HALFMOON BEACH RESORT AT OLONGGAPO SUBIC

UPDATE: Halfmoon Beach Resort is now known as Samba Blue Water Resort which is located near Subic Inflatable Island. Rates indicated on this blog may already be different from the actual rates.

Bask in the sun's heat...

Then bury your feet underneath the sand...

And dive into the fresh, and clear sea water...

Unwind.. Relax.. And let the fresh air take you to a whole new world..

Nothing beats a day spent at the beach especially when summer comes to its end.

Due to busy schedules, I was desperately not ending my summer without taking a plunge at the sea, so I immersed myself in to researching a good resort, which then led me to Halfmoon Beach Resort.

UPDATE: Halfmoon Beach Resort is now known as Samba Blue Water Resort which is located near Subic Inflatable Island. Rates indicated on this blog may already be different from the actual rates.

Why you may ask I chose this beach despite all others? There were things I considered before deciding, well, not THINGS per se, hahaha!!! I'm on a TIGHT BUDGET, so I need an affordable resort.

Luckily, I found good reviews about Halfmoon Beach Resort. The resort is formerly known as Kale Beach resort which is located in Olongapo City, It wasn't difficult to find because it's just along RH5 National Highway.

I stayed at my boyfriend's house in Bataan, so I cut off the budget on accommodation. His parents were also kind enough to let us drive their car to the resort, so I scratched off travel expenses as well, "Thank God!!" We just used Google Map to help us navigate our way.

If your commuting from metro manila, take victory liner buses going to Olongapo, drop off at Olongapo terminal, beside the terminals are blue jeepneys that will pass by the resort.

You may check their website for more information http://www.victoryliner.com/Home.aspx

We got to the resort on a Tuesday morning at 8:00am. I would personally suggest that you go on weekdays, as resorts tend to double their prices during weekends. And don't worry, the resort also has accommodations if you want to stay in for a night or two.

The plan was to only have a day swim and rent a small table or just set up a picnic blanket by the beach, but the the receptionist bargained a very good deal. For the cost of Php500, it was inclusive of a Nipa hut with bed and electric fan, and our entrance fee.  We analyzed the matter for a while, and it was really cheaper than separately paying for our entrance fees and renting a cottage, we also couldn't  lay a picnic blanket by the beach because it was scorching hot.

UPDATE: Halfmoon Beach Resort is now known as Samba Blue Water Resort which is located near Subic Inflatable Island. Rates indicated on this blog may already be different from the actual rates.

Oh, by the way, they also asked us for a Php500 deposit for the nipa hut's key which was refundable upon check out so long as you return them the key.

We were escorted to our hut, and I must say, it wasn't what I had expected. It really was nice, cute and intimate. 

So we left our things at the hut, and headed straight to the beach. OMG, the water was so clear that you can see tiny fishes swimming around with you. The sand, though it wasn't white was so smooth and fine that it looks like exfoliating beads on a facial wash. And since it was still early, the heat of the sun was not burning hot yet. Everything was as its perfect timing, and given that it's on a weekday, the resort wasn't too crowded.

I super enjoyed the beach, and I kept saying, "Oh my gosh, this is so beautiful, i'm going to come back here." We just kept swimming and floating around. My boyfriend even dig a hole in the sand and buried me there. Hahaha

Aside from the beauty of the sea, the resort staff was pretty nice too. I'm saying this base on a funny experience. My boyfriend and I decided to drive to the city and have lunch, so we head back to our hut to change and grab a few things but I couldn't find my wallet nor remember where I placed it. So we went back to the reception and asked if they've seen my wallet, the receptionist said that she hasn't seen it and suggest that we could look into the CCTV footage upon our check in (I guess she suggested that because she's seen how worried face looks like, hahaha). The owner/manager assisted me on watching the video, while my boyfriend went back to double check our hut (he turned the place upside down just to find it, ahaha). Before I even finished watching the video, he came back and said that my wallet has fallen off the edge of the bed. WHAT A RELIEF and quite embarrassing!! We did apologized and thanked the staff for all trouble, and they diplomatically understand.

Given at the resort's affordable price, the whole experience was AMAZING!!! It had exceeded my expectations!!

Another personal suggestion, enjoy the beach as early as 6-7am and finish until 1pm. Aside from the sun's scorching heat after 1pm, the people who swam early tend to leave their trash along the beach; plastic wrappers, bottles, and etc were floating around. They should enforce a resort's policy not to leave their trash behind, because it's pretty nasty when the waves takes it in.

ENJOY AND HAVE FUN!!!