Dive Solana is one of the more popular destination for people who want to get a taste of the Philippine underwater scene. It’s basically a regular hot spot for diving or snorkeling.

Problem is, a lot of tourist and visitors often get lost when going to this Batangas resort. So here’s a quick guide on how to go to Dive Solana.

1. Take the South Super Highway.
2. Pay the toll at the end and turn right at the Batangas Lucena Exit.
3. Go straight until you reach the Star Tollway entrance on your right.
(Star tollway is 40kms/24mi from start to end of toll)
4. Go to the end of the Star tollway and pay the toll fee Php 55.00 (approx US$1.15).
5. The road will split into three in 200meters/.1mi. Take the one straight ahead that will lead to the Batangas pier.
6. You will see a Toyota car dealership on the left.
7. Keep going straight until you see the flyover. Go UNDER the flyover and turn right at the intersection.
8. Keep going straight on this road for about 4.5km/2.7mi until you see Jollibee (fast food restaurant). Turn right.
9. Follow the road until it curves to the left.
10. Keep going, you will see Metrobank on the left, then Petron gas station on the right.
11. Shortly after Petron gas station, you will cross a short bridge.
12. Right after crossing the bridge, turn left towards the shipyards. You will pass AG&P and Keppel Shipyards.
13. In about 8.8km/5.4mi, your will reach the circular Mabini shrine, turn right.
14. Stay on this road which heads out to the Anilao pier.
15. Turn left before the pier, you will start seeing resort signs along the way.
16. Continue on this road which will take you to the Anilao resorts. Solana is approximately 10 kms (6.21 miles) from this point.
17. Solana will be on your right.

Canyon Cove Residential Beach Resort is located in Nasugbu, Batangas. It is a two and a half drive away from Manila via South Luzon Expressway on an ordinary day. Expect to add another hour on your travel time though, especially on a weekend where traffic is sometimes heavy southbound.

Bringing your own food is strictly prohibited inside the resort and the security guards are searching the guests’ bags upon arrival.

The resort doesn’t look big on the outside and it’s not until you get past the entrance hall/building that you get to see the entire view of the resort and the beach.

They have a huge main pool which is partitioned into two to cater to adults and children and a secondary pool just meters away. In between the pools are the shower rooms and a beach volleyball court. You can also find a mini-bar and children’s playground beside the pool. A number of lifeguards are always on monitor by the poolside.

The resort has a number of villas/condos offering a panoramic view of the beach which is perfect for sunset viewing. Unluckily we were only on daytrip so we weren’t able to check out the rooms.

The beach’ white sand and clear water is likeable, though swimming just a few meters away it already gets rocky. If you don’t like to swim, you can go kayaking, jetskiing or snorkeling.

Food is ordinary and a bit pricey and customer service is average.

Although the resort and its facilities are bigger than the usual resorts, It is more ideal for company or group outings and team buildings. If you are looking for a more private and relaxed ambiance, you can try checking on other resort destinations.

Canyon Cove website

Click here for more photos

Batangas is one of the most visited provinces in Luzon every summer, more so during long week-ends and holidays. This Holy Week, scuba diving is one leisure activity that’s hot among a lot of resorts in Batangas.

One such place is Batangas that’s always a hot spot among divers is Anilao. Actually, it’s been a consistent location for a lot of divers whole year long.

Dozens of resorts specialize in scuba diving in Anilao, Batangas and one of the newer ones offer more than the usual over-night accommodations. The Bambu Villa Resort is about a couple of kilometers into the coastline from the Anilao port. It’s just newly constructed so a couple of the amenities are not yet completed.

For one, their rooms are not yet retrofitted with the usual TV sets and cable. The management says they are in the process of furnishing each rooms with one very soon. The Bambu Villa is a 2-floor building made mostly of concrete, bamboo and other hard wood. This is mostly for thematic accents that plays with the name of the resort.

Another building beside it is the dining and entertainment hall. The resort offers accommodation with four buffet food servings a day for Php2,800 per head on a quad-sharing arrangement (Php3,000 for triple sharing). If customers prefer to order their own meals, the room rates are Php4,800 which is good for 2 persons (additional Php1,000 for extra persons).

The buffet rates are actually affordable considering you get four meals a day with that. The ala-carte meals are a bit more expensive.

