.
He told us it’ll take around 3hours to get to the resort and I thought we were ok with it. I am not a very patient passenger, plus we just came from a tiring flight and barely had time to rest. I kept thinking that I made the wrong decision with booking this property because it was miles and miles (and miles) away from the airport. Eventually, we arrived at the resort late at around 8pm and it was already dark so I was like, “”okay, give it a chance in the morning””. We were lead to our private villa and I was pleasantly surprised at how perfect it was with our own pool, 3 rooms, a hut and a cabana! Sir Bryan called one of the girls to fix us a meal and it was delicious. I am not kidding, it was.
We were the only guests because it was the town fiesta (festival honoring the feast day of their patron saint) and Sir Bryan was worried that guests might not be happy with the noises the parties might cause. I was warned about this beforehand but we were totally ok and were actually planning to join the party.
In the morning, we woke up and our jaws dropped after realising how gorgeous the whole property was.
Breakfast was unforgettable, especially the fresh mango smoothie/shake (so sweet and not even a grain of sugar was added in it!). On other days we had different fruit shakes and the staff made sure they were all fresh and perfect. The food, as I’ve mentioned, is simply perfect.
Loads of activities around and we were luck enough to join the fluvial parade during the town feast and we had so much fun chasing and trying to get the passengers on the other boat as wet with sea water as we can. We ended up getting back after around an hour soaked, but incredibly happy. We had our first try with stand up paddle-boarding and it was great!
People who like their own space and respect other people’s will fall in love with this place. The marine sanctuary right in front of this property is a great indicator they care about the earth.
It is one of the best holidays and resort I’ve been to. We left with a heavy heart and wished we could’ve stayed a bit longer. Will definitely try and visit again if we ever go back to the Philippines.”
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