Anna and I took a little Saturday drive a couple of weeks back and found a hidden gem. We left without a real destination besides "seeing the ocean." Thinking that we might be able to "see the ocean" and hike Pico de Loro, we set off at about 9am drove a well traveled route through Tagaytay and dropped down the back side towards the coast. Once we left Tagaytay City, the drive was very pleasant. The roads opened up a bit and we had beautiful views of the mountains in the distance and farms in the foreground. There were sparse villages along the way, with people doing laundry from communal springs or just walking the street, but there wasn't much to talk about. We arrived in Nusugbu the large coastal town at about 11am flanked by all sorts of trucks full of bamboo. Nusugbu is home of 2 major bamboo manufacturers are there must have been a thousand trucks waiting to be off loaded. I tried to find out what was being produced there, but I couldn't get a simple answer. Whatever it is, it requires a lot of bamboo.
From Nusugbu, we turned right and headed toward Manila. The coast and subsequent road is very windy and steep at parts as it follows the jagged Philippine coastline. Occasionally, we would be able to get an expansive view of the South China Sea to our left, but these opportunities were rare, as the land between the road and coast is all privately owned. We tried to pull into a couple of resorts for lunch, but were turned away from the "member-only" communities. We had been told that you could buy a day pass to one of these resorts, but we had no luck. After being turned away at Hamilo Resort, we decided to go back the way we came. We headed down to a public/private beach and proceeded to pay 200 pesos for 3 hours of beach time coupled with a 200 peso plate of delicious bbq chicken and rice. Pamana beach resort is very simple, some nipa huts line the coast and there are some motel style rooms in the back, but the beach is clean, the food was good and the water was perfect to play in. They actually had a very neat water feature as you entered, but it had long-been out of service when we arrived.
After watching Rosemary splash in her happiest state for a couple of hours we decided to head home. On the way out, we drove past Canyon Cove Resort. Still being a bit hungry, we turned around to check out the place. It is beautifully located 5 star resort right on the water, with a swimming pool, play area, bar, and many other amenities. We decided to eat at the restaurant where the food was provided by Max's Cafe (not very good), but we enjoyed the atmosphere so much that we decided to stay the night. Anna booked a room and with nothing more than the clothes we were wearing we enjoyed a spontaneous coastal holiday.
We walked the beach and headed out to the jetty point to watch a spectacular sunset. Our evening finished with an enjoyable appetizer dinner and a couple of drinks. The following day was spent playing in the pool and ocean and just enjoying where we live...the Philippines. It was a great weekend and reminded me just how lucky we are.
