Showing posts with label Bellarocca. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bellarocca. Show all posts
April 25, 2010
Le Français dans un barong Tagalog
Meet the gentleman behind the wonderful service of Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa, its general manager Jan Michel Gautier. This Frenchman, who is always in a barong Tagalog, has lived in the Philippines with his family for twenty years, though his expertise in the hotel and restaurant industry takes him all over the world. Michel must really love sunsets. He works in an island with beautiful sunsets over Tayabas Bay; in Manila, his home is on Roxas Boulevard, right beside Manila Bay with the best sunset views in the entire metro.
April 24, 2010
Bellarocca: That special touch
As I mentioned yesterday, meals are not always served in the main dining room of Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa. Once while we were there, breakfast was served in the seaside pavilion. On our second night, many of the guests were treated to dinner on the beach.
But for couples, ahhh! The resort management and staff take extra pains to make their visit one of the most romantic that they will ever experience, setting up candlelight dinners for two in one of the resort's many private and scenic spots. On our first night, our dinner was in the small cabana beside the infinity pool (photo three in my Water, earth & sky post). On our third night, we were served dinner on a small patio on the second floor of the main clubhouse. I don't have photos of ours, but we saw this set-up for another couple on the roof deck of the marina when we went there to watch the sunset.
You know those guest information cards that hotels ask you to fill up the first time you check in? After our dinner on the 'secret' patio, Jan Michel Gautier and some of his management team came out to greet me a happy birthday with this specially-baked chocolate cake. It was still the 17th, but Michel said that he didn't want to wake us up at midnight.
As if that wasn't enough, when we went back to our room we discovered another birthday greeting on our turned down bed, written in flowers rather than chocolate icing. And just to emphasize how the resort staff think of every little detail, they first placed a tablecloth on the comforter before laying down the flowers and petals—no plant debris on the pristine bedsheets. And that little package near the pillows? Every female guest went home with a natural canvas Bellarocca tote.
I hope you enjoyed my Bellarocca series. I still have tons of pictures of the resort and of Marinduque but I think I better go back to posting photos of Metro Manila before Eric throws me out of CDP. If you feel disappointed about that, just imagine how we felt when we had to come back home! BELLAROCCA SERIES #6
But for couples, ahhh! The resort management and staff take extra pains to make their visit one of the most romantic that they will ever experience, setting up candlelight dinners for two in one of the resort's many private and scenic spots. On our first night, our dinner was in the small cabana beside the infinity pool (photo three in my Water, earth & sky post). On our third night, we were served dinner on a small patio on the second floor of the main clubhouse. I don't have photos of ours, but we saw this set-up for another couple on the roof deck of the marina when we went there to watch the sunset.
You know those guest information cards that hotels ask you to fill up the first time you check in? After our dinner on the 'secret' patio, Jan Michel Gautier and some of his management team came out to greet me a happy birthday with this specially-baked chocolate cake. It was still the 17th, but Michel said that he didn't want to wake us up at midnight.
As if that wasn't enough, when we went back to our room we discovered another birthday greeting on our turned down bed, written in flowers rather than chocolate icing. And just to emphasize how the resort staff think of every little detail, they first placed a tablecloth on the comforter before laying down the flowers and petals—no plant debris on the pristine bedsheets. And that little package near the pillows? Every female guest went home with a natural canvas Bellarocca tote.
I hope you enjoyed my Bellarocca series. I still have tons of pictures of the resort and of Marinduque but I think I better go back to posting photos of Metro Manila before Eric throws me out of CDP. If you feel disappointed about that, just imagine how we felt when we had to come back home! BELLAROCCA SERIES #6
April 23, 2010
Bellarocca: Body & soul
Aside from swimming and golf, what else is there to do at Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa? Aqua sports, of course. You've already seen the kayaks on the beach in my Water, earth & sky post the other day. You can also choose to go snorkeling or windsurfing, and the aqua sports center also has jet skis and aqua scooters.
Because of the unusual mix of clouds here, this photo is especially for Sky Watch Friday.
