Nicolas explores Isla Verde

Nicolas ia an exchange student from France, now living in China and taking up aeuronautical engineering. He went to the Phillipines for 2 weeks holiday.

From NAIA, he rented a charter plane to Mindoro and stayed in San Jose, Mindoro. While he was staying in his room for 10 days, he looked at google maps saw Isla Verde.  He searched it online and read all the blogs about our resort and sent an email to me saying he wanted to visit our resort. On his stay in our resort, he found out that what is said in all the blog stories is true.

He enjoyed swimming and snorkelling with Dieter, in Sawang, Maliit na Nalayag and Mahabang Buhangin.

On his last day, after his breakfast, Nicolas, Dieter, Pipoy and Jaja went trekking to Mt. Lipon pon and Mt. Dagit dagit. They began with a boat tour first and were dropped to Cueva to start their trekking to Mt. Lipon lipon.

On top of the mountain they took rest as they're tired and exhausted and had their lunch for picnic.  Dieter pointed out to him the resort in the distance as it can be seen from the mountain. After they had rested they began to walk back to the resort and returned at 2 pm. As Nicolas was so tired I gave him hot tea with slice of ripe mangoes, then he decided to take a nap.  Then when he woke up he went with Dieter and Pipoy to Mahabang Buhangin for snorkelling.

The 3 days and 2 nights he was with us in the resort, he had so much fun and enjoyed experiences that were new to him, like eating filipino dishes, the beauty of the marine sanctuary and the rural living on the mountain.

He hopes one day he can come again with his family and friends.

Sadly we don't have photos of Nicholas' adventures during his visit except these few from part of the trek, but there are a few in this video clip.

Shalom Nicolas, till we meet again!

First Guests right after Typhoon Nina

The last week of December was rainy and windy after Typhoon Nina.  But we cleaned up the resort as quickly as we could as we had guests coming to spend their long weeks together with their friends and loved ones. I loved to see Ernest and Micah always wearing couple shirts.  They're both nurses working in one hospital in San Jose del Monte.

Along with them were couples James and Anne, and Daniel and Marchie with their friend Gauis.  They stayed 3 days and 2 nights with us, and spent a lot of time exploring the island.  They also went snorkeling around the island, enjoyed swimming and climbed up the rock formation, Maliit na nalayag.

As Gauis said they came here hungry and went back full as they enjoyed eating and the food I served to them.

Alyssa and iya work in a Japanese call center in Makati. They came along with Allysa's bf, James and James' friends from PCU, University students, Alex and mj. They came mostly to relax away from the busy work and noise in the city and spent their day in the swing drinking and eating the food they brought with them.  They also spent some time taking pictures around the local area.

I met Karla and Mark in Tabangao after I went to market and they also spent an overnight with us.  In short period of time, they enjoyed the peacefulness of our place.  They said also that they enjoyed the bonfire at night.

Still another group came, Aiza with her friends.  They are also university students who decided to chill and relax in our place.  They went for a boat trip with snorkelling.

Carina came the following day.  She is half Filipino and half Aussie.  She came with her boyfriend, Issah who is varsity player in the National University in Manila and she brought her pals Dianne and Rodnie.  They spent new years' eve together with us.  Together we watched the fire works display in Puerto Gallera.

On New Years Day we introduced them to our local families who invited us for a Christening party.  They enjoyed the food and the warm welcome and hospitality of the local folks, and gave thanks to us, as they felt we treated them like family.

The following day I went to Batangas with Carina and her friends and before we parted ways they hugged and kissed me to thank me for the great escapade they has on our island.  It is always a nice feeling when guests show and say that they have appreciated the hospitality in our resort.

Year 2016 in Review

We started the year at Isla Verde having guests from different part of the country, as well as from foreign lands in Europe, balikbayan from Middle East and guests from US.

They came  from Solo travellers to couples, in groups as backpackers, campers and family groups who spent their holidays, celebrating their birthdays, anniversaries and pre nuptials here.

We even had some guests who were stranded from typhoons Karen and Lawin and yet they still enjoyed their 'staycation' in our resort.

During the year there were University students from the University of the Philippines Diliman and Los Baños,  engineering students from Polythenic University of the Philippines, Sta.Mesa, tourism students from National Teacher College,  engineering students from Letran, Los Banos, law students from San Beda, San Sebastian and Arellano Universiy and an exchange student from France who spent their semestral break to chill and relax with friends and classmates on their stay here.

