This side of Batangas is a hidden sanctuary called Lobo, Batangas. It is an hour drive away from Batangas City. From SLEX, you enter the Star Tollway and exit for Batangas City. Waze is available to help you out in this matter. Nonetheless, Philippines is over populated so asking where to go on the road is a common practice 😉
Lobo is such a thrill because you get to drive by land and mountains without seeing the beach. Then once you are on top of the mountain and cruising around its zigzag road, you will turn into a curve where you will see it’s beautiful sea view.
On this trip, I was glad to have stayed in one of their amazing resort, Punta Verde. Punta Verde is such a wonderful serene place. This dive resort is founded by the couple lawyers Attorney Nick and Attorney Linda Jimeno. They are both practicing lawyers and could be busy from their demanding practice. This place have been their place to relax. As a lawyer by occupation but an architect by heart, Attorney Nick carefully designed the resort itself. It started as a family beach rest house. Friends began to visit and loved the place. Little by little, the couple started to invest on this beach house until it opened to public.
I arrived quite late and dark at Punta Verde. Nonetheless, their team greeted me with a sweet smile and directed me to my room. Here is a snippet of the room that I stayed in during day time:
As I woke up, I was very excited to see the place during day time. I was called for breakfast at their swimming pool area. They serve Filipino breakfast normally. You can also request for the food you want as an advance notice. The breakfast was perfect to fuel my day. Note that this area does not have wifi and the sign would say it out loud, “No WIFI here, pretend it’s 1995, talk!”
The restaurant location is also a perfect place to view the Verde passage. Verde passage is one of the dive places with a great biodiversity around the world. It was so great to relax in this area. The infinity pool in front of the restaurant is also perfectly placed for great viewing and relaxation. If you want time to stop a little bit for you, staying here is a great idea.
Beside the restaurant is a picnic lounge. It is an option for you to hangout and do some drinking, crafty workshops that needs a table, or just to hang with friends. Available on this side is a pool table where you can bet who will pay for the next drink.
As I began to tour the place, I got to love it more as there are several signages around that makes you laugh or makes you think.
The founders also love nature. They built this place with stones, corals and wood. Attorney Nick, using his architectural instinct, built the curved wood into a side walk handle. It looked perfect amidst the forest pathway. The rooms are also traditional Filipino and the materials come from old houses’ materials such as the windows and some decorative items.
Since they really love nature, they want to conserve water. This nice vase is actually a rainwater reservoir. When it rains, the water that goes into this big jar goes down a container underneath the soil. The water is then used to water plants and clean the resort. Smart!
It is a quite a work out touring this place. The resort is built with stairs that leads to different areas. Do not worry, there are also access to make the walk lighter for you or a car to bring you from the beach to the top view of the resort. I personally like to move and set my foot on the stairs.
Another surprise that the resort offers is their museum. In here you can find memorabilia of the Filipino culture. There are framed photos here that proves that Philippine has a culture. They were well dressed and have a fashion sense. They were also entrepreneurs in different industries such as restaurant, agriculture, transportation, beauty and many more. Aside from the assorted memorabilia, you can also find assorted knives inside the drawers. Batangas, is well known for knife making and it’s great to see this collection.
To go around town, there is a cute jeepney that can be hired. You just need to give advance notice to their crew. 
One of the near places that tourists can visit is the Lobo mangrove. To go here, you can be assisted by the local tourist information found at the centre of the town. The Lobo tourist information can also guide you in other more tourist. My choice to visit during this trip is the mangrove. In this mangrove, the boardwalk is quite long so be prepared. No heels please for the ladies. You will find several species of trees here. The boardwalk can lead you to a nice tree house, a picnic ground and to the sandy beach. Depending on what you feel doing, you are most welcome fee. There is a minimum environmental fee so it would be good to bring bit of cash.
Of course, let us not forget that this is a beach trip! At the bottom of Punta Verde is an area where you can view the beach up close. Here you can rent the kayak or just sit at their view deck. During high tide, one can set foot on the beach easily. Be careful here and one must wear foot protection. As a biodiversed beach, the corals are everywhere. While on low tide, you can walk farther and see more corals. With all the rocks and corals, this is still a nice place to walk and feel the good air from the sea.
