EWP Island Beach Resort (Veranda), San Antonio

Never heard about this place, until we were already on the van traveling from Calbayog to Victoria. It was the friend we met who told us about this resort. We wanted him to come with us, but at that time, he was not decided yet, so he told us "look for Veranda".

So here we were, in front of the ‘Veranda’ where the big signage above declares that it is EWP Island Beach Resort. We were ushered in, and that was the first thing I asked. Why is it that our friend and even the habal-habal drivers kept referring to a ‘Veranda’, when this is EWP Island Beach Resort. Hesumalusep! ‘Veranda’ pala, is the name of their quite handsome restaurant - that whole right side of the building that you can see, in there.
Nice place. Well appointed. Obvious that ‘creating’ this place passed by the hands of respectable architects, engineers, probably even interior designers. Not regal nor royal, but cozily elegant enough for a rural setting. Magaling, magaling! Clap clap! I'm serious!

Let’s wander about, shall we?

This is THE Veranda! Yep, the restaurant/coffee shop near reception desk.

Where is reception desk? Ah, that 'orange' counter by the door before the sala/lounge:
Nice place. You can read books, magazines, brochures, or just sit around in this area!

And here is some kind of a bar area where drinks and snacks are on display:
Notice the flat screen TV and the outsized speaker on the left (above the girl). Gosh 'no?!

Oh, here's the resort's menu - the reason why many folks call this place "Veranda"!

It was mid-afternoon, and our friend asked what local snack can we have. The reply was an immediate and excited "we can cook Sinapot for you". I wondered a bit what "Sinapot" is, but hearing one companion say its good paired with Coke, ah.., I already got excited!

After a short wait, there came Banana Fritters!

Hmm, they were probably already cooking this even before we asked for it. It was fast!
So, I asked if Sinapot is Banana Fritters. And I learned, that yes, indeed it is! One of the friends even said "matagal na"! I learned further that, Sinapot (Banana Fritters) had been a native snack of the Warays since the grand olden days! But this was not that simple...

They told me that in the past, our forebears would grind rice to powdery consistency, and use it as the coating of each slice when frying. Nowadays, people use commercial flour.
Whatever.., this thing was a heavenly treat. First bite, I closed my eyes for a moment as it kinda transported me back to years ago when my grandma would cook the same thing for our afternoon snacks, and serve them murmuring protesting why there always had to be Pepsi (for my father and 2 brothers who like it) and Coke (for us who were/are Coke addicts) hehehe! Well, the little bit of difference was, Lola called these "Platanos Fritos" and always had cubed cheddar (or fried queseo) which was a good match on the side!

Anyway... let's go to the rooms, shall we?

Room C, our room, good for 6 adults - they call this "dormitory room".

The towels... Valentines Day? hehe

Behind that wall is the comfort room (with hot & cold shower, oh ha?!)

The long wall after a wide space across our beds:

I opened the door and that is what I saw...
Interesting!

So, let's go out there?!

Ilang-Ilang Cottage. Just like the one above, an ordinary rural beach cottage, right?
But there's more! Though not too clear in this picture, except for the curtained 'window', the whole thing is "screened" with some kind of a plastic material - not wire mesh nor chicken wire, its some green plastic with little holes. Not 'mosquitero' but about as fine!

Well yes, the underside is not screened, and that's where the wind comes from, to make the hut cozily breezy. Hep hep, don't laugh just yet! Did you know there's some little science to this? As long as you don't put anything on the ground to attract them, ang langaw pala, don't attack food from under the table! Yes, they strike from above as that's where they sniff the aroma rising up to the air! Learned that in Karachi many years ago!

Not sure though, baka ang langaw natin mas matalino kesa pakistani langaw hehe!

Anyway, each corner of that hut is fitted with a big speaker, while on that right corner across the door is a KTV set. All I could say was... OMG! Well, good no one was singing (or would be croaking tonight) as we were luckily the only guests expected for the night!

Beside is this smaller cottage. I didn't see a name, but inside, it has 3 hammocks...
I particularly liked that green one in the middle...
But, I had to stay away lest I sleep the whole afternoon through. Very conducive!
We tried sitting on that bamboo floor (papag) and ohhlalala, so comfy cool and inviting!

This next cottage (Camia) is the more ordinary type like we see at many rural resorts:
This also seems to be the "cottage of choice" of two of the resort's friendly doggie dogs!