The place also has a small swimming pool up front and over-looking the beach and gives it an infinity pool look. There’s also a viewing deck down the hill where visitors can relax and watch the ocean as well as an entrance into the beach for snorkeling or scuba diving. They also have WiFi there but it’s not strong enough to reach the guest rooms. They’ll probably fix that and expand to the entire place anytime soon.

One of the most visited resorts in Batangas is the Lago de Oro Resort in Balibago, Calatagan, Batangas. This is mainly because of the wakeboarding activities found in the Cable Ski Park in front of it.

Check out this short video clip of visitors riding the wakeboard all day:

Lago de Oro is situated about 115 kilometers South West of Manila on the shore of the South CHina Sea and on Zobel highway. Estimated travel time by land is about 2 to 2.5 hours, depending on traffic at South Super Highway.

Video taken using a Samsung IT100 point-and-shoot camera.

For some years now, I have been taking for granted how special my hometown really is. Perhaps it’s because I grew up studying at your ordinary public school, rode the slow and dizzying PUJ’s like they’re the only possible means of getting anywhere, and played my own share of tsinelas-basketball at our plaza gym, like most kids my age did. I grew up in this town without gratitude—there’s always that possibility in my mind that someday I’ll be leaving this place to move on to bigger things; to the real world. I’ve yet to figure out why after 15 years of daydreaming I still find myself here every morning, and as always I have to convince myself that I’m staying not because I have no choice, but rather, because I wanted to.

Hehe.  I had to suppress laughing from reading what I have just written down. I didn’t mean this article to be on the dramatic. I, firstly, wanted to be informative and inviting.

I am a wedding photographer / videographer. Yesterday, we covered a Lipa Cathedral wedding of Pham adnd Rhen and the reception was very near our house at Mataasnakahoy, Batangas. Two weeks before, we had our prenup in that same place–where you can have another view of the famous Taal Lake and Volcano (picture above) often depicted from Tagaytay City, Cavite. This one picture was our group’s shot at Shercon Resort, Mataasnakahoy, Batangas.

From now on, I intend to provide a tour guide to our little town, feature summer and all-year-round resorts that we often ignore here but are deeply proud of, give a summary of the town’s founding as I go along, and continue to please you guys with more pictures from our wedding photography group.

This is our first attempt at doing a travel video podcast or vidcast. All scenes were shot at Batangas during the recent Holy Week. Armed with a Nokia N95 and a Canon EOS D40, we spent 3 days and 2 nights at Nasugbu, Batangas visiting Terrazas de Punta Fuego, Pico de Loro in Hamilo Coast, Munting Buhangin Beach Resort and Lago de Oro in Calatagan.

We call our YouTube vidcast Xplore Pilipinas! This is our debut episode and we’ll be doing more of them each month.

Visit the best kept secrets of Batangas, Laguna and Quezon:

Organized by the country’s oldest orchid and plant society, the exposure and wellness trip aims to treat the members as well as guest to one of Southern Luzon best kept secrets that few people knows.

Itineraries: Gintong Talulot Orchids and Ornamental Plants Farm (Laguna). This farm is one of the largest producer of semi-terete and quarter terete vandas for cutflower and top cuts in Laguna, the farm is also known for its high quality ornamental plants.

Golden Petals Orchids and Ornamental Farm (Sto. Tomas, Batangas)

One of the leading supplier of strap-leaf vandas in Batangas and adjacent areas, The farm also boast of native orchids such as Phalaenopsis schilleriana or Tiger orchid as well as other rare ornamental plants such as anthuriums and birds nest fern .

Earth Keepers Organic Farm and Garden (Tiaong, Quezon)

The farm boast of organically grown vegetables, fruits and organically grown farm animals such as pigs. Experience how traditional massage relieves tensions and relaxes your mind and soul.

Ugo Bigyan Potteries

Traditional Filipino potteries and the art of making these pots. Exported to Japan and other parts of the world. See and experience how these magnificent pots are created.

Fee: P 800 for Philippine Orchid Society members and P1,000 for non-members
Tour Date: March 29, 2008 (Saturday)
Assembly Place and Pick-up Points: Manila Seedling Bank Compound at 5:30 to 6:00 am
Magallanes Station at 6am to 6:30 am

Trip is inclusive of breakfast, lunch and merienda

Contact information :
THE PHILIPPINE ORCHID SOCIETY Headquarters
Unit 209 Delsa Mansion, Scout Borromeo corner Scout Torillo Streets,
Barangay South Triangle, Quezon City, Philippines
JENNY RIVERA – Executive Secretary at (0917)848-5468
or (02)929-4425
Lawrence Chan- Corporate Secretary (0919)390-1671
Email: philorchidsociety@yahoo.com

One of the most favorite churches for weddings down south of Luzon can be found at Nasugbu, Batangas. They say that the Caleruega Church is so in-demand from would-be couples that you need to book a date a year ahead of schedule to get a spot. Sometimes, it’s even hard during peak season like June and December.

