Unexpected awesomeness. Part One.

Happiness. <3

Just over a week ago, I was once again on my way down south for some 'me' time. This time, C and I were headed to a certain place that both of us have been extremely excited to go to ever since C stumbled upon a link about Granada Beach Resort on her Facebook feed. 

Preview: A lovely room fronting the sea. A Spanish-era tower. A poolside bar. A private stretch of sandy beach. A chance to see whale sharks. And favorable reviews on TripAdvisor. Who wouldn't be stoked given such lofty expectations, right?

Day started with the usual early morning flight *yawns* (maximize time with C!), C and her brother picking me up at the airport (spooooiled!), and a quick breakfast at the "beehive" (company loyalty!). We, lovebirds, were then promptly dropped off at the southbound bus terminal where we wandered around for quite a bit, asking directions from people-who-looked-like-they-knew-the-routes, before finally boarding a bus with a sign that read: Bato via Oslob.

Now comes the fun.. errr.. interesting part.

While we were already comfortably slouched in our bus seats, C received a surprising text from our intended hosts requesting us to call them immediately. Uh-oh. Turns out a water pipe burst causing considerable disruption to their services and as such, our reservations had to be cancelled. Tough luck! A quick decision had to be made then: secure new accommodations or simply stay in the city. After a couple of calls and SMS exchanges, we eventually got reservations on two separate places in Liloan. Oh yeah! Our most southern-y trip yet shall push through, it was decided. (Then again, it may have been just us being too lazy to get off the bus. Hmmm. Yeah, that must be it.)

* On a side note, we got plenty of help booking the places from our original resort's staff. We even got an offer of 50% discount should we decide to stay on their place next time. Cool!

The quite comfortable four hour ride had its moments, too: Familiarizing myself with town names on the southern part of Cebu (Carcar, Argao, Alcoy, Oslob, Boljoon, Santander); being in awe upon the sight of an industrial plant (nerd); the hilarious set-up for the comfort rooms at a designated pit stop; and lest I forget, the introduction and first trip of our cute and super adorable polar bear. Everyone, meet the third C, Clancy.

This guy. So cute.

The land travel ended with a funny mix-up about ports and drop-off points. You see, we should have gotten off the bus at Liloan (where we already had an inkling about it being the correct stop) instead of traveling further down to Bato, Samboan. The minor deviation costed us a few snooze minutes, a few bucks for the increasingly-becoming-familiar trike ride, and some well-earned laughs. Follow our guts the next time, we said.

* And yes, Liloan was indeed the correct stop as BOTH resorts we planned on staying in where located in this area.

Just around an hour or so past noontime, we arrived at our first destination: the Japanese-owned Marine Village Dive House. Yeah! At first glance, I already sensed that this was a diver's happy place (as confirmed by the shimmering eyes of the mermaid) as every corner was littered with diving equipment, suits, goggles, tanks and other underwater-related paraphernalia. After settling the usual registration stuff, we proceeded to our room where we got a pleasant surprise.

You see, we had learned prior to our arrival that the room here costs just Php1,700, a measly sum compared to what we were usually accustomed to on our trips. Our expectations therefore were on the low-end spectrum of our accommodations band. What we got though was a very spacious room with two single beds, our own couch, a side table with two chairs, and a functional bathroom with an ingenious bidet set-up. Amazing. We decided to immediately show our astonishment for the place through the only form of appreciation we could think of: an afternoon nap. Lazy couple strikes again.

A couple of hours later, our grumbling tummies woke us up, reminding us that we needed to part ways with our bed already. Thus, we proceeded to order our meals at the dining area - a lovely suspended-over-water wooden structure with a clear view of the nearby port and the surrounding coastline. Just beautiful. Our bellies were calmed first by a plate of calamares and egg sandwiches and then blown out afterwards by a specially requested serving of breakfast food. Noms. Dinnertime talk hovered around C's passion for diving, aquatic creatures and the ocean in general. I certainly picked up lots of interesting tidbits and stories about diving in particular. Diving buddies in the future, perhaps?

Calm and relaxing.

We spent the rest of the night reading books - C finished Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart in one sitting while I completed two days (chapters) of Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. Bookworms. C had also been battling a nasty cold all day long so I recommended that she go out a bit for some fresh sea breeze to declog her system. Worked pretty nicely, I guess, as we had quite a good sleep after.

A bright Sunday morning sunshine greeted us the day after as the next phase of our impromptu trip began. If the first day went well as far as unplanned trips are concerned, the second day would prove to be several notches better. And awesome-r. :)     

Family picture. :)