The next three cottages (below) are replications of all three I described above:
That last one being another 3-hammock cottage, where Bantay prefers to siesta!

Here's all of them 6 daytime cottages in a row facing the water:
That last cottage is a few steps to where they keep their boat. Oh they have a boat?

Yes they have this boat. It can fetch you from mainland (Allen, Victoria or San Isidro):
And it can also tour you around the island, or bring you to Capul and nearby places.

From the boat area, when I looked back, there's even this cottage at their other gate:

But here's a shot of the resort's main areas. Rooms at left, cottages at right:
Where's the pool? At opposite end from where I stood, behind those 4 coconut trees!

Do take note of this wide expanse of grass (mostly brown due to summer), as this will 're-appear' in the darkness of the night hehehe, when I start telling about dinner. Sosyal!

Meanwhile, let's go to the beach, shall we?!

Okay now, this is why I said "my best may not be yours" over at my arrival story. The sand area is not what many would think as 'the best' like Boracay's. But my travels taught me, that the best unadulterated beaches are those that are still strewn with natural things like seaweeds, rocks and stones. These are not raked away (by resort crews) as these are part of the natural composition of a seashore. They are part of the ecosystem, they help maintain the 'real life' of a beach itself - so the water is not yellow-greenish in color!

I learned about all those from trusted experts all over this planet. And I see proof, when I encounter one! And I said this long ago: yung yellow-greenish water sa Boracay is bad.

Those were my thoughts while on this unadulterated "other side" of San Antonio.

Well yes, I am not too impressed with resorts making walls (rip-rap) on the beach.Here, at least, there is still some free beach space between their riprap and the water.

Anyway, on closer look, the real sand base on this strip of beach is fantastic real fine.
But I did tell one of the crews they should avoid removing the little stones. Let them be!

See?! Like I did, Bantay (that's his name) & friend likes the sand just the way it is!
Hey, I think these dogs are amusingly rather too healthy than should be, aren't they?!
Oh there's even a third hairy fluffy one. A toy dog, bigger than a shih-tzu, but as cute just the same, though I never saw it going in the sand! Sosyalerang aso ayaw dirty hehe!

What I liked most - and this is where I probably differ with what many Filipinos think about a good beach - is that there are lots of aquatic flora and fauna in the shallows up to knee-deep and onwards. Like I took this photo above the water and at sheen-deep:
Water is so clear. I just used a lowly Fuji point-and-shoot camera here, no adjustments!

A baby star-fish. Saw this near a baby sea-urchin about the size of a pingpong ball!
Yeah, we flipped this starfish just to see the so many moving 'things' on its underside!

And those are my friends "walking around"! Wasn't this such a nice afternoon stroll?
Of course there were 'ohs' and 'ahs', even a shriek or two as we explored the seabed!

Back on shore, another treat awaited. Whipped up by our friend/guide and the manager of this resort - who incidentally was his student at.., ah well, just read that t-shirt hehe!
On the right is "Iba Shake". The fruit is called "Iba" in the Visayas, Kamias in Tagalog, Bilimbi in many countries, "Cucumber Tree" or "Tree Sorrel" in English. Oh ha?! That was something new to my eyes, ears, tongue and nose! On the left is one that is even more perplexingly quite a discovery for me! All I can say is "move over Vanilla Ice Blended" (the only coffee I am known to have enjoyed at coffee shops). Ito, from the sari-sari store.

A better-tasting alternative that costs just about 7% of what I would spend at CBTL!
This rip-rap is a usual path of the doggies, but they avoided when they saw things!

As this is a western side, we spent most of the afternoon here, waiting for the sunset:
Not quite a show because of some clouds

But wonderful enough!

The nearer island is Capul, the little haze on the right is Matnog, Sorsogon (already)!

That is Capul, its entire length. And, hmmm... why not coconut, right?!

That smaller island far beyond is San Vicente. Hmmm too! Okay, listed!

Hey, the skies just kept getting gold...

But the clouds won't go away...

But something was burning in my mind...

Okay Capul, see you tomorrow!
Ah the life! At this point, I was already more than happy about this roam. But I was sure 'tomorrow was another day' haha! I knew at this point I was going to see more than I hoped for. The mental tiff began... should I Capul myself tomorrow? Arf-arf sed da dog!

