What prompted me to stay here was because I wanted to get training for my advanced diving…read morecertification.
A dive center that is within the property and surrounded by dive sites and endless wonder, this place is a no brainer for any level of diving.
The hotel experience also has many positive experiences to note.
I had booked the Garden Double Room plus an extra bed (mattress). For this trip, I had decided to take my grandfather with me and he also decided to take one of his friends (so he has someone to hang out with while im out with dive training for 2 days).
Day 1:
Checked in at the front.
Received our welcome drinks (calamansi juice).
Requested for extra mattress (breakfast included).
Paid the remainder of my balance for my booking.
Brought to our room (hut).
Lagaw and Pictures.
LUNCH!
Lunch servings were huge. One plate could feed at least 2 people. I could not finish my own plate. You could ask for extra plates to split orders, or they can split the order before they are served.
We had: Calamari, Zurcher Geshnetzeltes and Paniertes Schnitzel an extra side of mashed potatoes.
All very good and well cooked. After a 6 hour drive from Bacolod, this was good reward for a smooth trip.
It was also during this meal that I learned that if you have any leftovers, on your request, they can keep the food and reheat it for your next meal. So for dinner, I went back for my leftovers, but added their Chocolate Coffee Pie for dessert.
My grandfather wanted to sit by the beach and relax, so I went off my own way to the PADI Dive center. I got to ask them some questions, meet my instructor and even got a run-down of each dive, what to expect and their locations.
PADI Courses are available online through their website and this location is listed as one of their certifying locations. Each class can have have up to 5 students. For this location, the options available to me are: Peak Performance Buoyancy, Drift Dive, Night Dive, Deep Dive, Adventure Navigation Dive. I was thinking of doing getting Nitrox certified, so they sent me the course material to study and prepare for Nitrox. More about this on Day 3.
Day 2:
We all got free breakfast. Breakfast open as early as 6:30. It is already included with the booking, so we didnt need to pay any extra. It is also buffet style with an omellete station, coffee station, and cereal station. Each day has a different theme. This day was Filipino themed breakfast; however, the stations remain the same. After you first place, you are served a fruit bowl and the omellete is brought to your table.
If you still have food or drink on your table and you need to leave to get more of something, i suggest leaving your napkin over your food so the birds dont get them while youre away. They were happy to make me a new omellete after I had walked away to get more rice. Haha - it was a funny sight seeing birds feasting on my feast.
You can also sit outside of the restaurant, at the huts, and be served your meal. The huts have buzzers in one of the pillars to call the servers. For lunch, we split an order of Fish Fillet A La Pura Vida and Caesar Salad. Learning from the day before, I had them keep my leftovers to consume again later for Dinner. Between each chapter i studied for my review, I jumped into the pool for a few mins and went back to resume my studies. The deepest part of the pool is about 5ft and it is consistently warm. The shower to rinse off has good, strong pressure and its not muddy around the area, so you can just simple rinse and walk off without having dirt stick to your feet.
For dinner, we had Chicken Coron Bleau and a side of Spatzli. Played pool and called it a day.
Day 3: Dive day.
German Breakfast
Damron is my instructor whom I had met at day 1. I went into my scheduled meeting time at 8:30 in their office and got myself fitted with all their equipment: Dive computer, Mask, Air, Weights, Fins, BCD, etc. They provided everything. Everything was clearly labelled and Put into a crate for easy tracking and on a clearly labelled hanger.
Air inspection.
Buddy Check.
Ready to dive.
Dive 1 - Deep Dive. Went for as low as 30meters..
Dive 2 - Navigation.
Lunch was back on land and just had Kinilaw and Zuppa Di Funghi (Mushroom Soup).
Dive 3 - Night Dive.
Each dive we also identified some fish and coral. Some were dangerous and most of them were safe. It was really fun to see what happens down in the deep.
Decided to hold off Nitrox for now.
Mission Success
Day 4: Dive Day.
Spanish Breakfast
Say to say I only have 2 dives left, but a terrific memory nonetheless.
Dive 4 - Peak Performance Buoyancy. I had trouble with my weights not being heavy enough so My instructor was able to help me get optimal weights and be able to train my buoyancy with new weights. The weights I had on was too light for what I was using. I kept floating away. But we nailed it, got it right, and got the OK from him.
Dive 5 - Drift Dive.
Certified that PM
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