The Caleruega Church is still a bit off Tagaytay City and the road into the location is a little rough (talk about rocky, non-cemented and dusty road paths). Despite that, the panoramic view is just fantastic that it’s also the favorite location by most professional wedding photographers. There are only two wedding rites held every day — one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They management charges about Php15,000 for the use of the venue which does not include the donation to the parish priest for officiating the rites.

The church is actually small and can seat just over a couple hundred but the area surrounding it is quite large with greeny hills in all directions. They also have several medium to large reception halls that couples can rent to serve as venue for the after-ceremonial party.

Further down the hill, there’s a hanging rope bridge connecting to a larger garden and orchard which is always flocked by families and tourist for an afternoon picnic. On a regular day, visitors are charged a minimal entrance fee of Php20.

One does not need to go as far as Camarines Sur to go wakeboarding. Lago de Oro Resort in Calatagan, Batangas has one you can enjoy and have tons of fun wakeboarding.

Just a couple of hours drive from Manila (about 115 kms), Lago de Oro is the next best thing in water sports.

There are normally two schedules for wakeboarding — one is in the morning from 9:00AM to 1:00PM and another from 2:00PM to 6:00PM. You will have to be early for these schedules in order to maximize your surfing time. On occasions, there will be a lot of people there so you’ll end up spending more time falling in line rather than in the water.

The half-day sked costs Php840 per person. For two people, you can book a room for the night at Php4,400 which comes with free breakfast and 2 half-day tickets for wakeboarding.

If you are staying overnight though, you may want to skip the resort and go somewhere else. The food inside are very expensive. It would have been better to stay and eat in Tagaytay and drive the rest of the way for an afternoon session. Imagine regular steamed rice for Php80!

The equipments (vests, wakeboard, skis, etc) are inclusive of the tickets. You may bring your own boards if you don’t want to line-up and take turns with their equipments. Also make sure to do some stretching before hitting the water. The cables pull you off at an average 30-32km/hour and the continuous tugging could end you up with body pains later on.

As promised, here’s another of Lipa’s famous churches. Carmel, as Batangueños refer to it, was founded on May 31, 1946, just a year after World War II left the town of Lipa in ruins (Lipa bounced back heavily and was made city in August 1947, after the Japanese killed more than 20,000 innocent Lipa natives, with more casualties resulting from massacres carried out by the Japanese when they were losing the war against the Americans in the ending years). This little tidbit of information is probably a little out of topic, but they were all mentioned in the book “The Roots of Teresa’s Nuns in the Philippines,” a copy of which a Carmelite Sister gave me that last week of November I was able to visit Carmel, again, this time in a different light.

Through the initiative of Bishop Alfredo Versoza and then auxilliary Bishop Alrfredo Ma. Obviar(who was the first father and chaplain of the monastery), the sisters from Carmel Manila left for their new monastery in Lipa on the same day Carmel Lipa was founded, which was the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace. This is primarily the reason why the Carmel has been associated with several forms of the Virgin Mary.

When I was taking this picture inside the church, an elderly Sister approached me and asked me to come with her. I immediately felt at ease with her vibrant voice, and she talked for an hour or so about the beginnings of the church and her admiration of Maria Bambina(picture below). I explained to her that I’ll be writing and posting my pictures of Carmel in the Internet, and she talked more animatedly and explained that this picture of Maria Bambina cannot be found anywhere else, even in the web. I promised to post it pursuant to her requests. (Thank you Sister, for your hospitality and the two books!)

Here are other images I took while I was there.

It was a rather gloomy day when I went there, not to mention that it was a weekday. There weren’t the usual number of people that I was accustomed to seeing and rubbing shoulders with. On Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings, Carmel brims with churchgoers coming from as far as Batangas City. Most people talk to the Sisters and ask for help in their prayers. Confessions are also held at various times of the day. Carmel, compared to Katedral, is not in the center of bustling city streets, and visiting the Carmel Sisters can mean an hour or two of retreat and recollection, a much needed pause in the never-stopping play of life.