Dive-Monster Rhoody

The small Island of Diwaran next to Coron, Palawan, is supposed to be transformed in a new Luxury-Beach-Resort until 2012. As this would support the local-tourism industry it’s still a question how that will end.. The whole Island should compete or stand aside Phuket in Thailand.

I don’t know if that is the way the Philippines want to go in the future. On the other hand 12.000 jobs is a lot. Below the article I found in a local newspaper. Lets see how all will develop…

CORON, PALAWAN—Stand aside, Phuket. Here comes Diwaran.

By 2012, the 55-hectare Diwaran Island, part of Coron Reefs in northern Palawan, will be transformed into the “single largest integrated island resort in all Asia.”

This is the hope of Ho Kwon Ping, the Singaporean executive chair of Banyan Tree Holdings, a big developer of resorts, hotels, spas and residential homes in the Asia Pacific.

He spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony of the planned resort on the largely uninhabited island Wednesday attended by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Dressed in casual attire, Ms Arroyo came with Tourism Secretary Ace Durano and Trade Secretary Peter Favila.

Challenge to Phuket

Ms Arroyo said that the project, which is estimated to cost $240 million, would be the next Phuket, the popular resort in Thailand. Ho’s company pioneered the development in that area.

“What he had been able to do there, he can certainly do here,” she said.

Ho showed the master plan of the Isla Diwaran project to Ms Arroyo under the shade of tents.

The island’s map shows that the beach with only fine white sand and few indigenous trees will have three hotels with villas, a marina with facilities for arrival by boat or by seaplane, and a town center where there will be recreational facilities and retail outlets.

“All together, if fully developed, these (hotels) will have 600 rooms … At its full occupancy, we will have more than 1,500 tourists on this island alone,” Ho said.

About 20 minutes by speedboat from Coron, the island will be a sure attraction for tourists. On the way, overhanging limestone cliffs are seen. Coron Reefs, a favorite site for divers, is also known for its diverse marine life.

12,000 jobs

As soon as the resort is completed, 3,000 people will be hired to work on the island, Ho said.

“We are expecting at least 12,000 people to acquire jobs directly and indirectly from this project,” he said.

Ms Arroyo told a fisherman in the crowd, Joel Saclet, that on nearby Amanpulo, residents no longer fished but worked in the high-end resort.

“Is that what you are also expecting?” she asked.

Saclet replied “yes, ma’am.”

“It’s not only in the operation but as well as in the construction and a lot of the people around … are expecting that as this island resort is being built, roads will be constructed from the airport to the Marcella port,” Ms Arroyo said.

2012 opening

Ho said the resort would open probably by 2012.

Based on Banyan’s statistics, Palawan will benefit from the total tourists’ spending of $200 million per year.

“This is generally a big help for Coron,” he said.

The company already has hotels in some of the world’s most exclusive and popular holiday spots such as the Seychelles and Maldives.

It will develop the project, its first in the Philippines, together with Filipino businessman Salvador Zamora of Tranzen Group.

Banyan Tree was founded by Ho, a former journalist, and his wife in 1994 and was one of the first resort chains to offer guests the seclusion of their own villa equipped with a private pool and a tropical spa.

Lets see how all will develop…

cheers

Rhoody

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Oops, I forgot completely to finish my  trip-report to Angeles City with a side-trip to Subic. I think I stopped after we cancelled the second dive in the bay due to miserable conditions. After a cheap lunch in the “Not-So -Cheap” Cayman Beach Resort we walked 5 minutes to Ocean Adventure, a great Park with dolphins, sharks and sea lions, completed by a small aquarium house and a Monkey and Bird part.

The entrance fee is 500 Peso (if I remember right) and includes all shows and attractions in the Ocean Adventure Park. When we entered the dolphin show was close to the end. The Dolphins looked pretty healthy. In the middle of them a false Killer-whale.

Next was shark-feeding, what was in my opinion pretty boring but the girls were screaming and the crowd exited when there was a sharkish shape under the surface, but not really my thing. The Sealion show followed and I thought … WOW another sealion show, never saw that before…

To my surprise it was very well done and I caught myself laughing out loud plenty of times. We had  a quick run through the aquarium. It might have been interesting for others, but they had nothing there I haven’t seen in the Ocean and in the natural surroundings. But again for non-divers it’s great to see some Stingrays, Seahorses, Sharks of Pufferfish. 

Monkey-feeding was the next attraction what was similar to having lunch or dinner at home. The caretaker gave food to the monkeys and they surprisingly eat it… Nervertheless, it’s always fun to watch them playing and running around.

Then it was time to secure the seats for the dolphin show. It was great and the little Video I copied here doesn’t do any justice. We had a wonderful time and everybody enjoyed a lot.

After the Ocean Adventure in Subic we drove 20 minutes to our Hotel, the Dreamland-Resort on the other side of the bay. Dreamland Resort is a spacious Resort with a great pool-area and a good restaurant. After a nice dinner it was time to head towards the bar to explore the Nightlife in Subic. Sure it is not like Angeles City but very enjoyable. Due to the early closing-times there (3 am in the morning) we were forced to have a last one or two in “Fridays” the resort-bar of Dreamland.

That was also the point where I lost a bit track and next thing I recall was my alarm at 10:00am to get a quick breakfast. Around 11:00 am we entered the van to stand one hour in front of a bank and sweating out the rest-alcohol while Kim was inside the air-conditioned environment to do some business. Thanks mate, top job.

