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.

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.

I didn’t think the Manila Ocean Park would be big. But Manila Ocean Park is indeed world-class — at least that’s the plan.

The Manila Ocean Park is “a marine themed park bringing together in one complex an Oceanarium, a mall, a restaurant row, boutique hotel, open water marine habitats and multi-purpose function facilities.”

The park has a huge lobby with huge photos of marine life to whet the appetite of visitors, and food stalls to fill the stomach too. Visitors make their way through a series of aquariums beside stairways and artificial waterfalls in a section named “agos”. There’s a portion where visitors can touch some starfish. There are more marine life in the “Bahura” and “Laot” sections of the oceanarium. The beautiful colors of the corals had awestruck until I realized they were fake. It’s interesting that all the marine life in the entire park are found in Philippine seas. Nothing foreign here, except for some visitors, maybe.

The underwater tunnel of the “Buhay ng Karagatan” section is the real feature of the tour. The stingrays are wonderful, like graceful birds “flying” in the water. You could almost touch the fish except for the glass that divides their world from ours. There’s more sharks in the “Ang Kalaliman” section with an overhanging tank where you can see the bellies of various sharks. The multimedia facility has some interactive games.

There’s more in the second floor, but was rather incomplete the time we visited. There’s a shark viewing area, a “fish spa”, hermit crab race area, stingray/fish feeding area and a glass bottom boat area. Nice!

The place isn’t wheelchair friendly at this time. There’s a lot of construction still on-going. The staff are obviously doing their best, helping to provide more info and trivia about the marine life, answering questions from curious visitors. A little more crowd control could help. The persistent reminder over the loudspeakers to “turn off the camera flash” was a bit irritating. But it’s true, visitors must turn off the flash to reduce stress on the fish.

It’s great to have a facility like the Manila Ocean Park in the Philippines. It’s just a bit ironic that our country is an archipelago with some of the richest marine life, but it takes an Ocean Park like this for more Filipinos to appreciate the riches of our Philippine seas. It’s all good, more awareness for more Filipinos, a venue for education and experiences for kids and adults alike, and an improvement to the tourism industry.

The Park is right behind the Quirino Grandstand at Roxas Blvd. Tickets are quite steep at P400 per person considering that only around half or one third of the entire park is open. Ask for group rates. Better to visit on weekdays to avoid the weekend rush. It’s a good show, nonetheless. Best seen when the 2nd floor activity area opens after a few more months, perhaps.

To the management and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF, partner of the Manila Ocean Park), take care of the marine life, and take care of your patrons too! All the best!

The Manila Ocean Park:
Behind Quirino Grandstand, Luneta Park, Manila
Park hours: 10am to 9pm, Monday to Sunday
Tel. (+632) 567-7777
Fax: (+632) 567-2309
Email: marketing@manilaoceanpark.com
Website: www.manilaoceanpark.com

ka edong
edong da fish

This is a frequently asked question for some of the tourist and Balikbayans when they visit Manila and only have 1 day free time to visit a place outside Manila. Here are my Top 10 best out-of-town experience that can we done within one day!

1. Tagaytay Cuisines (RSM, Sonya’s, Antonio’s) and Taal Volcano Trek (By far, the most popular out of town destination)

2. Laguna Bay Lake Tour with stop-over in Los Banos, Pagsanjan Falls and Exotik Restaurant

3. Historic Tour of Corregidor Island

4. Tina Decal’s Culinary Tour of Quezon

5. Viaje Del Sol’s culinary delights of Tiaong Quezon, and San Pablo, Laguna (includes Villa Escudero, Cusina Salud, among others)

6. Mt. Pinatubo Crater Trek and Spa experience

7. Healthy Spa experience at The Farm @ San Benito, Lipa Batangas.

8. Snorkelling and Diving at the Anilao, Batangas resorts (Dive and Trek’s Marine Sanctuary)

9. Nature tripping @ Subic Bay Metropolitan Area or Shopping @ Clark Economic Zone.

10. Enjoying the Beaches of Nasugbu, Batangas in Peninsula de Punta Fuego or Tali Beach!

I’ve written a couple of reviews of some of the places. Check out the Awesome Pilipinas collection in my blog.