You can take the hobie cat out for a sail, like the three women out there in the distance. If you choose water skiing or a banana boat, you'll be towed by one of these boats in the marina.
If peace and quiet is what you crave, Bellarocca has a meditation sanctuary, which is also where wedding ceremonies at the resort are usually held.
The main spa of Bellarocca is still being constructed, but I think that it cannot beat the location of the remote spa. It is set on one of the highest points of the island and the view is magnificent. Of course, to appreciate the view you have to be able to stay awake during a relaxing massage. Can you?
One of the best experiences at Bellarocca: the dining. The food is excellent. As usual, we found the serving sizes too big for us, especially since we enjoy having more than just one course; the staff were kind enough to split all the dishes for us, which we really appreciated. I love these wooden arches at the entrance of the main dining room, though we didn't have all our meals here. Tomorrow, my last Bellarocca post, I will show you where some of our meals were served.
Of course, Bellarocca also has more sedate indoor activities; it has a library and a lovely billiard table, and every room is equipped with internet access and a home theater system. But who wants to stay indoors on an island resort this gorgeous? BELLAROCCA SERIES #5
Because of the unusual mix of clouds here, this photo is especially for Sky Watch Friday.You can take the hobie cat out for a sail, like the three women out there in the distance. If you choose water skiing or a banana boat, you'll be towed by one of these boats in the marina.
If peace and quiet is what you crave, Bellarocca has a meditation sanctuary, which is also where wedding ceremonies at the resort are usually held.
The main spa of Bellarocca is still being constructed, but I think that it cannot beat the location of the remote spa. It is set on one of the highest points of the island and the view is magnificent. Of course, to appreciate the view you have to be able to stay awake during a relaxing massage. Can you?
One of the best experiences at Bellarocca: the dining. The food is excellent. As usual, we found the serving sizes too big for us, especially since we enjoy having more than just one course; the staff were kind enough to split all the dishes for us, which we really appreciated. I love these wooden arches at the entrance of the main dining room, though we didn't have all our meals here. Tomorrow, my last Bellarocca post, I will show you where some of our meals were served.
Of course, Bellarocca also has more sedate indoor activities; it has a library and a lovely billiard table, and every room is equipped with internet access and a home theater system. But who wants to stay indoors on an island resort this gorgeous? BELLAROCCA SERIES #5
Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.
April 22, 2010
Bellarocca: Mediterranean dream
All the buildings of Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa are built in a distinctive Mediterranean style and guests have different options for their accommodations. The most luxurious are the garden and cliff villas, which have one and two bedroom versions. Each villa has a living room, kitchen and dining room, a veranda (for garden villas) or balcony (for cliff villas), and an outdoor deck with a private pool and jacuzzi. The villas are perfect for those who want a truly private vacation.
The two bedroom terrazas, built as duplexes, are all located on the ridges of the island and have the best views of Mt. Malindig. They have the same features as the villas, the only difference being that terrazas do not have private pools and spas.
I think that this particular cliffside terraza has the best location of them all, being on the northwestern tip of the island, with a magnificent view of the sun setting over the ocean while retaining its view of Mt. Malindig.
Currently being finished are the garden-view casas, which have one to three bedrooms. They are scheduled to be available to guests by the end of this year.
Last, but definitely not the least, are the hotel rooms. Adjoining the main clubhouse of the resort, the hotel offers standard rooms, junior suites and suites. I say "definitely not the least" for the hotel rooms are every bit as luxurious as the bedrooms of the villas, terrazas and casas; they just don't have living and dining rooms, though the suites do have sitting areas. There is also a lovely lap pool at the hotel if you don't feel like taking a golf cart down to the seaside pavilion and infinity pool.
I said at the beginning that the one and two bedroom villas are the most luxurious accommodations at Bellarocca. That is true only as of now. In a few more weeks, the three bedroom residential villa will be finished and that will be the most luxurious of them all: a wooden outdoor deck with patio furniture, pool and spa; three huge bedrooms with home theater systems and bathrooms with whirlpool baths; two large living rooms, one on each floor, with sleek modern couches and home theater systems; a full kitchen; and a roof deck with magnificent views on all sides.
