7 Seize the Day, Summer Getaway 2014

In subsequent to Presidential Proclamation 115-A, March declared as Fire Prevention Month in the Philippines and the year thereafter. Arriving the third month of the calendar year is a sign that cold temperature is over and an indication that summer is yet to come. Henceforth we decided to set our team building as early as second week of the month. And it’s undeniably the perfect time to start summertime. So please join our team to Kick-Off Summer Party 2014! Summer, Summer, Summertime. Time to set back and unwind. :)

And how we delimit Summertime? Just like an ordinary way. As a quote say: Hair gets Lighter. Skin gets Darker. Water gets Warmer. Drinks get Colder. Nights get Longer. And of course, thou shall not forget that you are in the island where most of the best and talented singers are here. Pepede ba namang mawala ang videoke?! Laging kasama sa budget yan. So let’s Music gets Louder and Life gets Better. J

And knowing the Philippines? duh, here where you can only find the World's Best Beach. And speaking of beach, our team would like to do more. So we decided to sweep the sweetest island’s sand. It’s indeed the perfect escape from the four-cornered work station covered with thick blankets and sweaters. And I know there’s a lot of choices where to go, actually not to mention – there are thousands of options depending on your preference.    

And since we only have weekend for the opening salvo of summer escapade, we decided to just bowl nearby shorelines. Thus Batangas would be the place. It is only 2- 3 hours travel time from the capital city, Manila. This province offers different selection of beach resorts – black sand beaches in the northwest coastline while white and fine sand beaches in the northeast. Please click this site for some list of beaches in the province.

In our case, we went to Lemery, the town next to Cuenca Batangas where you can find the highest elevation at the hand of Mt. Maculot (Rockies). I’m thinking not to mention where we stayed but I guess I have to. We checked in at Heart of D’Ocean (http://www.heartofdoceanresort.com/), you gonna love the background scenes courtesy of their website. And when you get there, I would say it’s clean and spacious. You have the option to either go to beach or just plunge into the huge pools. I so love the place, however I don't like the way they treat customers when it comes to charges. It’s conflicting from their service mark – “Where your holistic well-being is d’♥of our service”. I dunno if the heart logo means love or just heart. Well either way, we feel like we we’re robbed. Everything is about money. They are thirst collecting money from their patrons. It’s like more on hidden charges. 

Okay going back, our summer escapade turned out worth remembering because it’s not really the place, it’s about the people whom you with. Sabi nga nila: “A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles”.  We arrived 2PM so we don’t have much time for outdoor activities, we just prepared everything needed for our ultimate adventure. We decided to schedule our island hopping the next day morning and just feel the sense of team building. Thanks to my company who shouldered some of the expenses.

Next day morning after breakfast everyone is geared up for Island Hopping, I think this is the only outdoor activity. I’m not sure though if there’s any, well aside from beach volleyball. Since shorelines in Nonong Castro are black sands so bankeros are pleased to say that there will be a white sands island that is part of hopping itinerary. Oh okay, pero hindi talaga ganun ka white and fine. Hehe.

Traveling time is 45 minutes (1 1/2 roundtrip) and there will be P30 entrance fee per head for the white island. Pero dahil nga hindi siya ganun ka white, we had an internal agreement with the bankero to just stay for snorkeling. By the way Island Hopping is included (I guess required) during our reservation so we only have 3 hours to go back and forth, otherwise we have to pay extra. As a result we settled to just go on snorkeling.

Aside from snorkeling, we have another sidetrip, the bankero brought us to a “cave”. Honestly I really thought of Palawan like underground-river. But it’s not what I expected. It’s just a big boulders sitting at the edge of shoreline where the sands and sea waters met. And there’s like tiny bowl-shaped that looks like cave. So we hopped in instead and went to tiny waterfalls. And to give justice of extreme-like outdoor activity we did some wall climbing. Overall, twas a great summer escapade and we opened the beat of the heat activity real time. Let’s go for more summer activity either by the sea or by the mountains.