Spirit of Christmas 2017

Its Christmas Season again at Isla Verde. 

We started decorating the resort last September.  Cora,my good old friend helped me, making our resort more attractive to our guests.   We gathered some driftwoods from the shore.  I painted, while Cora made a place to hang them out and we made them a Xmas tree.

We had guests who enjoyed taking pictures of Santa with them.  Happily all our guests enjoyed the early spirit  of Christmas with us.

More and more  guests are coming to us.  Each group or couple have their own new experience here in our resort.
We have guests experienced with using our 'dirty kitchen', doing their own cooking with firewood. 

There are guests having fun using our griller set. And other guests prefer our cafe food, and say it looks tasty and delicious as they see the table set for them.

As we want to give more fun to our guests, we bought some small paddle boats, which the guests enjoyed a lot.   These are simple open boats that can take one or two guests and our helpers, Niña and Niño took them to different places in the island for swimming and snorkelling.

When they came back from boating they had funny stories to share with me as it was their first experience of their boating with small boat.

We have built one kubo and made it like the Japanese style, where we place matresses on the floor and a long table where  guests had to squat to have their food to eat. They love to stay  there. In their short visit they had experience eating on the floor like Japanese.  It is becoming one of the popular features with our guests.

Most visitors who came here try trekking as they have heard from their friends or read blogs about Mt. Dagit dagit and wanted to experience the fruits that other guests enjoyed eating on their way to the mountain.

Up in the mountain they took photos of the nearby provinces had selfie and groupie Photos of themselves.

More and more groups have done team building here in our resort.   Usually they stay for 2 nights, and just spend time chilling on their first day, before they begin activities on the following day.

It's nice to watch their activities.   They look like little kids shouting as they're having fun  and from their team building the have time to know more of each other and this makes them help each other to build a stronger team

A Bonfire is frequently asked for by our guests.   We set bonfire for them as they group together for  bonding, and have a drink with their favorite music playing.
They are having their hotdog with marshmallow barbecue while watching the bonfire.   For couples, it gives a romantic view for them watching the fire at night.

As the year ends, I'm looking forward to other guests who will spend their Christmas and New Year again with us.   We will make sure they will have memories to cherish from their stay with us.

Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon -- from Isla Verde
(Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)

Oct-Nov 2017 long weekend

As we had a long weekend in October and November, we had many guests who came even though it was still our rainy season. 

Some of the guests returned again because they missed the peacefulness of our place.   They were surprised with some new developments of our resort and had more picture taking of our surrounding.

There were guests who enjoyed snorkelling, as we have tour guide who took them to different snorkelling area, and at the same time had short visit of hiking in our community.

Some tried climbing up Mt. Dagit dagit even though it was slippery and wet, and enjoyed the fruits that the locals have in the high land. They even brought fruits with them in coming back to our resort.

As it was  my birthday too,  I prepared a free lunch for those guests who came last Nov. 17, with my youngest Boyboy and his officemates who always come to celebrate my birthday with me in our resort.   Happily, they enjoyed the food I served to them.

And before the evening ended we had a bonfire for our guests,  where they could have special moments with their friends and loved ones,  sharing drinks, stories, laughter and fun.

For our guests who patronized us and enjoyed the services we rendered to them, we all say "Thank you very much". We enjoy making them more comfortable on their stay with us, and love to see them keep coming back and bringing more friends with them, 

-- Tita Jo and Staff

Biyaheng Manday Holiday Group

Jon,  the president of BMHG,  called me up after he found our resort on the internet.  As Monday  is their day off from work,  they came to visit our resort last September 18.  They are group of barista,  videographer and spotter  from billiard.

  They spent their time off in our resort, doing snorkelling in Mahabang Buhangin, Sawang, and at our rocky beach and Maliit na Nalayag. Some members of the group brought  their fishing  rods and tried fishing in front of our resort. But unluckily, they didn't catch any.  It was,  our helper, Ron ron who caught a fish and some of the group played a prank.  What they did was put the fish in the shorts of  one member of the group who was sleeping in our Cabana.  That woke him up, and all of them  burst into laughter.

