My trip to Bellarocca (March 11-13)

Mar 14

I was thinking of putting this off since I have a few looong overdue beauty posts, but I figured, if I don't write this down now, I'll never get around to it. It will probably suffer the same fate as my Boracay trip last year - I have dozens of photos, even a video of us helmet diving, but I never blogged about it. And now I just have a hazy memory of a vacation to show for it since I left all the photos in my old Macbook.

So! Last weekend, Marco, Luis, Vanessa, and I went to Marinduque to visit Elefante Island. The solitary island houses a beautiful, Satorini-inspired resort called Bellarocca. To say that I enjoyed my stay there is an understatement! The place was breathtaking, private, warm (in terms of service), and just perfect. I am obviously running out of adjectives so it's time for a photo dump.

The only airline service that flies to Marinduque is Zest Air. It's a 40-50 minute flight from Manila.

We're here!

Bellarocca provides a 40-minute van transfer to their jetty

Life vests for everyone

Boarding

Happy until the speedboat started. The sea is extra salty here so it stung my eyes and became salt as soon as it dried on my skin. My bag also got wet, but thank god it's Naraya so my Macbook Air and other gadgets were safe!

At the lobby (photo from Luis)

We stayed in a Terraza, a low white building standing on the face of a cliff. It faces the island of Marinduque.

Welcome chocolates

I spent an inordinate of time watching TV. Sorry na, wala kaming TV sa condo.

Also spent an inordinate time in the bath tub. I love bath tubs.

I mostly wore pambahay during the trip. Why? Because we woke up 30 minutes before Luis picked us up from our place - and we haven't packed yet! I mostly just grabbed t-shirts and shorts. But then again, it's a freakin' vacation and no one cares what anyone wears. I have enough of that here in Manila.

The view

That small strip of man-made beach is the only beach Bellarocca has. I wouldn't recommend swimming there though because the sand is coral-y and the shallows abruptly plummet into the sea.

We did go snorkeling. The corals looked well-preserved and there were colorful fish swimming around. Lots of blue starfish too. However, we didn't get to snorkel as long as usual because the waves were rather strong at that time (actually, the wind was strong during most of our trip and died down only at night. Is that the typical weather in Marinduque?). We didn't get to kayak and wind surf either.

Marco

Aside from aqua sports, guests can also try Bellarocca's spa. We got the full body massage for P1,900 each. It's supposed to last only 60 minutes, but Marco and I got a 2-hour treatment so it's cool! My back and butt cheeks still hurt though. -_-

photo from Marco's Flickr

Infinity pool

The restaurant had an extensive menu. Food was on the pricey side though, so expect to spend P400-700 per meal. I found the fare mostly meh. There were hits (like the lechon kawali and the bread) but many were just not worth the prices.