Author: Simon Wright

Swimming in a fresh water spring

 

We were out exploring the other day and followed the mangroves to Bugas Bridge. It was very interesting to paddle under the road and then follow the stream further up. After about 10 minutes we got to Inburnal Spring, a fresh water pool. Jumping out of the kayaks and swimming around in the cool water was invigorating!

Every new thing we see reminds us how beautiful our world is…especially when we can escape from the influence of man. Sometimes all it takes is 10 minutes….

Looking for a Manager

We did think that we were stabilising our staff . . . however Joelle has decided to return home to pick up the threads of a “normal” life and take advantage of new opportunities! We wish her all the best of course but it does leave us searching for a replacement manager rather earlier than we were expecting!

So if you (or anyone you know) think you might be a good fit in our growing company, please have a look at our advertisment on MyNimo:

https://cebu.mynimo.com/jobs/view/255648

and drop us a line. We look forward to hearing from you :).

Open!

After literally years of hard work, Eskapo Verde is now fully open! We had our test opening last weekend with a small group of family and friends and with the feedback from that we are ready to take bookings and reservations 🙂

Moalboal has some interesting visitors . . . .

Not directly about the resort this time, more about the people who sometimes drop in :). This time it was Gigit Sulit, a free spirit who has been travelling around the Philippines, Asia and lots of the rest of the world for years. Gigit had lunch with us and came back with a group of friends (Jeanne: the world is indeed a small place!) a few days later. It was indeed a pleasure to spend time with all of you . . . and as you said: who knows where this may go? We hope that the wind keeps you here a while longer, after all Moalboal is full of people that came for three days and three decades later are still here :). I see one every time I look in the mirror!

Here’s a link to some of Gigit’s tales of Moalboal and his visit to Eskapo.

Paddling through the mangroves . . . .

Last Saturday we had a high tide in the afternoon. Since my kayak has just been delivered I thought it would be a nice escape to unwrap it and get the thing in the water. Lots of sweat and plastic wrap later, my pretty green and yellow kayak was floating sweetly by the skeleton of our pier. Of course since there are no photos it never happened, but *if* it had, I can assure you what the scenery around the resort is beautiful. Floating through the shady mangroves: clear water, branches reaching around me and only a few birds to disturb the peace :). I spent a couple of hours exploring the neighbouring island and some of the channels around us, the wreck that’s beached a few metres from us and then home for a well-earn beer. Life is good!

We plan to start installing the decking next week which will make getting our kayaks and paddle boards into the water much easier. It’ll very soon be great to come and explore for yourselves . . . . Photos next time!

Visit of USPF Panthers

USPF Panthers came to Moalboal yesterday to play in an exhibition match against CIT Moalboal. Before the game we were very pleased to welcome the whole Panthers squad to Eskapo Verde, to show them around and to explain the facilities we will be offering them and other sports teams and groups “Real Soon Now”! They were delighted to see the kayaks and paddle boards – for the moment tucked away under the dorms instead of in the water :). However the storage area is close to being ready and the supports for the pier are in place. Next steps there are the platform to link the pier to the shore and then the decking so that we can actually use it :).

And in case you were wondering, the Panthers won 83-67 against CIT, both teams working hard and producing an exciting game with lots of back-and-forth.

Something we’ve all been looking forward to . . .

We have started work laying out the supports for our water sports pier. This is a little tricky since the tide has not being very co-operative but today we got the first two C-purlins mounted, levelled and secured. Another three on Monday and we will be able to set up the first of the decking. The pier will stretch 80m to the deep water channel.

The first pier supports in place.
In the background some guys on a home-made raft do their own exploring . . . .

Lighting, planning and practice

When we spend most of our time in the light, we sometimes forget how different things are in the dark. We spent a couple of hours on the project after dark last week to test our lighting layout. It was wonderful to sit in the restaurant with most of the lights in place (and off as well) and share a cold beer while enjoying a night sky that we don’t see that often, even close by in Panagsama. The stars were so thick it looked like a diamond carpet and even I could see the Plough (Big Dipper) and for the first time identify the North Star. Thanks Alain!

Steady progress for the last couple of weeks, including the mosquito netting on the underside of the dormitories, the final bits for the washrooms and showers and lots of painting for the pier supports before these are fitted. Hopefully we should be able to start assembling and laying them out on Thursday. We are also working on replacing some of the bamboo posts on the Boardwalk with concrete for additional stability and reduced maintenance.

We have had the electricians in again and connected the first set of path lights and we have more sawdust and wood chips for our paths. We do need some signposts though, especially at night :). We are slowly recruiting members of our team – we’re happy with the people we’ve found so far; we think we have the basis of a strong team already.

Opening is getting closer though there is still some construction to do and of course an endless amount of administration!