Our accommodations at Bellarocca were for a standard hotel room, for which we had a gift certificate; it was part of my prize for winning second place in a contest last year, and I would like to thank JM Zozobrado for inviting me to join that contest. My husband and I were the only guests to arrive last Thursday (we purposely schedule our vacations for the middle of the week because there are always fewer people) and Bellarocca's general manager, Monsieur Jan Michel Gautier, upgraded our room to a junior suite, so I would also like to thank him—for the room and for many other things which I will still write about. I also owe a debt of gratitude to John Tanjangco, whom I have never met or even talked to; he knows what for. Thank you, John, and bless you. BELLAROCCA SERIES #4
The two bedroom terrazas, built as duplexes, are all located on the ridges of the island and have the best views of Mt. Malindig. They have the same features as the villas, the only difference being that terrazas do not have private pools and spas.
I think that this particular cliffside terraza has the best location of them all, being on the northwestern tip of the island, with a magnificent view of the sun setting over the ocean while retaining its view of Mt. Malindig.
Currently being finished are the garden-view casas, which have one to three bedrooms. They are scheduled to be available to guests by the end of this year.
Last, but definitely not the least, are the hotel rooms. Adjoining the main clubhouse of the resort, the hotel offers standard rooms, junior suites and suites. I say "definitely not the least" for the hotel rooms are every bit as luxurious as the bedrooms of the villas, terrazas and casas; they just don't have living and dining rooms, though the suites do have sitting areas. There is also a lovely lap pool at the hotel if you don't feel like taking a golf cart down to the seaside pavilion and infinity pool.
I said at the beginning that the one and two bedroom villas are the most luxurious accommodations at Bellarocca. That is true only as of now. In a few more weeks, the three bedroom residential villa will be finished and that will be the most luxurious of them all: a wooden outdoor deck with patio furniture, pool and spa; three huge bedrooms with home theater systems and bathrooms with whirlpool baths; two large living rooms, one on each floor, with sleek modern couches and home theater systems; a full kitchen; and a roof deck with magnificent views on all sides.
Our accommodations at Bellarocca were for a standard hotel room, for which we had a gift certificate; it was part of my prize for winning second place in a contest last year, and I would like to thank JM Zozobrado for inviting me to join that contest. My husband and I were the only guests to arrive last Thursday (we purposely schedule our vacations for the middle of the week because there are always fewer people) and Bellarocca's general manager, Monsieur Jan Michel Gautier, upgraded our room to a junior suite, so I would also like to thank him—for the room and for many other things which I will still write about. I also owe a debt of gratitude to John Tanjangco, whom I have never met or even talked to; he knows what for. Thank you, John, and bless you. BELLAROCCA SERIES #4
April 21, 2010
Bellarocca: Water, earth & sky
Because Bellarocca Island is a rock, the beach is quite small and the shoreline's incline is steep. The rough coral and rocks which the beach is composed of make me suspect that the island is young too, geologically speaking; the water has not had time to grind the pieces into fine powder. It's not very comfortable for bare feet, but I commend the resort management for not importing fine sand from other islands, a practice quite common among more environmentally-insensitive beach resorts in the Philippines.
When the tide is high, which is most of the day, the sea flows onto the lower steps of the stone stairs which lead from the seaside pavilion to the beach.
I love the beach and I'm a pretty good swimmer, but I have to confess that I have a great fear of being bodily in deep ocean water (I'm perfectly fine in boats), which means that I spent most of our water time in Bellarocca's infinity pool. I love how its deep blue tiles match the color of the deep sea, though it did make my heart race the first time I saw it. Quite deceiving really, since the deepest part of the pool is only four feet (1.2 meters).
This was my favorite poolside deck chair. I love the canopy and the chair can be swiveled to face either the pool or the ocean.