Oh, getting out of the beach, we passed by the pool (the only one in San Antonio):
It was drained and being cleaned. No issue though, we did not come here for a pool! :)

And as we walked backed to our Room C, a crew asked where we wanted to have dinner. At first I thought of the question as if she was asking about places - like their resort (at The Veranda), or some restaurant in other parts of the island (if any), or another resort (gosh, we'd go habal-habal in the dark?). Ridiculous things started running in my mind...

Good I was not the one who answered the question. Because I found out, they were only asking at which area in the resort we wanted our dinner served! Like at The Veranda? The cottages? If so, at which of the 7? Our room? The poolside? The beach? Ganun lang!

When I looked up, oh hey Mr. Moonie-moon Dela Luna was already up and about!
Because of this, we liked chorused "dinner in the very middle of the grass lawn mismo"!

Teka, intermission muna..,
I asked you earlier to remember that picture with the big grassy lawn in the middle, "as this will 're-appear' in the darkness of the night"... remember? This is it! No questions, no ifs, no buts! Resort crews obliged that dinner be served in the middle of the grass! Woa!

Fast forward...
We were in the room, it was already dark outside, we did not see how they did what they did. When a waiter knocked on the door announcing dinner was served, we looked out to see a candle-lit table, al fresco, in the middle of the grass! Under the moon & the stars!

Lovely table set-up, I can't imagine how those kids whipped this up that quickly! And the fare was simple everyday foods - just awesomized!
Like, what did we have for me to say "awesomized"?

Well, how about this mere malunggay (horseradish) for a main veggie fare?! Carry?!I am not really a fan of anything 'halaman' on the table, but I digged this one. I think I finished most of it hehe! They cooked this with thick coconut milk (tuno in waray/bisaya) and 'anchois frits croustillants' a.k.a 'crispy fried anchovies' (in Waray this is called... sinanglag nga bolinaw gad la udog)! Yumminess! Folks, you should try this at home!

There was also this ogyeop-sal-gui (오겹살구이)  - a.k.a grilled pork belly (liempo)!I don't know what they did or placed in it that it tasted interestingly different (manamis-namis) with the meat well done to sometimes burned on the fatty outside, but still tender and juicy inside. Very Pro!

And then there was this 'whateverized' (I don't know cooking terms) Camote Tops!Again, I am not a fan of anything 'halaman', but this salad-like preparation / presentation did cause me to dive into it with gusto! And that is your 'talbos ng kamote', ganas!

Then this lowly GG! Yep, galunggong LANG, maliliit pa! But it tasted well grilled!C'mon, this was their only fish as they did not expect guests tonight. Ah, the benefits of living in a fishing village, they buy what they need when needed! I joked that the galunggong was actually their (crews') dinner, and they said yes! "Fresh" btw, not frozen.

Finally, first time I encountered grilled pusit stuffed with carrots and other things!Mama mia ang sarap. The friend did tell me that this style of grilling (rare, not well-done) is only good with really fresh squid especially this size. And they told me that this thing was still alive when bought this afternoon. Well, it tastes like a real squid (milky), not the taste of soy sauce or margarine or catsup as you would usually have elsewhere!

Hah! What can you say about 'more than 3 cups of rice'? That's what I had. For dinner, gosh hehehe. And they have Coke! Burp! And they also have SanMigLight! Ah, the life!!!

I'll tell you the 'probable' reason why we had such a fantastic fare with a few simple foods they had in their kitchen (we came without reservation, remember?). These kids, yep the crew, all young and eager, were students of the friend/guide over at BCAT-TESDA! They naturally showed-off what they learned! No wonder the friend kept darting from us to the kitchen, even while those coffee and iba-shake were being concocted! I think he coached them through. But really outstanding Miguel, outstanding! Parakpakan!

Disclaimer: some or all of the above may not be in the resort's menu (yet)!

Oh ha, we even also flew sky lanterns! Yeah, one friend bought those in Calbayog.Supposedly 'pasalubong' but the sky was temptingly clear, so we flew some to the moon!


Am not done just yet... Here are more pics of the morning after...

Breakfast - at another location, still in the wide grassy area of the resort!A memorable stay at EWP Island Beach Resort (Veranda), San Antonio, Northern Samar!

That, before we sailed on to Capul Island. That's next!

For a chronology of this trip's stories, click these numbers:

01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10

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