When they had finished snorkeling,  Dieter and Lexi showed them how the village life is.   They went for a short trekking from Mahabang Buhangin, passed through the forest to reach another barangay called San Agustin Silangan, Lukban,  Gabihan then back  to our resort.

Before the sunset they tried to climb the  little rock formation called Maliit na Nalayag and took some pictures  of themselves.


When night came, they set up their tents, had their dinner and got ready to have some nightlife with a bonfire.   They brought hard drinks with them which they shared for their night.   I heard their laughter from the kubo.   They enjoyed their night and had fun drinking around the bonfire. When it got late they decided to go to bed.   But before  they went to sleep they planned some night swimming in the our infinity pool, and then all of them went to bed.

They woke up early to continue their adventure in isla.  After having their breakfast they started to change their clothes and went for swimming and snorkeling.   They came back before noontime, had their  lunch and prepared themselves to leave as the boat was to fetch them at 2pm.

The group left happily with smiles and thanked us for taking good care of them.  Jon promised me that they  will come back with more members of their group.

August was the start of our Habagat

The the month of August is is part of our habagat (Monsoon) season.  The port at Tabangao is not used in habagat time as the sea is rough ànd we experience some gale winds, so all of our guests need to travel to Dela Paz which is a further distance compared to Tabangao Aplaya. 

They need to take a jeep from the SM terminal in Batangas City and it will cost 45 pesos per head.The trip is a long winding roads which is quite tiring but good for sight seeing. 

After June and before November, when you contact us to make a booking, we will tell you if you need to leave from Tabangao or from Dela Paz.

The month of August had two long weekends, so a number of guests came to relax at our place.  There were groups, couples, lovers and returned guests who happily enjoyed our place.  It was a new experience for most of them as the place is quiet and yet has lots of places to explore and things to learn. We have guests who got their first experience of snorkelling and saw the beauty of the marine sanctuary.  There are always some guests who want to enjoy the experience of reaching the peak of Mt.  Dagit dagit.  Others simply come for a rest and relax from the city noise.

Last year we built a small infinity pool so our guests could swim in the rougher weather and still have protection.  It gives pleasure to them for photo shooting and playing with the waves as they sit at the edge of the pool.  It is becoming a favourite place to relax.

Guests also enjoyed the warm relaxing of our Japanese tub.  They like the smell of the citrus leaves that I mixed with the warm water. It makes them feel refreshed and soothes their skin.

We had more University students.  This group was studying Aviation Tourism, and they found us online.  They decided to come to our place as they wanted to use our resort in part of their thesis.  Dieter was happy to answer their questions about Isla Verde, the resort and the local ecology, as well as the Marine Sanctuary and its importance to the eco-system and tourism.

To all our guests and returned guests who never seem to get tired of coming here "Thank you for all your interest of coming to us.   And we are thankful for all your reviews, comments and suggestion written on our log book.

Long Live Isla Verde Tropical  Friendly Resort.

Here come the rainy days.

Summer is over and  it is the start of our rainy season.  But we still had visitors, such as groups and couples, solo traveller and friends who came to visit our place.  They told us they like our place that's so perfect for them to stay as it is quiet, so peaceful, where they can relax as well as have fun with activities like snorkelling, free diving as we are part of marine sanctuary.
They were overwhelmed with the marine life.  They have seen beautiful corals which they have not found in other places.  Some enjoyed kayaking and fishing as well.

There are guests who are mountaineers who have gone to Mt. Dagit Dagit and Liponpon.  They're happy to have reached the top of the mountain even it took them long hours.

On their stay here, most guests take a short village tour of the island and they feel lucky as they found we have no electricity here and were surprised too, seeing houses with solar panel and cables.  Sometimes they felt sad seeing locals fetching water and carrying on their shoulders, or kids pushing a cart with heavy containers of water.  But that is the reality of living on a small island.

Now our guests are patronizing our home made delicacies of pakaskas, champoy and other local products made from the Buli tree, like bags and mats.

We are happy to see too some of our returning guests that came back and brought another group of friends with them.  They have told us they missed the place and the services we rendered to them, like making them at feel at home with us and like family in our resort.