Wandering Tourist - Vacation in Paradise

Vacation in Paradise

We keep very busy with the work on the house and property and the buying and selling of coconuts and coconut meat. So, even though we are living in paradise, a vacation is needed. JJ went on October break on 10/20/16 and Flor had an appointment in Maasin (about 3 hours from where we live) on 10/21/16, we decided to make a vacation out of it. We brought along a neighbor kid, ToyToy, for a companion for JJ.

On Thursday, 10/20/2016, we took the scenic route from Hinunangan to Maasin  along the coast of Sogod Bay around Padre Burgos and then up to Maasin.

It's beautiful drive all the way . There are several dive resorts in the area. We will probably go back some day and stay at one of them.

     Peters Dive Resort                http://whaleofadive.com/
     Sogod Bay Scuba Resort      http://www.sogodbayscubaresort.com/
     Southern Leyte Divers          http://www.leyte-divers.com/en/
     Tangkaan Beach Resort        https://www.facebook.com/tangkaan/    

     Kuting Reef Resort               http://kutingreef.ph/        

We ended up at the Cacao (pronunced Ca-cow) Mountain Resort in Maasin.  
      https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cacao-Mountain-Resort/222967067728210

Cacao is Coco bean, yes, chocolate. There are numerous Cacao trees on the property at the resort (and we have one Cacao tree at our property as well).

The resort looks like it had been there for some time and they keep making additions. The room we had was in the older part of the resort and was good for sleeping. The overall resort is nice and scenic. Room rate was 600 pesos (about $15) a night.

There are 2 swimming pools, one with a water slide and the other was being used by school kids for swimming practice. JJ and ToyToy spent a lot of time in the pool and JJ really like the water slide.

 Here's Judson doing his silly dive.

And here's another of his diving ninja kick.

There is normally a water fall at the resort with a bridge going over the stream. However, since it is at the end of the dry season, there is just a trickle in the fall. It was a nice short walk to the falls stepping over the roots of a big tree and the sight of the sagingsaging flower.

Biggest drawback of the resort is the lack of a restaurant at or near the resort. We had to drive back into town and ate at Jolie Bees. Jolie Bees does have blizzards.

We left Cacao Mountain Resort on Friday and headed north along the coast. We were headed to Hindang Cave and Wild Monkey Nature Park. We decided to find another hotel along the way. In Hindang Leyte we saw a sign for Tessla Beach Resort and decided to give it a try.

     https://www.facebook.com/TesslaBeachResort/

Nice facility with nice rooms. JJ immediately loved the place, it has 2 swimming pools, one with a water slide. JJ and ToyToy immediately went swimming.

 The place is full of kids on week-ends and of course, JJ who doesn't know a stranger made friends with everybody there.

Flor and I joined in the swimming.

There were students from Leyte Baptist Seminary at the resort who entertained JJ, played basketball with ToyToy and talked with Flor.

Even though Tessla Beach Resort has beach in its name, and there is a beach, it is not a beach I would not want to hang out on the beach or swim in the water there. A drainage ditch from the town empties out there and the water is trashy.

As with the Cacao Resort, Tessla Resort did not have an open restaurant. We walked to town and found Dunkz Pizza. Ordered a couple of pizzas and headed back to the resort. Not worth the walk or the money. But, they sustained us to the next day.

About 7:00 pm the resort had swimming disco. JJ and ToyToy went.  Disco lights and disco music ruled the night and JJ had a good time. (Sorry no pictures.)

On Saturday, we headed to Hindang Caves and Wild Monkeys.
      https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hindang-Caves-and-Wild-Monkeys/146426625491210

Flor and I had seen the sign on the highway on previous trips so we had an idea of its location. After driving for more than what we thought we should have, we asked around, and turned around and headed back. Almost drove by it a 2^nd time when I caught a glimpse of the sign out of the corner of my eye. The sign was on the ground on the side of the highway.

About a block from the highway we found another sign on a tree.

Parking was 15 pesos (about 30 cents). Entry fee was 20 pesos (about 50 cents). It is not a polished tourist attraction, but it is a neat place to visit. The cave is up a steep stairway with benches you can rest on. As you go up the stairway there are wild monkeys. We were told not to bring any food or the monkeys would try to get it. However, as we went up the stair, a worker was there giving the monkeys bananas. We got to feed the monkeys as well. The monkeys are well behaved from what I could see.

Michael noticed the benches were designed to look like giant bananas. 

There is some smaller caves along the path that we did not explore. Would have to get down on all 4 to get into them. As you get to the bigger cave, there are interesting limestone formations along the canyon wall.

We got to the big cave, but did not go in. It is not like in the states where there would have been stairs, paths, handrails and lights, there was nothing. I would have gone in if I would have had my hiking boots, long paints, long sleeve shirt and wide brim hat. The cave was filled with bats and bat droppings. The bats were flying around the entrance of the cave.

Also at the park, there is a zip line. It was a walk about ½ way down from the cave then up another steep set of stairs. The zip line is about 640 meters (about 2000 feet) with about a 100 meter (about 300 feet) drop. It cost 180 pesos (about $4) to ride the zip line. ToyToy went first.

Then fearless JJ went.

After the boys went down the zip line, Flor and I walked back down the stairs. Our time at the park was good and we returned to the hotel were the boys spent the rest of the afternoon swimming.

On Sunday we decided to go to Citi Hardware (think Home Depot) in Ormoc for some materials for the house. Ormoc is about 1 ½ hours north of the Tessla Resort.

     http://www.citihardware.com/

We returned to Tessla resort were the boys swam more. JJ was in his element. There was a group of kids in the pool his age. He was in the pool all afternoon.

The lounge chairs was also a good place to work on the blog.

On Monday, we started back home via Padre Burgos. We saw on the internet pictures of Tangkaan Beach and decided to spend the night in the area. We arrived in the area about 11:00 and followed the road to the beach.  No way you'd get lost here, you just keep on driving until you can't go any further. We passed by several resorts and hotels in the area and we stayed at Padre Burgos Castle Resort which is the end of the road.

 www.padreburgoscastle.com    

It is a 5 star resort that sits on a cliff overlooking the beach and ocean. Cost express the 5 star rating. We justified the cost by staying one night and rolling it in as our 29th wedding anniversary splurge.

Pristine, crystal clear water awaits us.

There is a steep stair case to the scenic beach, a paradise.

Swimming out from the beach provides a panoramic view of the beach. (The orange cola bottle in some of the pictures is my high dollar float for our water camera.)

The water is crystal clear, the bottom is coral and it provides some fine swimming and snorkeling.

After swimming for a while, we had lunch on the beach. We had ordered lunch prior to going to the beach and staff brought it to the beach when it was ready. It was a nice change after several days of resorts without restaurants. And as with everything with Padre Burgos Castle Resort, the food was 5 star.

After lunch was a rest in a beach lounger and enjoying the view.

The view from the beach lounger.  With the waves and the breeze - you sure have a nice nap with occasional noise from motor boats that passes by.

And to JJ's enjoyment, the resort has a swimming pool. It was hard to get him to the beach to swim, but after some beach swimming, we went to the pool where he swam for the rest of the afternoon.

The patio was a good place to sit and finish out this blog.

Dinner was served al fresco and wow - I mean WOW!  The food was deliciously prepared by the wife's owner who came to talk to us.  I will give this place and the food a 5-star rating.  What a nice and relaxing place to stay.

Tuesday morning we will take a morning swim in the ocean (or at least I will). We will then head to Sogod for a few final errands and back home.

We should be working on a few more blog entries in the coming weeks.

Thank you for following.