Coco Beach Chronicles: The Hotel, The Beach, and the Drinks
I can't get enough of sun and sand. As I've mentioned in my previous blog, me and my officemates spent another long weekend in Puerto Galera and it was fun! I decided to write about our vacation (teambuilding?!) and to share the beauties of the place. And since I indulged myself in The Chronicles of Narnia for the past three weeks I decided to write my own chronicles of the trip. Haha! So here's the account of our first day in Coco Beach.
You can also read about the experience from another's point of view, Noelle, Marielle's sister who tagged along.
We left for Manila Saturday morning. The pickup point for Coco Beach visitors is in Manila Hotel. We were instructed to be there at 6:40am but of course, us office freaks are very excited about this trip so we were there at around 6:15am. So we went in and went through all those security checks and after putting our bags in the x-ray machine, a lady told us, "Sorry, we can't let you in beacuse we have a dress code here. You're wearing slippers." I just looked at her in shock. We said we're here for the Coco Beach trip but then she said, "We're not affiliated with Coco Beach." We were pissed so the lady just let us in, and we found out that the rest of the people in the lobby are going to Coco Beach, including a group of Rotarians and an Indian family. And so we weren't able to use the restroom as well because we might ruin the classy look of this five-star hotel! I'm never going back there, unless one of my crazy friends hold their wedding reception or birthday there. That, plus the things I heard about Manila Hotel's food being like "cafeteria food" made me decide such. I hate it that it has to be called Manila Hotel at all.
Anyway, back to our vacation. The bus arrived pretty much on time so we took our seats and got comfortable. Sadly, the group of Rotarian women took the seats behind us, and my hopes of sleeping in the bus were gone. The middle-aged women ranted and laughed and raved about almost anything. I'm actually glad to find myself waking up at the jetty port in Batangas about three hours later. Turned out I'm way too sleepy to be bothered at all by the loud group behind me.
And there, I saw MB Coco Beach (and another boat named MB Go Johnny Go haha) which will take us to the island. I realized that this is a different port, a far cry from the one where we took our boats to White Beach. It's just... a shore. No terminal fees, no check-ins and x-ray machines. This one is exclusively for Coco Beach visitors. So we went on board and after about an hour or less, we were in Coco Beach! We were welcomed with a song and a coconut drink. I totally felt the warmth of the place right away. We went to our rooms, which are located way up the hill, to put our bags down and went straight to feed our growling tummies!
We had Mindoro chicken and rice and tortang talong. That's the time we noticed the ridiculous descriptions in their menu or should I say, The Food Booklet, as what they call it. Here are examples that I could remember:
Blackfish, not too excitingBangus, delicious... but so many bonesGreen Salad, whatever the kitchen can throw inName of Food here (I forgot hehe), good when the kitchen is in the best of moodsCaramel Something, delicious... but so many caloriesChicken Sandwich, leftover pieces of chicken served on some pieces of breadChicken Something (I forgot again), chopped dead chicked tossed in blah blah....
Funny, right? But hey, the food is really good! We found out that chopped dead chicken is really appetizing!
After stuffing ourselves, we first took pictures of ourselves in the beach (of course) and soaked ourselves in the pool! We just made laps and talked and laughed and when we felt we've had enough, we agreed to explore the resort and look for the silent pool. It's located way up the hill, on the west side of the resort. We spent the rest of the afternoon there and had our happy hour drinks! We had our dose of screwdrivers, maitais and mango shakes. I was enjoying myself, relaxing at the jacuzzi when a bunch of American men arrived with their pinay women. I'm too lazy to type now, and i feel like telling about these fat balding men isn't worth my effort so just refer to Noelle's blog to find out about the significance of this group. Hehe. We went back to our room at about sunset and took salty/bitter (I can't decide which is which) showers and got ready for dinner.
Despite our vows to order a few to save money (and prevent calories), we found ourselves feasting over our dinner. We were also serenaded by the staff. I loved that experience. We headed up to the Barracuda Bar after dinner and had our drinks for the night: a shot of Bailey's for me, iced tea for Trixie, and I admit I can't remember what my other companions ordered. Noelle ordered something that looked like the alcohol can light up a fire, Marielle got something fruity, and Vanessa ordered something that has Bailey's and banana, which she didn't like. We went back to our room at around midnight and slept on our pretty beds.
