destination: acuatico (07/2010)

Located at Laiya Batangas, Acuatico is about a 3-hour drive from Manila. Check-in time: 1pm.

We head for our weekend getaway at 6am this Saturday morning, deciding to start early to make time for a kapeng-barako breakfast at Cafe de Lipa, and then lunch at Almarius Grill before ensconcing ourselves in the comforts of our rented family suite at Acuatico.

Breakfast consisted of tuna-filled pandesal and tableya brownie, and of course kapeng barako. MMMMMM... I'm in heaven. My taste buds need a break from my usual morning coffee, and kapeng barako is the ideal choice... ... ah... so good.. even without cream.

And then we reach Acuatico.

After checking in, we walk out to this magnificent scene of the huge infinity pool that seems to stretch down all the way to the beach. Ohhh, I can feel my eyes going wide and my jaw dropping. I didn't really expect anything like this in Batangas. After deciding on who sleeps where, we change to swim gear and sit the sun out at the bar located in the middle of the pool. After a while, we decided to take a dip. Oh! The pool water is warm. Another surprise. I was used to going into cool pool water, but this infinity pool water is warm... too warm for a refreshing feeling.

And then it was kayak time. My friend and I decided to kayak our way towards this other resort we went to a few years ago, also in Laiya, which was about 5 or 6 resorts away from where we are currently staying. Not that far you may say... ha! try to row your way towards that direction while making sure you don't stray too far out in the deep. Not an easy task. We eventually reached that resort, and then started heading back. It was a struggle to keep our kayak from veering too much to the right and drifting off into the deep. I was already sweating halfway back. I couldn't wait to jump in the water! As we neared our resort... I've had it with trying to steer the kayak. So we decided to just pull the kayak the rest of the way back. Not an easy task too. Huff huff.

After shedding off the lifejackets and securing the kayak... we finally jump into the water... ahhhhh.... feels so nice. And with clear blue beach water, it was perfect for my mission: my first time ever to use my underwater digital camera underwater. Click! Click! and more Clicks!!!

As the sun was coming down, we decided to head back to the infinity pool. Now I realized they kept the pool water warm so we can swim in the late afternoon and early evening in comfort.

And that is the weekend getaway.

Clear blue beach water. Infinity pool. Glorious sun. Welcome drink. Welcome fruits. Recommendable service. Comfortable beds. Comfortable room. High-def TV. Wonderful wonderful family suite just literally by the pool. Free use of kayak and pedal boat. Couldn't ask for anything more. Oh, maybe a slightly bigger shower. Imagine hitting your elbow on the wall as you reach for the soap, which unfortunately falls to the floor as you reach for it... and then your behind hitting a wall again as you crouch down to get the soap, and then hitting your head on the shower knobs as you try to straighten up. Seriously. When they say the shower area is small.. they really meant small. Small that you can't really lose your footing (because there's really no area for you to slip) and seriously injure yourself, but you could easily bruise yourself just by moving a teeny inch as you take your shower.

But other than that, it's thumbs up for Acuatico.

What lurks underneath...