Stuck on an island
Grande Island, Subic, Olonggapo City is an island off the coast of Subic. The island fortress used to be a military campsite for the Spaniards and Americans during the tumultuous years when the Philippines lacked its complete freedom. It also served as a refugee camp site for the Vietnamese and Cambodians about 30 years ago. But the history of the place might just take the back seat when you visit the now-turned-island resort.
It’s a huge place which you can explore either by foot or by renting out an ATV (which we did, and it was so much fun). Grande Island Resort is the only resort located on the island. It offers full lodging amenities with villas on the shore and a really nice veranda with a lounge chair. 
But anyway, you get to the island first via ferry from the bay port at Subic which only takes about 20-30 minutes. The view is nice; don’t expect dolphins to come jumping alongside the ferry though.
And when you get to the island, there are a lot of things to do: water sports like the banana boat ride, flyingfish, and parasailing; beach volleyball, nature trekking, fishing, or take the dune buggy around the island to see its historical sites.
You can also go emo by the infinity pool side.
But that wouldn’t be a good idea if you ask me, because the pool is so big it’d be such a waste not to dive in. And guess what, there’s free WiFi on the island. Long day for workaholics.
Whatever you wanna do there, it’s going to be worth it. I took pictures, for one, and forgot to take a picture of myself.
view from the villa’s veranda
The food is good too; you won’t notice you’re right smack in the middle of the sea on an island.
Now if only Mia wasn’t sick then, I would’ve enjoyed myself immensely instead of sulking half the time and being on the phone every hour checking on her. hehe.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
ang ganda Ris!:)
ganda ng place & pictures. u really take good pictures!
waahhh beach…i miss it.
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ris reply on March 14th, 2008:
salamat again van
summer na! maganda beaches niyo dyan diba? inggit nga ako eh..
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March 14th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
wow nice! thats what i forgot when i had my vacation in the phils last dec.. go to subic! huhuhuhu! di bale next time i might try going there. will bring along my girlfriend… uhmm err mrs azrael and aila pala nyahaha!
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ris reply on March 14th, 2008:
really, di ka man lang nag-beach? or hindi lang ikaw pumunta ng subic? uwi ka naman ulit soon diba
oi, bawal yan! haha.
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March 14th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Hi Iris. Thank you for sharing your photos and review of the place…I’m actually scouting for places kasi for summer vacation..thanks talaga!
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ris reply on March 14th, 2008:
no prob, thess. grande island is a really nice place. punta kayo don
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March 15th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Looks like you had lots of fun. With equipped with WiFi, that’s very tempting - but if you’re on a holiday you wouldn’t think going online and play poker tho’.
Beautiful scenery. I was wondering tho; where are the ‘beach people’? Walang naka swimsuit?
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March 15th, 2008 at 2:38 am
hey! glad to hear mia is okay na.
subic is a frequent destination for our family, but the one time they made the trip to grande island, i was, of course, not available due to hospital obligations. hay, sayang talaga.
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ris reply on March 15th, 2008:
sayang! then you should go there again. it’s really nice. pero shempre, it’s nothing compared to amanpulo
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March 15th, 2008 at 2:40 am
by the way, ris, have you heard of Team RP? a friend of mine recently converted me. You can check their site and tell me what you think…
I have an idea kasi, e. Will email you when done ka na. Let’s harness the power of the blog!
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ris reply on March 15th, 2008:
i think i have one time. but sige i’ll check it out and let you know when im done.
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March 15th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Sorry po - i am an idiot.
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March 15th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Opps, my comment to this post was probably swallowed by the Akismet. Hurly Burly!
I said, nasaan yung mga naka swimsuit, naka trunks at nag tatakbuhan na mga bata? Walang ice cream guy sa kanto? hehehe
But no way I’d go online even if the place is equipped with a WiFi, but then again, why not?
Ganda ng lugar, convenient ba yung biyahe?
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ris reply on March 15th, 2008:
oh yeah, your comment did go to the spam folder. tsk tsk. anyway i approved it na, so it’s up there
naku k, we were the only ones on the island, so no other beach people are there. and also, it’s not the type of island na inhabited ng mga locals. it’s really just the resort staff who live there. so walang ice cream man
naku kung ako merong dalang laptop, im sure naginternet pa rin ako. hehe. and yeah, the travel is really convenient. you just drive yourself to subic and you ride the ferry to the island. that’s it. they even shuttle you from the island port to the main lobby of the resort.
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March 16th, 2008 at 12:37 am
[...] But anyway, you get to the island first via ferry from the bay port at Subic which only takes about 20-30 minutes… (Continue reading) [...]
March 16th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Wow, never been to Grande Island yet
Nice pictures! I would recommend that to my mom for a weekend vacation 
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ris reply on March 16th, 2008:
thanks maki, nice to see you here again
you should go there too, it’s really nice there. tamang tama, summer na.
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March 19th, 2008 at 2:28 am
somehow the beaches here pale in comparison talaga. gumaganda lang sila (according to my hubby) because of the, ehem, eye candy.
i’ll keep this island in mind pag uwi namin. thanks!
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ris reply on March 19th, 2008:
they really do! i haven’t even been to half the country’s beaches. i bet kung maayos lang talaga tourism natin for lcoals, it would be much more appreciated.
kelan ka ba uuwi?
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April 8th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Hi! ask ko lang, uhm if mag request ba sa kanila na beach view on their chalets, granted naman ba?
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ris reply on April 9th, 2008:
If you’re asking if they will allow you to view (and take a trip via ferry) the resort, yes they allow that naman. i think they do that for oculars. and i think they don’t charge naman for the ferry ride. you can call to ask naman eh
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