Mount Malindig on the main island of Marinduque dominates the view both from the pool and the beach. It is a potentially active volcano and its last eruption, whenever that was, is evident throughout the land trip, with large boulders made of volcanic rock strewn by the roadside. Bellarocca Resort maintains a 9-hole golf course at Malindig's foot—that little white dot is the clubhouse. I think that the volcano's deep rifts and craggy top make for a fascinating study. BELLAROCCA SERIES #3
When the tide is high, which is most of the day, the sea flows onto the lower steps of the stone stairs which lead from the seaside pavilion to the beach.
I love the beach and I'm a pretty good swimmer, but I have to confess that I have a great fear of being bodily in deep ocean water (I'm perfectly fine in boats), which means that I spent most of our water time in Bellarocca's infinity pool. I love how its deep blue tiles match the color of the deep sea, though it did make my heart race the first time I saw it. Quite deceiving really, since the deepest part of the pool is only four feet (1.2 meters).
This was my favorite poolside deck chair. I love the canopy and the chair can be swiveled to face either the pool or the ocean.
Mount Malindig on the main island of Marinduque dominates the view both from the pool and the beach. It is a potentially active volcano and its last eruption, whenever that was, is evident throughout the land trip, with large boulders made of volcanic rock strewn by the roadside. Bellarocca Resort maintains a 9-hole golf course at Malindig's foot—that little white dot is the clubhouse. I think that the volcano's deep rifts and craggy top make for a fascinating study. BELLAROCCA SERIES #3
Natural or man-made, take a refreshing dip in Watery Wednesday.
April 20, 2010
Bellarocca: Getting there
By air. This is our Seair LET L-410 Turbolet 19-seater plane at the gravel runway of the Marinduque airport. Aside from Seair, the only other local airline with flights from Manila to Marinduque, which only takes half an hour, is ZestAir.
By land. A customer relations staff of Bellaroca meets guests at the airport with cold drinking water and cold towels. A van will take you through two Marinduque towns, Gasan and Buenavista, to the dock closest to the island. The 45-minute trip over concrete, asphalt and gravel roads will give you views of small towns and tiny fishing and farming villages typical of rural Philippines.
By sea. A five-minute ride in one of the resort's motorized rubber boats brings guests from the dock (yes, this is it) to the island. The bangka (an outrigger canoe with a motor) at the end of the dock is used by resort staff who commute daily from Marinduque.
Welcome to Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa!
Oh, and if you'd rather come in a charter or private helicopter, the resort has its own helipad. I believe they can provide docking services for private yachts too. BELLAROCCA SERIES #2
By land. A customer relations staff of Bellaroca meets guests at the airport with cold drinking water and cold towels. A van will take you through two Marinduque towns, Gasan and Buenavista, to the dock closest to the island. The 45-minute trip over concrete, asphalt and gravel roads will give you views of small towns and tiny fishing and farming villages typical of rural Philippines.
By sea. A five-minute ride in one of the resort's motorized rubber boats brings guests from the dock (yes, this is it) to the island. The bangka (an outrigger canoe with a motor) at the end of the dock is used by resort staff who commute daily from Marinduque.
Welcome to Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa!
Oh, and if you'd rather come in a charter or private helicopter, the resort has its own helipad. I believe they can provide docking services for private yachts too. BELLAROCCA SERIES #2
April 19, 2010
Beautiful rock
This is where my husband and I were 'marooned' during the past four days: the gorgeous Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa. The resort opened only in 2009 and is perched on a tiny, rocky island off the bigger island of Marinduque, a province south of Manila located between Tayabas Bay and the Sibuyan Sea. This photo hardly does Bellarocca justice but it is my only photo of the whole island. However, I did take lots of pictures at the resort, so we will be spending the next few days there. BELLAROCCA SERIES #1
Thank you to all those who still visited and left comments on my blog during the days that we were away. I also hope that all our blogger friends in Europe are home safe and sound. The resort had no newspapers and we do not watch TV, and though it has internet connection, we didn't bring a laptop so I only got to read about Eyjafjallajokull when we got back.
Thank you to all those who still visited and left comments on my blog during the days that we were away. I also hope that all our blogger friends in Europe are home safe and sound. The resort had no newspapers and we do not watch TV, and though it has internet connection, we didn't bring a laptop so I only got to read about Eyjafjallajokull when we got back.
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