CoCo Beach Resort

JoJaffa rates the CoCo Beach resort

I found CoCo Beach Island Resort to be very relaxing. The food and staff were very good, and the beach and the diving was excellent.

Where is CoCo Beach

CoCo Beach Island Resort is situated at the water's edge on the large island of Mindoro, which is part of the Philippines.

The history of CoCo Beach

CoCo Beach is a very large nature resort with bungalows and facilities, all made from natural materials. Four restaurants, 87 rooms, shopping arcade, massage and even a doctor's clinic. Tennis court, sport facilities, 800 square meter swimming pool and a great well equipped diving-center. Everything blends perfectly with the nature. All constructions are made of natural materials.

In this "paradise" on earth, vehicles are banned so nothing but the sounds of nature can be heard.

In late February 1986 a Danish/Italian, Enrico Harrasser, the founder of CoCo beach, started his love affair with the Philippines. When he decided to stay he looked for somewhere not too far from Manila, but away from the big city, with all it's stress and hassles.

It was hardly suprising that after his search for an ideal place, he found a cove near Puerto Galera on the beautiful island of Mindoro.

Here, Spanish galleons sailed past on the old trading routes between Europe and the East. Everything he sought; peace and beauty, calm and friendly people - are here in abundance.

The sea is blue and full of beautiful fish. There is even a perfect reef outside the resort site, with corals in different colors and shapes. The hills are full of coconut palms swaying with the breeze.

The plans for the resort were laid. Ideas from the founder, designs from Danish and Filipino architects, many nights of planning under thepalms of the cove plus the ingenuity and hard work of Filipinos - created Coco Beach Island Resort.

CoCo Beach is great for...

Other things to see & do in CoCo Beach

Apart from diving....
...there are numerous things to do here.

Apart form the relaxing in the sun andbathing around the pool or on the beach, you can

• hire a Banka (a local type of boat) and go to a deserted beach. The resort will pack you a good picnic lunch and off you go. We decided to try the Bikini Beach which is about one hours boat ride. This is well worth doing, as you hire the Banka for the day with two locals who operate it. As we passed through some of the islands, we spotted many deserted beaches.

  When we arrived at Bikini Beach, we found it totally deserted. The Banka cruised up on the beach and the locals jumped into the water to secure the craft. With the whole beach to our selves, I felt as if it was my beach for the day. The food was good, the wine even better and after a relaxing after lunch snooze, we decided to go snorkelling. The water was crystal clearand fairly warm for this time of year.

• Wogging, an organised jungle trailwogging every morning at 9.30. If you go three times you get a medal
• Volleyball matches against the staff are organised every Sunday. The losers pay for a case of beer to the winners.
• Take a 4*4 wheel drive through the jungle, which I am told is great fun.
• For those who would like to work off the good food with some hard exercise, you can hire mountain bikes! I found walking up to my room hardwork, as the hill is very steep, so I declined the kind offer of riding a bike!

Children's Playground

Parents can of course enjoy their holiday knowing that theirchildren are having fun and being taken care of. There is a new playground close to the beach which was designed by the Danish Multi Artist, Rene Jalford.

The playground consist of a small Filipino village, being built of strong materials.. there is a swing, rope handicap, obstacle course and a sand box (with bricks) for the smaller kids . A swinging device give the bigger children a chance to nearly fly. A carer is on hand to see that thechildren are safely having a good time.

The Beach Reef
This is one of the best reefs I have ever seen, and I have inspectedplenty over the last two decades.

If you do nothing else during your stay, you must hire a mask and snorkel and swim over it.

The reef area is roped off and is shallow and safe. You can walk out to it from the beach. Please be careful not to touch the corral as doing so will kill it. Also, please watch your feet or fins, as they can easily damage the corral as well.

Here you will find a magnificent coral garden with literally hundreds of different species, with a large number of fish and marinelife. I found that I could spend hours swimming around looking at natures finest, but please do be careful and put sun cream on and a white T shirt to protect your back from getting burnt.

