Beachcomber for both seasons

The Two Seasons Island Resort and Spa off Coron in Northern Palawan formally opened on the last weekend of January, with 42 cottage suites offering luxurious accommodations in different settings and styles.

Mountain, Seaview, and Seaview Deluxe Bungalows are perched on a hillside that offers a panorama of the sea and a myriad of nearby islands. The multiple levels are accessed via a winding concrete road, by motor cart, all the way to the glass-walled fitness gym-with-a-view that’s on the highest level. 

Beach Bungalows face the main beach of white sand, close to the free-form swimming pools beside Bahura Bar. Then there are the even more desirable Island Tip Bungalows with private jacuzzis on wooden verandahs overlooking the sea. These are ideally situated at the end of the main beach, on a rocky promontory that leads across sandbar connections at low tide to a couple of islets with their own sandy beaches. At the very tip is the Sandbar Bungalow.

Amenities and appointments are all top-rate desiderata: king-sized beds with elegant headboards of old wood, hardwood flooring, widescreen LCD TV and DVD player, iPod docking station, in-room safe, minibar, solar water heater and rainshower stalls in capacious restrooms.

To reach this luxurious paradise, you fly from Manila to Coron in less than an hour, landing at the Francisco Reyes Airport, also called the Busuanga airport. A resort van transports you on a 45-minute ride on a well-paved road traversing what used to be known as King’s Ranch — grasslands rimmed by forests that give way to chromite hills — and deposits you at a private dock in Coron, where any of seven speedboats is immediately assigned to any fresh arrivals. No waiting.

The usual outrigger “pumpboats” negotiate the sea route in an hour to 90 minutes. The Two Seasons Coron fast craft can do it in half an hour in a calm sea; add another 15 minutes for whitecaps that also lend a thumping ride and rejuvenates you with sea spray.

All in all, from the time you fly off from the domestic terminal or NAIA 4 on any of the morning flights available — PAL, Cebu Pac and Zest Air, soon to be joined by Skyjet — in barely three hours, this ultimate resort destination comes into view.

And you begin to luxuriate with delight at the sight of white-sand beaches that are the pristine features of the Malaroyroy peninsula of Bulalacao Island, together with a couple of islets bridged by sandbars.

1,780 of the Philippines’ 7,107 islands are found in Palawan; that makes for nearly 25 percent of our archipelago’s sun-sea-and-sand jewels, with a varied assortment making up the fabled Calamianes Group of Islands in Northern Palawan.

Word of mouth brings world travelers to these here parts, where accommodations range from the divers’ favorite offshore budget hostels to an increasing number of modern new hotels in Coron town on the main island of Busuanga. Then there are private island resorts, as well as lean-to’s maintained by the Tagbanua on lovely beach coves on Coron Island of the limestone cliffs, hidden lagoons and upland lakes — where day trips can easily turn into overnight stays if you come with provisions.   

Several years ago, thanks to the pioneering spirit of the legendary Steve Tajanlangit, bless his soul, we managed to island-hop through the Calamianes and marvel at the wondrous conditions, despite the occasional presence of persnickety sand flies on uninhabited isles and golden beach strips. Steve set up Boracay Terraces decades ago, and became instrumental in the acquisition of island properties for venture-minded friends.

He dreamed of turning Ditaytayan Island’s long white beach into a Boracay II. He acquired a cruise ship that brought many island lovers and beachcombers to such magically named isles as Malcapuya and Maonsonon. From Malcapuya’s gorgeous beaches and turquoise waters, we gazed out across the sea at the long stretch of Bulalacao Island and its Malaroyroy tip. It remains unfortunate that Steve passed away early, a few years ago.

In 2007, Jonathan Peñaloza, an adventurous Manileño now only barely into his 40s and heir to a highly profitable bearings industry, bravely tried out the resorts business with a boutique hotel he named Two Seasons Boracay. Its early success, even if it’s privileged only by relatively small frontage on Boracay’s White Beach, had him envisioning more ventures.

He was looking for a site in Bohol when he heard of better pickings among the hundreds of islands off Coron. Allan Tajanlangit, Steve’s brother, had been Jonathan’s contractor for Two Seasons Boracay. It led to friendship with Steve, and repeated excursions to the Calamianes where Jonathan finally chose a 16-hectare property in Malaroyroy bounded by western and eastern beaches.

His vision of an exclusive, high-end family resort has been well served by his apparent affinity for unique design and instinctive high taste for the arts. It has taken him nearly four years of hard work and serendipitous networking with suppliers and craftsmen to come up with what is definitely the best among the burgeoning recreation venues off Coron.

Evidently, no expense has been spared in making this high-end destination live up to its billing as the first eco-friendly island resort in all of Palawan.

The speedboats dock at a floating pontoon instead of the usual, unbecoming rocks-and-concrete jetty. Accommodating staff help you cross the sandy beach into a reception lobby that looks more like an open-sided pavilion in an art gallery, replete with an attractive wall mural and imposing “bird’s-nest” globular lamps hanging from the high ceiling. Nearby is Sulu Restaurant, just as airy, and also featuring stunning wall décor in the form of grass-stalk acrylic panels that are effectively backlit in the evenings.

Similarly, Bahura Bar has been the result of close collaboration with interior designers and furniture artisans like Bernie Sason of Bacolod and Alan Murillo of Cebu, whose woven chairs are stunners, along with the art installation on a high wall — wrap-around panels featuring a school of fish composed of soft wood in matte finish with aluminum for the heads and tails. Below the man panel are attractive divans inspired by sea grass and nature’s other elements that Jonathan recalled from Kiangan Lake on Coron Island. 

Principal architect is Geoffred Dee Tan, who was also responsible for Two Seasons Boracay. But Jonathan has had his own say on just about everything, so hands-on has he been with whatever has been set in place — from the desalination plant to the power generators, from the size of the toilet-and-baths to the Italian copper tiles on their walls, the distinctive door designs (executed by Two Heads, from Marikina) and headboards made of vintage railroad ties, the choice of teak furniture supplied by First Pinnacle, the creation and naming of the welcome drink that is Two Seasons OMG (for orange, mango and grenadine), selection of transparent-bottom kayaks and submersible sea scooters, approval of the piedra Ilocos and araal stones for walking paths, the planting of new trees (20 narra trees are on the way), the minimalist chapel design, as well as its altar and pews, the weaving of a cupola-like thatch-roof structure similar to one he had seen in Phuket, to be erected right smack in the middle of one of the pools whose waters change colors at night.

He has built up his paradise from day one, starting at ground zero. And there’s no turning back. Next year he’ll begin construction of Two Seasons Bayside Hotel & Dive Center where an empty lot now serves as his private jetty port. He’s also thinking of Batanes, someday — maybe for another personalized creation of yet another recreation haven. He confesses how he enjoys “playing” with architects and designers by engaging in the Autocad software app — say, in conceptualizing and filling up a room or bathroom or hall. 

Meanwhile, for now he’s provided lifelong beachcombers (like myself) a terrific opportunity to lounge in ultimate privacy, soak in gentle surf with some starfish for company, pick up shell or stone, trek through rocky outcrops that lead to sandbar after sandbar… All of these can only affirm that in whichever of our two seasons, our marvelous shimmering waters are our birthright as islanders.   

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The reservation office for Two Seasons Coron is at Nena Bldg, 132-A Bayani St. corner Araneta Avenue, Quezon City, with telephone numbers 410-2075 to 80, fax number  732-1747, and Hotline 0917-566-5810 (for weekends and holidays). Or e-mail bliss@twoseasonsresorts.com)