Date: July 18 Thursday
Time: 7:30pm
Room: Anima
1 family of 4 people + 2 maids
Suite room but without actual rooms
Travel time: 2 and a half hours from Paranaque
Occassion: Birthday celebration of my 2 sons
Receivers were very accommodating when we arrived. They carried our luggage to the room. Then we had dinner. Perhaps because it was a Thursday night and they had some vacancies, we weren’t served buffet. Rather, we were given the ala carte menu.
While all the food is included in your per-night stay rate, the ala carte was really not very impressive. My rosemary chicken felt like it was an underfed chicken. It was a quarter of a chicken, but it was definitely a small chicken. My 2 toddlers ordered 1 spaghetti chicken and 1 southern fried chicken. Their dishes felt more like it was for adults than my dish as it had more food.
Our room did not have any partitions except for the toilet bowl and the 2 inner beds for the maids. The maids definitely had more privacy as they had the inner room and me and my wife and kids stayed in the huge bed which was, strangely enough, located in the common area.
The entire suite only had 1 wash area, 1 shower and 1 toilet – which made it a bit difficult and uncomfortable at least for me. I really do not share wash areas and toilets except for my family. I especially don’t share it with my househelp. However it would be absurd to book another room just for my 2 maids.
After that underwhelming Thursday night ala carte meal, the buffet started – and boy was it impressive. All the food served in the buffet was satisfying. It was a balanced meal of vegatables, salads, soup, meat (pork, fish, chicken and beef), and dessert. The dessert was always good too. I must admit that I was surprised about the variety and taste of the buffet food. Needless to say, I was always happily full after every meal.
The infinity pool is pretty much the first amenity you will see when you step foot inside the resort. We arrived at night so I was able to see it romantically lit with a purplish-blue light. It was amazing. I was not able to personally use it though as I spent more time in the beach. I love the open water.
The beach is not really amazing. It’s mostly rocky and spread with bony corals. Once you get in the water, it’s filled with rocks and small corals covered by algae. It’s a bit of a challenge for you to get into deeper waters where the water begins to clear out from the murk. There, near the floating raft, you will be able to see some amazing corals and fishes.
I’m an advanced diver so I prefer not wearing life vests. I swim with a relatively thick rash guard and bioceramic leggings to make sure I do not get any surprise stings from small jellyfish. For the most part, I wore my Speedo Goggles and went in for shallow free dives to thin out my proximity with the deeper corals and fish.
Apart from celebrating the birthday of my 2 sons, this is what I came there for.
The buffet area is al fresco only. Meaning there is no air conditioned dining area in the resort. It gets real hot and humid sometimes. And because the humidity is from the sea, your skin would, in fact, feel sticky.
The beachfront lounge area is shaded naturally by trees. If you just want to sit back, relax and listen to the ocean, this is the place to be. I’m more an adventure guy so I did not spend time there. But it looked like a very nice place to hang out in.
When we arrived, it was drizzling. Nothing heavy. Just a bit of rain. My wife prayed for clear skies and good weather for our entire stay. The next two days were perfect and the clouds only came back when we left the resort already. God heard my wife.
The place is quiet as not a lot of people can fit in their 13 rooms so you can expect a lot of privacy in your stay. No photo bombers for your Instagram pictures. No need for retakes for your vlogs. Just good peace and quiet.
I love the fact that the whispers of the waves are gently heard in the rooms as you go to sleep. It makes the night sound like paradise.
The ambience is very tropical with all the furniture and interior that they put in. It feels very exotic and yet very near to the heart. Exciting and yet you know you’re alright.
The amenities in our wash area is good except for the fact that there’s no outright tooth brush and tooth paste provided. Otherwise the VMV lotion, Shampoo and conditioner were lavishly provided. The toilet is equipped with a bidet and spare toilet paper.
The shower has hot and cold options but the hot option is inconsistent. There are times that the hot water comes in quite late so you’ll have to be patient.
I think they need to put an insect killer in every room not just in their cafe area as the insects can be a nuisance – especially the oversized mosquitoes.
The wind chimes are perfect for the mornings and afternoon but not at night. I had to remove the wind chime in our room as it was an unwelcome noise to my family’s bed time.
They don’t have scuba diving amenities. You would have to call ahead of your booking dates to ensure you will be able to dive in Anilao from the resort.
They have kayaking, you can request to be taken to the raft if you’re not feeling too adventurous to go through the corals to get to the deeper parts of the water. You can borrow a dive mask and snorkel as well as life vests and booties. The resort is very generous in lending you these things in case you forgot to bring yours to ensure that you are able to have a great experience with your time in the open water.
Other things to take note of:
Breakfast – only up to 10am
Lunch – Only up to 3pm
Dinner – only up to 9:30pm
Every time I ask for drinking water (served in pitchers to your room) it arrives in a reasonable amount of time.
Towels are very thick and clean
The Nespresso machine in the room has good instructions for a first-time user makes fantastic coffee
The TVs come with HDMI sockets
Internet connection was good considering the place is quite remote
LTE was very good (Smart 8-12mbps)