Accommodation in CoCo Beach

The whole resort is situated on the side of a hill. This gives the best rooms wonderful views and a cooling sea breeze.

All the rooms are totally made out of bamboo and are on stilts, (to make the rooms level). The rooms are open (no windows) and have four poster beds, with mosquito nets and blinds. The views from the upper rooms are fantastic and well worth the climb up the steps to your room.

At night the lights are everywhere like fairy lights, and the silence is wonderful. This is a paradise on earth, no vehicles, or any othernoise, but only the sounds of nature, to be heard.

The Gecko“s are out and about at night and are very friendly, as they keep a watchful eye on you. Occasionally they sing their Gecko song.

CoCo Beach has 8 standard rooms - they have of course private toilet/shower and a balcony - but not much of a view. These rooms have a double bed and two full size bunker beds.

CoCo Beach has 9 suites - all with privatetoilet/shower. The suites have a living room and abedroom - a lot of space - and a great balcony - of course with sea view.

CoCo Beach has 70 Deluxe rooms - some are romantic nests good only for a romantic couple, some are two storey buildings for a couple with children - some are bungalows with two rooms. All rooms have private shower/toilet - the view to the sea - all rooms have of course a hammock.

Service

Upon arrival, the whole family will present andintroduce themselves to you. They can be called upon 24 hours a day by ringing the bell. This can be found off the balcony by pulling the fishing line. (The locals use fishing line for everything). Their service includes:

• Room cleaning in the morning and bed preparation in the evening.
• Repairs and maintenance of your room, e.g. fixing the mosquito net or catching a gecko talking too loud at night!
• Room service for food and drinking from the restaurant can be requested through them (7:00 am to 11:00 pm).
• Free baby-sitting service (they know how, they have a lot of practice) up to three hours daily. If you need more, they can provide a full time "yaya" lady for only 150 p (Philippines Paso“s) per day ($US 0.34)

• Laundry service, ironing is beautifully done by a charcoal-fed iron.

• Hot water for shaving upon request.
• Wake-up calls.

The Restaurants and Food
The food I found, was simple and very good. There was plenty of fresh produce and fresh fruit. There are four restaurants in the resort. The Carabao restaurant (the main one) where breakfast, lunch and dinner can be served. Everyday for breakfast there is a cook who willmake you fresh omelettes of your choice. The breads are baked daily and the fruit is cut from the trees daily. The buffet breakfast will fill you up, so you will need plenty of exercise.

Getting to CoCo Beach

The Philippines is the other side of the world, so any trip there is bound to take time. The best thing to do is to work on the basis that it will take you at least 34hrs door to door, and sit back and relax.

I travelled by British Airways, but there are other airlines operating. Be sure to check the baggage allowance. I was given incorrect information and when I arrived at Heathrow Airport, the BA girl at the desk told me that the baggage allowance was only one piece of 20kg, and not two! Panic-struck. I had been told that the allowance was like Trans Atlantic, two pieces. After all how do you pack for two weeks and bring all your diving equipment in under 20 kgs?? BA told me that there was no problem, just to paythe excess baggage of £700! Fat chance, so having left half of my dive gear and half of my clothes, I left for the long trip via Hong Kong (only 1 hr stop).

When you arrive at Manila airport, you have a choice to either stay in Manila for the night, (say about £70) and take the free resort transport in the morning, or pay some exorbitant rate about £70 for them to provide the same taxi service when you arrive . In my mind this is one of the annoying things with the resort, that they refuse to change the transport arrangements . I think they should change this, and provide an afternoon service as well as a morning service. Do check when booking, as they advertise the price as including transport, but if you arrive in the afternoon, as most flights do, you may fallfowl of this policy, unless you are in a largegroup and have the power to insist that they provide this inclusive service.

How to book

$PIC5

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