We also have valued return customers who keep coming bringing more friends and groups with them.

We are glad they enjoyed their stays with us and could experience snorkeling, as we are part of the marine sanctuary, boat tours around the island, and taking beautiful photos of Verde Island.  Some guests even went fishing while in a boat tour.

There are guests who climbed up to the top of Mt. Dagit- dagit to enjoy the views across Isla Verde and the Verde Island Passage.  We have the maliit na nalayag a rock formation shaped like a resting camel, which guests always like to climb to take photo of the sunset with them.

As we have a camping site at the back of the resort there were campers and backpackers who spent their overnight stay with a bonfire.

Even when its habagat we cant stop our guests from  coming.  They came to stay as they find our place their second home.  One think about Isla Verde is that it is pretty even if it is raining.

From the management and staff of Isla Verde Tropical Friendly Resort, we give thanks to you all for visiting our place.  We hope we see you back in 2017.

MABUHAY!!!!

Aira- Another Solo Traveller - by Jo

Aira is a young, tough student from UPLB who came alone last Sept 26 for an overnight stay in our resort.  She arrived on the morning boat before noontime and I served lunch to her in the kubo where she stayed.















After having her lunch she asked me if she can have a boat ride to Cueva, so my workers, Wangyu and Bokyo, took her by boat to Cueva and she took some pictures of the place, then Wangyu climbed with her to the lighthouse.  From high up, she could see the northeast coast of Isla Verde and across the water to part of Batangas.

 On their way back to the resort the sea was a bit rough, but not enough to scare her as she is a diver.  They arrived back at our resort safely and Aira took a rest.

In the late afternoon she took some photos of the surroundings and captured the sunset.  Even though she's alone she enjoyed our place and found herself well relaxed.

Aira said she liked the food I prepared for her as she said it has "a lutong bahay" element which she looked to some places where she eats.  For our friends reading this who are not Filipino, I guess lutong bahay would be 'home style cooking'.

After her dinner I let her rest as she was leaving early to meet the boat for her trip back to Tabangao.

Aira says she loves our place and she will come back again, not alone, but with her friends next time for snorkeling and for free diving.

Groups of Travellers at Isla Verde Tropical Friendly Resort

           (Because we have so many pictures from groups in this post I put them in mixed collages)

There are lot of travellers who came as groups and visited our place.  Some found us in Google search, others in our FB page and some were referred by other visitors who have been guests in our resort.

What they mostly love here in our resort is the peacefulness of our place, where they can unwind, relax and chill out together away from their stressful work in the city.  Because We don't have hotels and night clubs, they always find our place so quiet that they can sleep in for long hours.

Travellers who love snorkelling and free diving have seen how beautiful the marine sanctuary is.  They have seen different huge hard corals that seem to move with the bright colored fish that swim around  them.  Marcus, a member of the Blue Man group saw one sea turtle and followed him.  I watched my Irish couple, swimming like the fish while doing free diving.

We have some groups that chose to go trekking to Mt. Dagit Dagit and have chanced to see from the top of the mountain, the whole island of Isla Verde and neighboring provinces Batangas and Mindoro.  Along the way they have talked with local people who live on the mountain and have tasted the fruits offered by our local people.

A guest, Jeith, took pictures of the wilderness, as one side of the resort is forest.  While he was enjoying taking pictures he lost his way, but he found a local woman, Antonia, who led the way to get him back to our resort.

Maliit na nalayag is one of the hot spots near the resort.  Our guests go there to climb and take selfies above the resort.  They also do free diving and snorkeling around the rock that looks like a camel.

We have some guests who look for a sandy beach and my helpers take them on the short and pretty walks to Sawang, Sampalukan or Mahabang Buhangin, where they enjoy swimming.

There are other guests who prefer to rent a boat to explore the whole island. They go to Sawang, San Agapito Cueva to see the light house, Mahabang Buhangin, Tubahin and Lalanguyin for picnics, swimming and snorkeling.

At nightime in our resort,  its the bonfire that lightens their nights.  The groups will have a party as their bonding moments with a few drinks and fine music.

All of them promised to come back, and yes, many already came back as some say our resort feels like their second home.

We welcome our guests, old and new, and thank you all for making out place part of your lives.