[Balesin Island#1] Come Away With Me to a Balesin Escape

UPDATE 11/6/13: Check out the latest blog post on Balesin Island Club developed by Alphaland:
BALESIN ISLAND (ALPHALAND): Food Tripping Around the World in 7 Beach Resort Paradise!

Balesin. noun.
1. Forgotten Fantasy Isle. (by Elizabeth Reyes for Mabuhay Magazine)
2. Anti-Boracay Beach. (by Rome Jorge for the The Sunday Times)
3. Seven 7 kms. of White Sand Beach Paradise (www.balesin.com)

I’ve been traveling lately almost every weekend in summer, and coupled with hectic schedule at work, expect slow blog postings through-out summer. Although, I’m excited to post my recent adventures in the islands of El Nido, Bacuit Bay, Palawan and island of Balesin, Lamon Bay, Pollilio, Quezon Province. From the western coast of Palawan to the eastern coast of Quezon Province, I have lots of stories to tell. I love beaches and one of these days, I’ll write a photo book about the wonderful beaches of the Philippines.

Balesin Beach is perfect with fine white sand that is close to bora’s station 1 powdery beach sand. The sun sets directly in front of the resort for that relaxing rest to end your day. It has all the elements that makes it perfect: clear blue sky, crystal clear water, fine white sand, lush green trees, and inviting torquise sea. This is really what you call a fantasy hide-away since you are in a secluded resort with the forrest full of chirping birds as the backdrop and with the beach as your only witness. The resort people are super friendly with your typical Filipino hospitality.

Unfortunately, there is a problem with the resort.

We took the 3days/ 2 nights summer package, but we felt that we did not get a good return for our money. The home-cooking was uninspired (I should say). We felt like eating buffet prepared by our maid at home. Everything was deliciously fried– fried fish galore, the rice was mostly hard as if it was yesterday’s leftover rice (yeah, it should have been made sinangag), the fried squid was as hard as stone, the soup was always oily, vegetables were tired, and the proudly made Balesin brownies have burned bottoms. One of the things we just look forward was the fresh fruits and fresh coconut they serve every meal. The resort facilities were rustic, old, mostly dilapidated, and needs an influx of fresh investments to restore the place. It is also sad to see the dead corals in front of the beach, and the logs brought about by the Infanta Quezon tragedy.

It took us 7 hours (4 hours land trip, 3 hours boat trip) to visit this place and we would have expected better fresh food for its price. Just a word of caution on estimated hours of travel in any of the published marketing websites of these kinds of resorts: Always add + 1 hour to their estimated times because the quoted estimates are always based on ideal conditions driving at night when there is no traffic or when the waves are calm. And oh by the way, do not forget to bring Bonamin if you have a tendency to have be seasick. An alternative mode of travel is via a chartered plane for only 30 minutes but it would cost you P26,000 roundtrip for a four (4) seater engine, or P66,000 roundtrip or an eight (8) seater twin engine. Since I like long driving, we decided to drive all the way to the Atimonan port (180kms away from Manila) so we were able to save on our 3 days/ 2 nights package which cost for us P7,000/head.

Overall, if you are looking for a relaxing vacation in a perfect beach hideaway and you are not picky with the quality of food, then Balesin is your answer. Let me give you a peek at the Balesin experience.