An hour later we were back in Angeles City and I enjoyed listening to the sweet whisper of the pillow in my room again.

For the other Parts of the Trip report you either scroll down or just use the links here:

Diving in Subic with Cayaman Beach Resort

Happy New Year From Angeles City

Angeles City - First Night out

New Year in AC or another local Drama

cheers

Rhoody

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I wanted to write a longer report about Linaw Beach Resort, but have a look at the video I found on youtube, I am sure you will enjoy if you decide to book there.

the roomrates are around 4000 Peso, I know it is not cheap, but Linaw has only 6 rooms and you have 100% privacy.

cheers

Rhoody

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I just came back from a three day/night trip from Panglao-Bohol. I went there to meet my friend Kim Beermonster the BIG boy of www.Dumagueteinfo.com.   

He is on a working-vacation there to kick-start his new project www.boholboard.com .

I planned to stay there for one, maximum 2 nights Man, it’s been a while since we met and my plan was to go there just over night as I am covered with work here in Dumaguete.

I took the OceanJet from Dumaguete to Tagbilaran for 520 PHP at 7 am in the morning. I would never take a ferry at that time on a Sunday morning suffering from a bad hangover due to the grand opening of Dumaguete Springs the evening before, but I had the choice between OceanJet and WEESAM Express 10 Minutes !!!! later.

Who in the wide wide world of sports makes a schedule like that.

The Ferry was nearly empty (no wonder at that time) and of course delayed. I arrived in Tagbilaran on Bohol at around 10 am where a driver was already waiting for me. It is only a 30 minute ride from the Pier to Linaw Beach Resort.
The resort is new and under Belgium ownership. The rooms are spacious and the staff very friendly. The only real complaints I had was the beer-temperature. It was way too warm…

The staff tried hard during my whole stay to get that sorted but somwhow it never worked really out.

The Dane booked me in a place called Linaw Beach Resort which is a nice quiet Resort on Panglao of away from the crowded Alona Beach, but still only a 5-10 minute ride to the Restaurants there at Alona.  I guess I am not that kind of a stabled person as right after the “Hello” I changed my mind and decided to stay 3 nights instead of one or two.

My room and the view from it was outstanding and there was no doubt that this gonna be 3 awesome days. Like I promised my friend I also brought the sun from Dumaguete and after checking in we went on a daytrip to Virgin-Island. But this is the next part of the report, what should not be missed…

Cheers

Rhoody

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After plenty of off-topics I need to get back to diving. Last Thursday I met Egon the owner of Dumaguete Springs Resort at Casablanca, our both favourite Restaurants. He ask me if I have time to teach a Rescue course at his Resort. After some calls and changes in my planned schedule I decided to teach the course.

My Student Liz was arriving from Bacolodand we introduced each other. She came with her parents and we run through the rough schedule. It is a requirement to have an EFR course (Emergency First Response aka Medic first aid). While my colleagues headed towards Apo Island I was left alone with two mermaids to teach the Rescue and EFR. the only guy helping us was “Manni” the Manequin… but as you can see on the pictures he has some important body-parts missing that I was totally left alone with the two.

In my next post I will write something about the Rescue and EFR Course, and why I think Each diver should be at least a rescue diver.

cheers

Rhoody

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Mike an UPS-pilot from the States gave me a short notice call and asked about diving. He is a friend of my partner on Dumagueteinfo and visited Dumaguete to get certified as an Open Water Diver. He explained me his phobia with a near-drowning experience and that he has a phobia. Each time he has water around his nose he freaks out and panics. Being warned I could prepare myself.

As a freelancing Scuba-diving Instructor I am in the lucky position to teach small dive-classes. In this case a one-by-one course. I like challenges and to make students overcome their problems.

Mike arrived on the Cebu-Pacific flight on Wednesday afternoon. After he checked in at Coco-Grande Hotel he gave me a call and we met at Mikes Diveshop, the facility I use when teaching classes. At 5 pm he came with Lyka, his lovely girlfriend. I tried to convince her to try a Discover Scuba Program, but she didn’t wanna do it. He came with filled in knowledge-reviews and well prepared. I gave him the typical forms and paperwork and we made the schedule for the next 3 days.

Thursday morning I packed the gear and picked him and Lyka up at the Hotel. Knowing about his Problem I decided not to go to the ocean for his Open Water dives. Instead of that we went to WellBeach-Resort near to Malatapay where I wanted to finish all confined water dives in one go. After a cup of coffee we started to assemble our gear and I briefed Mike what we gonna do under water. All skills went completely fine and I saved the “partial flooded mask clearing” skill until the end of the confined water dive one. Mike did a great job on that and had no problem on the second try. While he was doing that I watched him very closely, being prepared to pull him to the surface (from 4 feet depth) if any problems occur. His self-discipline was amazing as I could see his eyes very focused and listen to his concentrated breathing. After clearing the mask a couple of times we finished some more skills and confined water dives 1, 2 and 3 were done. I was not less happy than him after surfacing and we both laughed and smiled in our lunch break.

After lunch we finished confined water dive 4 and 5 with some minor hick-ups. This dives included mask clearing and no mask swimming. At the end of the dives I took away his mask and let him swim alone in the pool without any physical control. I threw the mask in the pool and he searched for it at the deep end, replaced it and cleared it. That was the sign that he is ready for the “big pool” the next day where our plan was to have Open Water Dive 1 and 2.

The story continues tomorrow. Than you can read about “teaching Scuba diving in a Typhoon”

Thanks for now and cheers

Rhoody

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