Sunday (July 11), 17 guests of Coco Beach enjoyed  a  whole day adventure with our Activity Guide, Darwin.
 
The guests included  Danish ladies Jeannette and Lotte Olsen, Andreas Rank and his girlfriend Mette Norring, Lisbeth Andersen and daughter Nanna, the Dilling family of Peter, Charlotte, Anders and Stine, and the Belgian national Marc Desenfans with his Filipino family Beth, Michael, Nicholas, Exxon, Jocelyn and Edelweis.

Enjoying the jeepney adventure

Their adventure started at 9:30 am when they took a 15 minute boat ride to Muelle in Puerto Galera. From the pier, they boarded a local jeepney that brought them to the famous Tamaraw Falls. After a short break, they drove again to the biggest wet and dry market in Mindoro…the Calapan City Market.

Watching a real Cock Fight in Calapan

After having a healthy lunch in one of the finest restaurant in the city, Guide Darwin brought them to the cockfight arena where hundreds of people, mostly men, were  shouting and betting through hand signs only. In the cockpit, be very careful about saying hello to someone by waving your hand, he might think you are placing a bet on one of the fighting cocks. One of the guests, Marc Desenfans tried to make a bet and had the good luck to win 500 pesos.

The girls watching Chef Weng make a Pinutas

After the tour and back at Coco Beach, the ladies had enough time for some exotic food cooking lessons by Touch of Asia Restaurant Chef Weng, and afterwards they ate and enjoyed the all time favorite in the resort – “pinutas na tanigue”.

(L-R) Eva, birthday girl Sophie, Nida and Morten at Tamaraw Falls

Morten and wife Nida, daughter Sophie and Eva, Nida’s sister, found their way to Coco Beach for the first time. They had seen us on the Internet and decided to come here for a holiday. Morten works in a cargo ship while Nida is an auxiliary nurse in Norway.

Their first few days at the resort were spent relaxing and snorkeling in front of the resort and to other beaches and coves. Then on 8th of July, which was a very special day for the entire family, the Klockers celebrated their little princess Sophie’s 8th birthday. They started the day with a healthy and filling breakfast at the Carabao Restaurant. Then they celebrated Sophie’s birthday with an exciting whole day adventure with Activity Guides  Belen and May-may. They visited the Tamaraw falls, rode in a carabao cart and swam  in  the clear, cool waters of Tukuran lagoon where they had a barbeque lunch .
 
Sophie and her family really had a great time at Coco Beach and  like  most of our guests, will be coming back  to the resort for more family holidays.

Coco Beach Island Resort is a huge place, 10 hectares of  prime land with only half of it   developed for the amenities of the resort and the rest are nature. Given its size, maintaining the natural beauty and cleanliness of the place  would always be a great challenge for its people. With the wet season having just started, keeping the resort clean has become a difficult task particularly for the Services Department and so, in the spirit of “bayanihan”, all the other male staff from Dining, Kitchen and Activity would take off their uniforms and put on working clothes with  bolos and large knives in hand and would start clearing up the resort of Mother Nature’s debris and keep the wild plants and trees from turning the resort  into a jungle. 

Taking a break from clearing the paths

This kind of “bayanihan” spirit has become a tradition for the employees of Coco Beach  for several years now. The Filipino word “bayanihan” refers to a spirit of community or “common unity” among people living in a particular area to lend a hand without it being asked in achieving a task that normally one person could not do since an entire group  would be needed just to accomplish it.. 
 
The waiters, cooks and activity guides helped  the  staff of  the Service Department  by  fixing  up  their own areas and doing some minor repairs like painting and varnishing,  waxing   the floors  doing  and small carpentry and renovation works to  ensure that their  areas  do not look shabby or run down. For the more able menfolk of Coco Beach,  they were assigned to clearing the wogging trail to make it safe for guests  and  they also cleared  the canal which served  as drainage system for all the rain water that would come down from the hills and mountains  surrounding Coco Beach. 

Another team hard at work on the wogging trail

There’s plenty of things to do at the resort even during this time of the year and everybody in the resort would always be happy to help and lend a hand in making the place beautiful and clean as ever. The Coco Family are in fact busier than ever preparing for the high season when many guests come for their holidays.
 
So who says these men are only good for  cooking, attending to your needs and or just bringing you to the beautiful places of Puerto Galera??? They go the extra mile to make your stay even more comfortable!

The Thorsted family visited Coco Beach 10 years ago and they still have the video where the staff sang a birthday song on Emma’s 4th birthday.

Now 10 years later the whole family Skov Thorsted decided to visit Coco Beach once again, but this time for taking the PADI Open Water Diver course. Their trip to the Philippines is planned to go to Coco Beach, Pandan Island and Boracay. And since they can dive at all the places they are visiting, they started their vacation at Coco Beach so they could get their divers license before heading on to the other destinations.

The Skov Thorsted family is getting ready for their first lesson in the pool.

During their course they had a lot of fun in and out of the water with their two instructors Rex and Neil. Even the academics and the exams were fun and sometimes it felt like a big workshop.

The Skov Thorsted family lined up for a group photo in Sabang Bay. Far behind Neil, second row: Henrik and Tenna and in the front row: Magnus, Emma and Karin.

On some of their dives they were surprised by the butterfly fishes and bat fishes which came very close up to them to check out if they had any food with them.

As planned they finished their course the day before leaving for their next adventure at Pandan Island and hopefully Apo Reef.

A lot of happy smiles after receiving their certifications and diplomas. From left to right: Henrik, Karin, Emma, Tenna and Magnus.