Cebu Island Northern highway leads to beaches for all budgets 2

A guarded entrance ensures the security and privacy of those who can afford the time and the money to be in such a setting. The courteous guards knew how to handle our request to be allowed to just take a look at the place without making us feel like intruders. Gay Blanca David, guest services manager of the resort, welcomed us at the reception lobby as soon as we alighted from the Trooper.

Alegre Beach Resort is a cluster of modern structures designed to blend with the native setting. Nipa covers the roofs of air-conditioned huts that house luxurious bedrooms with the amenities of urban life like television, mood lighting, jacuzzi, air-conditioning.

Common areas like the pavilion offer dining in the comfort of an air-conditioned room with the spectacular view of the sea and the gardens coming in through the glass walls. Or, in the coolness of the evening, dining under the stars is a romantic setting of scented candles and moonlit sea.

A free-style swimming pool behind the reception building puts more blue into the horizon, complementing the sea under a cliff of greens, which hides staircases to the beach.

But of course, such a grand resort could not be for everyone, so we continued with our drive to see the northern part of the island – in search for what ordinary travelers could enjoy.

We had heard of the beaches in Bogo and San Remegio.

You know when you are nearing Bogo when the landscape changes to sugarcane fields and the trucks you share the road with cane and molasses trucks. Bogo has a sugar central.

We missed turning into the town center of Bogo after we spent some time visiting the Medalla Milagrosa Church 150 steps on a hill which we saw from the highway. Children selling candles which they promised to light for us in the church on the hill, entertained us during the pictorial.

We followed the road to San Remegio, a fishing town. Again, we had a name of a resort recommended by our friend, Jimmy. In the junction of San Remegio, we followed the sign to Elegant Beach, which the sign said is about eight kilometers off the main highway. We gave up half of the way; the roads were getting too rough and deserted. We turned back.

The concrete highway of San Remegio took us to a beachfront at the back of the parish church. Except for one that advertised itself as a resort, the others were private properties.

We drove on and found a nice looking sign saying “Warren Beach Resort.” In the two years as road travelers, we have learned to “read” the standard of a place according to the road signs. This one said it was a nice resort.

Warren Beach is about five kilometers from the concrete highway. Along the way, you will pass a school which says a building is donated by Mr. Warren Frank, giving you an idea that the person who owns this beach resort is very much part of this community.

We entered the resort through a gate and a very narrow concrete trail good enough for the Trooper. It would have been quite a problem if we met another vehicle on its way out because there was no road shoulder; the concrete path was about a foot higher than the ground.

Warren Beach (132.8 km from Cebu City) is owned by Mr. Warren Frank who the staff said is from Virginia, U.S.A. Since he was out of the country when we were there, Lyndon Flores, an employe for five months only who was then manning the canteen, answered our questions.

The resort had no rate cards. Its room rates and services are presented on a menu, just like the food and beverages served there. Entrance fee is R25 per person; R50 for the use of the pool; R300 for the gazebo; R150 for the tent; R300 for a room.

Warren Beach occupies a cove that drops to the sea. Except for a few meters of beach, rocks catch the waves as they slap to shore. The owner had capitalized on this unusual landscape by covering an area directly overlooking the sea with grass. There, a few tents were set up by the excursionists, who enjoyed the wind and the sound of the waves beneath them.

We would have wanted to stay for more than just a Coke and a bag of chicharon but we wanted to go “home” to Cebu City for the night.

(Reprinted from Cruising, A Magazine on Wheels and Places June 2001 issue.)