Andrew and Brenda having a special dinner at the beach for their 1st anniversary

Andrew Dullock and his wife Brenda first visit Coco Beach on August 16, 2009 where they stayed for 3 nights in one of the resort’s hilltop suite rooms. They found out about Coco Beach through the internet and found us very interesting to visit. Andrew is an American national but he and Brenda live in Korea where he works as a teacher. One thing they liked about Coco Beach during their first visit was the food and the friendly people who took care of them.

Happy anniversary! Andrew surprises Brenda with a bouquet of flowers.

Now they are back again, Andrew and Brenda requested for the same room at the Hilltop as they simply fell in love with it the first time with its great view of the sea and the islands around Coco Beach. And to make their stay really special, the couple celebrated their first anniversary together here at the resort. For that very special day, Andrew surprised Brenda with a bouquet of flowers and a special dinner by the beach with Jemuel, one of the resort’s personnel as their personal waiter that night.

As with the many couples who have fallen in love with Coco Beach, Andrew and Brenda will come back this December for another visit.

To Andrew and Brenda, more happiness and joy to both of you and may Coco Beach be always a part of your life!

Dining staff with guests wearing their own cacha outfits

“Cacha” is a kind of cloth used for bagging flour in the Philippines. It’s usually made up of cotton combined with polyester fibers and the flour manufacturer’s name is emblazoned all over the bag. For the ever resourceful Filipino, cacha can be recycled and used for many things like hand towels, baby diapers and clothes. The cloth is a bit rough at first use but with several use and washing it becomes soft and comfortable to wear.

Many years ago, our Big Bosses had the great idea to convert these flour bag into so many things that Coco Beach could use from table napkins, tablecloths up to the uniforms of our bar and dining personnel. As part of its themed “Crazy Breakfast”, guests will get to see our staff in chic uniforms made from “cacha” flour bags. For the waiters, its a set of polo and pants, with sarong for the bartenders while for the waitresses, a peasant blouse and wrap around skirt that makes them look extra feminine. Check out all the markings on the cloth - brands, companies and such.

How about a flamming omellete?

Crazy Breakfast is every Tuesday morning from 6:45 am to 10:00 in the morning. Breakfast is usually at Carabao Restaurant but if its Crazy breakfast, it could be on the beach, gardens, Barracuda Bar or it could be anywhere in the resort. Breakfast too, would consist of the not so usual fare of eggs, cold cuts, bread and cheese. Guests will be surprised at the variety of food served during Crazy Breakfast.

Mang Ben wih his wife Myrna

And for C&C Travel guests staying for at least 4 nights in the resort, they get to have matching attires for men and women made from these “cacha” flour bags courtesy of Mang Ben who is in charge of sewing them. He will just get your measurement and immediately, you can get a set of shirt and pants or pajamas or dress.

No, these are not mug shots. The winners are just showing off their Baboy Game Gift Certificates!

Don’t be surprised if in one of the days you are staying at Coco Beach, you see all the resort personnel huddled in one table, shouting and laughing and making a lot of noise while rolling a pair of tiny pigs. They are just playing the “Baboy Game”.

We featured the baboy game last May when Luca and his girlfriend Marie were here for a visit and this time, it was Big Boss Enrico with long time friend Sukchin who played this exciting game with the staff. As expected, the game was so much fun and everybody had a great time even if the losers got to wash the dishes in the kitchen on their day-offs.

Zeny and Ferdie still manage to smile and laugh in spite of all the dishes.

After 5 rounds of shouting and teasing each other, May our new receptionist was declared as the big winner winning Php 5,000 in groceries, followed by our cooks Chito Capit who got second prize (Php 3,000) and Rodel Salaver settling for third prize (Php 2,000). Ferdie our crazy but handsome bartender won second prize last time the game was played but this time he kept getting zeroes and losing every round. As penalty, Ferdie got to wash the dishes for eight hours together with waitress Zeny who matched Ferdie’s zeroes.

To the winners, congratulations and for the losers, better luck next time!

Marielou Cruz and Iain Black, both living in Qatar are visiting Coco Beach and Coco Divers once again… or should we say for the sixth time in 5 years.

First time they came to Coco Divers they were both PADI Open Water Divers but last year they finished their PADI Master Scuba Diver certification. In-between, they took a lot of courses with Coco Divers such as PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, Emergency First Response, Rescue Diver and the specialties: Deep Diver, Nitrox Diver, Drift Diver, Underwater Naturalist and Boat Diver.

Tambja affinis.

This time the vacation was planned as a relaxing holiday without to much reading and making all kind of skills. And what better way is there to relax; then diving. So they booked 60 dives for the next 10 following days… 3 dives a day for both of them. That is some relaxing vacation…

During the 10 days they managed to visit all their favorite places: twice they went to Verde Island where they made 4 dives, three times they went down to M/V Alma Jane – their favorite wreck and three times they went to the Canyons - one of the best dive sites around Puerto Galera – where they saw big schools of sweetlips, batfishes, groupers and even octopuses. They were also lucky to see 5 turtles in 4 days.

Painted sweetlips gathering in Canyons.

At Boulders they even found a tambja affinis sea slug which is reported to grow to a maximum length of 7 cm… but the one they saw was around 11 cm.

On all their dives Rex was their personal guide and Darwin their personal boat handler, and they all had a great time in and out of the water.

The “Team”: Darwin, Iain the Scuba Cowboy, Rex and Marielou.

For their next visit - in 2011, they are planning to take the PADI Divemaster course. Normally the course takes 4 weeks, but since PADI introduced all Divemaster theory as e-Learning, the course can be made within 2-3 weeks.