Visit to Sky Ranch Tagaytay and Budget Swimming in Nasugbu, Batangas

I've been very quiet this past month. I was not able to blog because of joining a challenge (which allowed me to publish this and this) and spending more time offline with my family. The kids have already spent a month of their summer vacation as of this writing. What have we done so far together?

The kids have been working hard for the past school year and I'm happy to see the fruits of their labor (receiving with honors / high honors ranking) during their school recognition day and my eldest son's senior high school graduation day.

We all deserve a break. Oh yes. That includes me. I'm also a hardworking mom. So, after all the school events, we decided to go on a 3-day getaway.

We are happy that my husband won a prize during their high school class reunion. It was a 3-days 2-nights stay in a MonteLuce condotel unit in Silang, Cavite. We are grateful to the kind owner of the unit for sponsoring the prize.

On the first day, we arrived at MonteLuce at noon. After resting for a while, we spent a few hours swimming in the pool. We (and just one other boy) were the only people swimming in the pool. Based on my observation, the place is not yet well-occupied. There are still building constructions ongoing. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the dip in the pool; it was quite refreshing considering the summer heat. 

After we dressed up, we went to Sky Ranch Amusement Park to meet my husband's family who was also staying in Tagaytay. MonteLuce is just about 30 minutes drive to Tagaytay with light traffic. We were quite excited to go there, especially the kids. Though there was a promo on Metrodeal and on Sky Ranch's Facebook page about ride-all-you-can tickets, we just decided to pay as we ride.

After paying the entrance fee (P50 each - promo rate at this time), we took some photos first at the Sky Ranch lighted signage. Then, we headed out to explore the rides. I just rode the Sky Eye (Ferris Wheel) and the roller coaster for big kids and adults. The kids also tried other rides like the Carousel and the Drop Tower.

The night lights in the amusement park are beautiful but I probably would have enjoyed the view more if it was still day. 

After eating at Andok's Restaurant, we went back to the condotel to retire for the night.

The next morning, we were up very early (6:00 am) because we decided to head to the beach. We didn't know where yet but we went ahead and drove towards Nasugbu, Batangas. 

On the way, we met a man (a tour guide in Wawa, Batangas) who offered to take us to a resort to go for a swim. First, he took us to a beach where there are many residents. We did not like it. So, he offered to take us to another place by boat, where it is more secluded and the water is clean and enjoyable for swimming.

Everybody were excited to ride a boat. Well, it's not common for us to ride a boat so we really enjoyed it especially the view. We passed by the popular Canyon Cove Resort (but it was not our destination). We went further and then we saw the very beautiful, white sand beach of Punta Fuego Resort Club. And to our surprise, we docked there. Well, not in Punta Fuego's beach but in a little beach beside Punta Fuego called Punta Diego beach.

Wow! The water was indeed clear and clean and all of us liked it. While swimming, you can see the fish swimming as well. It's not 100% free from litter but I can say it's about 98% clean. The only thing we didn't like is there are times when a lot of boats docked in the area leaving people with little area to swim around. 

The sand in the beach was not really white but that's all right. Aside from swimming, the kids enjoyed playing in the sand and looking for shells and clams. There were also banana boats, kayaks and speed boats for rent. We rented and shared the use of kayaks. It was fun.

We arrived there at about past 8:30 a.m. (so just over 2 hours trip from Tagaytay) and we stayed there until 3:00 p.m. We didn't prepare or bring any food with us. So, before we took the boat ride, we bought a container of mineral water (P60), 3 kilos of rice (P180) and some cooked foods and disposable cups (P550) in a carinderia (home selling cooked viands) we saw nearby for our lunch. 

Our trip to the beach was really quite simple but we enjoyed it. Perhaps you're wondering how much we spent. The boat ride including the cottage and the use of the shower / toilet cost us P5,500. That's all we paid for 18 persons including adults and kids. We also spent an extra P200 for asking someone to cook the rice for us and for boiling water (for coffee). There was also a tourist fee of P20 per person and P100 parking fee for each vehicle.

If you want to go to this budget-friendly beach escapade in Nasugbu, you can contact Bomber at 09367696416. He is the person on the left in the photo below.

Our boat ride back to Wawa was a bit more bumpy because of the big waves. The trip back to Tagaytay was fast. We just went to Mahogany Beef Market to have dinner. Of course, we ate their specialty Beef Bulalo. Then, we went back to the condotel.

We planned to still go to other places in Tagaytay like the Picnic Grove or the People's Park in the Sky but we decided to go back to Manila the next morning as our kids still had to go to school in the afternoon to take care of some things. Anyway, we'll just go back to Tagaytay again someday. 

So, that's the most memorable time we spent last April and how time flew so fast. How about you? How are you enjoying April? Please share your events in the comments below.

Till next time again.