You can also read about the experience from another's point of view, Noelle, Marielle's sister who tagged along.
We left for Manila Saturday morning. The pickup point for Coco Beach visitors is in Manila Hotel. We were instructed to be there at 6:40am but of course, us office freaks are very excited about this trip so we were there at around 6:15am. So we went in and went through all those security checks and after putting our bags in the x-ray machine, a lady told us, "Sorry, we can't let you in beacuse we have a dress code here. You're wearing slippers." I just looked at her in shock. We said we're here for the Coco Beach trip but then she said, "We're not affiliated with Coco Beach." We were pissed so the lady just let us in, and we found out that the rest of the people in the lobby are going to Coco Beach, including a group of Rotarians and an Indian family. And so we weren't able to use the restroom as well because we might ruin the classy look of this five-star hotel! I'm never going back there, unless one of my crazy friends hold their wedding reception or birthday there. That, plus the things I heard about Manila Hotel's food being like "cafeteria food" made me decide such. I hate it that it has to be called Manila Hotel at all.
Anyway, back to our vacation. The bus arrived pretty much on time so we took our seats and got comfortable. Sadly, the group of Rotarian women took the seats behind us, and my hopes of sleeping in the bus were gone. The middle-aged women ranted and laughed and raved about almost anything. I'm actually glad to find myself waking up at the jetty port in Batangas about three hours later. Turned out I'm way too sleepy to be bothered at all by the loud group behind me.
And there, I saw MB Coco Beach (and another boat named MB Go Johnny Go haha) which will take us to the island. I realized that this is a different port, a far cry from the one where we took our boats to White Beach. It's just... a shore. No terminal fees, no check-ins and x-ray machines. This one is exclusively for Coco Beach visitors. So we went on board and after about an hour or less, we were in Coco Beach! We were welcomed with a song and a coconut drink. I totally felt the warmth of the place right away. We went to our rooms, which are located way up the hill, to put our bags down and went straight to feed our growling tummies!
We had Mindoro chicken and rice and tortang talong. That's the time we noticed the ridiculous descriptions in their menu or should I say, The Food Booklet, as what they call it. Here are examples that I could remember:
Blackfish, not too excitingBangus, delicious... but so many bonesGreen Salad, whatever the kitchen can throw inName of Food here (I forgot hehe), good when the kitchen is in the best of moodsCaramel Something, delicious... but so many caloriesChicken Sandwich, leftover pieces of chicken served on some pieces of breadChicken Something (I forgot again), chopped dead chicked tossed in blah blah....
Funny, right? But hey, the food is really good! We found out that chopped dead chicken is really appetizing!
After stuffing ourselves, we first took pictures of ourselves in the beach (of course) and soaked ourselves in the pool! We just made laps and talked and laughed and when we felt we've had enough, we agreed to explore the resort and look for the silent pool. It's located way up the hill, on the west side of the resort. We spent the rest of the afternoon there and had our happy hour drinks! We had our dose of screwdrivers, maitais and mango shakes. I was enjoying myself, relaxing at the jacuzzi when a bunch of American men arrived with their pinay women. I'm too lazy to type now, and i feel like telling about these fat balding men isn't worth my effort so just refer to Noelle's blog to find out about the significance of this group. Hehe. We went back to our room at about sunset and took salty/bitter (I can't decide which is which) showers and got ready for dinner.
Despite our vows to order a few to save money (and prevent calories), we found ourselves feasting over our dinner. We were also serenaded by the staff. I loved that experience. We headed up to the Barracuda Bar after dinner and had our drinks for the night: a shot of Bailey's for me, iced tea for Trixie, and I admit I can't remember what my other companions ordered. Noelle ordered something that looked like the alcohol can light up a fire, Marielle got something fruity, and Vanessa ordered something that has Bailey's and banana, which she didn't like. We went back to our room at around midnight and slept on our pretty beds.