This is post long overdue. It's almost a month now since my high school buddies and I went to Mantangale Alibuag Dive Resort in Balingoan for a beach day out and to snorkel. Honestly, even though it was just an hour of bus ride away from home, it's a shame it was only my first time to visit this spot.
Anyway, to get to the resort, we just boarded a Lipunan Bus that's bound for Gingoog City. From Balingasag to Balingoan, the fare is 32.00 Php if my memory serves me right. The resort is just a few meters away from the highway actually but in our haste and excitement, we alighted from the bus at Balingoan Public Terminal so we needed to take another ride to the resort itself by a tricycle.
After paying, we walked going to the resort lobby. There are a lot of orchids and trees along the way. The ambiance is very homey, it's like a vacation house and the breath of fresh air is a real refreshment. In my mind, I was telling myself, "Wala'y inani sa Manila". We hurried to see how the beach looks like. And here's what welcomed us!
This is very scenic, isn't it? Camiguin Island behind the cottage.
This view is on the right side. I don't know what the name of this island is but here is it anyway.
Eager to take a splash in the clear water, we changed to our swimming clothes and started to take pictures. Just a side note, it's facing Camiguin Island as Balingoan is the gateway to Camiguin. It's quite near if you look at it by perspective but it will take you 2 plus minus hours to get there by ferry.
Photos... photos... photos...
JUMP SHOT! I like to do jump shots in scenic beaches like this one. Pwede na ba pang postcard? Hehe :p
Meet my pretty friends, (L-R) Mary Rose, Claire, Althea, Queenzae and Jheryl! They are my high school classmates. The one who took this picture and obviously not in the photo is Queenzae. She's the one who's wearing the green ombre shirt in the next pictures. I'm very much proud to say that we are all professionals now. Mary Rose is training to become a firefighter. Tough lady eh? Claire and Althea (a registered nurse) are working under a non-government organization who works closely with World Vision. Jheryl is a preschool teacher and Queenzae is a chemist, working in a mining company. I'm very much proud of us all! :)
Some more shots...
After our photoshoot, we went to grab some lunch at the lobby. Foods and drinks from outside are not allowed by the way but still, we manage to sneak some junk foods and chocolates. Teehee! We ordered a seafood platter good for six persons. The food is quite pricey for me but we've got no other options and we are really hungry. XD
Here's a list of their specials and a photo of us waiting for our food. In any case, they also have another set of menu if you don't like their specials.
While eating, we had a very good chat reminiscing high school memories. As I said in my Facebook post,
It's amazing how we can talk about things over and over again and still feel crazy about it.
High school never ceases every time our batch mates get together. And honestly, it feels so good to reminisce the good old times especially if you are with the people you shared it with.
After a long chat during lunch, we went to snorkel. We rented gears and started to dip in the waters of Mantangale. We saw a lot of fishes with varied colors and starfishes and sea urchins too. One funny thing though was we encountered a sea snake! Yes, a sea snake with black and white/bluish stripes. The moment we realized it was a sea snake, we were screaming like hell trying to get ourselves out of the water. The smaller sea snake seemed to like us that it followed us up to the sea wall. Good thing, Cling2x, as we fondly call Claire, managed to scare it away by shooing it with the snorkel. Phew! It was really a close encounter and can be a fatal one too!
I was able to take photos of some of the sea creatures that we found there: Sea urchins, starfish and a sea shell.
Before going home, we asked a staff to take us a few photos. My legs were apparently burnt out by the sun, good thing I was wearing my rash guard, my arms were spared. Hoho.
Forgive my face! Hahaha
It was a fun fun day! Thank you girls who are as wanderlust as I am. We'll have more of this in the coming months. Cheers to more years of friendship and to more adventures together! We are missing a lot of people here but there is always next time.
xoxo!
P.S. Regarding the beach, it's really not a good spot if you just wanna swim because there's a lot of seaweeds and sea urchins. Your skin might get itchy if you are not used to it. You should wear rash guards and slippers or aquatic shoes if you want to venture farther. But I heard it's a good spot for diving. Aside from that, they have other activities also like dolphin watching, etc. Will definitely go back there! Thank you Mantangale Alibuag Beach Resort. :)
For more info about MABR, please visit there site at http://www.mantangale.com/.