The heat brought about by the long dry spell known as El Nino phenomenon and the meteoric rise of our electric bill courtesy of MERALCO were the couple of reasons that motivated us to take advantage of the three-day vacation last week-end (May 1 to 3) and spent it in Subic Bay Freeport Zone. While it rained hard last friday evening (the heaviest so far after the deluge brought by typhoon Ondoy last November), I thought that the following days would still be too hot to bear and to use the air conditioners at home would be a suicide as far as the MERALCO bill is concerned, so off we went to Subic.

Never mind if all the hotels listed under Subic Hotels when I google-searched for it in the internet indicated that they were all fully-booked. I told myself told myself that there would still be an available room for me and my family if we would just walk-in. It would be better to take chance rather than stay at home for three days and suffer the 36 degrees of heat!

On a more serious note, aside from the intense summer heat and the highway robbery called the MERALCO bills, I justified the Subic Bay vacation as a form of reward for me for working hard the past year, for my wife for the nights that she sacrificed to sleep alone everytime I taped the whole night and for my youngest daughter's sleepless nights studying hard for the the past two years in the University of the Philippines College of Law!

I had been to Subic Bay several times in the past but mostly to shoot a film or to tape a teleserye. I was casted in a japanese movie “Kumain Ka Na Ba?” which used the Subic International Airport and Subic bay waterfront for some scenes. I had taped for “Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas” starring Jericho Rosales and Kristine Hermosa for scenes using yachts leased from the Subic Bay Yacht Club. Early this year, I taped for “May Bukas Pa” scenes using the old american shooting range as background.

This time, the trip is for a vacation, a reward for me and my family! Thanks to my candidate Presidentiable Richard “Dick” Gordon for his distinctive performance as the first Chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, now we are enjoying the fruit of his labor.

It took only two hours and 30 minutes to travel from our home in San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan to Subic Bay FreePort Zone using the modern North Luzon Expressway and the Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway. We left home Saturday at 10:30 am and arrived the Freeport at 1:00 pm. We postponed lunch and instead immediately looked for a hotel to stay. We tried RK, Venezia, Travellers, and Subic International Hotel but all were fully-booked. We turned right to Burgos St and sighted our manger – err an available room at the Grand Seasons Hotel and Casino. It was already past 2:00 pm so we had to bite the bullet so to speak. The available room was priced at P3,200.00 per day, but we got a bargain, my daughter who would occupy an additional bed was free of charge. I paid in advance using my Citibank credit card. I was happy thinking of getting the free movie ticket freebie!

After the late lunch, we have to rush to the Ocean Adventure. The ticket for the Ocean Adventure was P500 per person. Again, I used my Citibank card for a perfect P1,500.00 transaction which is the minimum purchase for a single movie pass ticket freebie!

We were able to watch only four shows as it was already 3:30 pm when we finally got in into the Ocean Adventure. The first show was THE WALK ON THE WILD SIDE where we were delighted with the performance of the trained rats, snake, bat, owl and an eagle. The second show was very exciting and entertaining – THE HIGH DIVE SHOW. World champions in diving were featured in the 30- minute show displaying death-defying stunts which were also spiced up with comedy acts.

The third show was very awesome: THE DOLPHIN FRIENDS SHOW where trained and domesticated dolphins walked, danced, jumped, swam in the water and flew in the air for 30 minutes. The last show was the SEA LION MARINE PATROL SHOW. It was a one man – err one sea lion act which lasted for almost an hour featuring the sea lion gliding, rolling, dancing, showing his togue out, giggling and making sounds!

Over-all, for its entertainment value, in a scale of 1 to 10, I gave the Ocean Adventure a rating of 8!

We then had an hour of shopping at the new Puregold Duty Free Shop near the Petron Gas Station before we had dinner and finally called it a day. (to be continued…)

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