Chronicles of a Stoked Traveler: Camayan Beach Resort-Ocean Adventure , Subic Bay

One benefit of taking a lot of pictures from your trips is having the chance to late-post your blog entries.

It was back in the month of January when the stokedtraveler went back with his family to Camayan Beach Resort in Subic Bay, Zambales. Lucky for them it was within the nesting season of the sea turtles. Nesting season usually starts around early October and may extend all the way to January.

Subic Bay like many other nearby beaches serve as nesting grounds for various species of sea turtles. Camayan Beach Resort is no exception. All around the resort you will see many of these enclosures with details of the type of sea turtle, nesting date and expected hatching schedule.

While the stokedtraveler failed to see live hatchlings being released to the wild during the Pawikan Festival in Morong, Bataan, they were fortunate enough to have a close encounter with one Olive Ridley turtle.

Olive Ridley sea turtle encounter in the wild

It was already dark and the ocean view has already faded into pitch black. Only distant lights drew the line of the horizon. On the other side of the beach, the resort guests were already settled in and ready to call it a night. It was probably the mixture of these elements falling into play when the stokedtraveler was gifted a sighting of one of nature's most graceful creatures. He rushed back to their room to call in the rest of his family to the occasion with.

The shy Olive Ridley sea turtle was probably nesting or just resting on the sandy shores. Olive Ridley's are known to be one of the smallest species of sea turtles yet they were already amazingly enormous enough to observe out in the wild.

They took a few photos and left the sea turtle in peace. They did however report the sighting (as advised by the resort) to the hotel receptionist who by the way didn't seem to want to be bothered by it at all.

An eventful checkout leads to yet another memorable creature encounter

The following day, check out at the resort didn't go as smoothly as it used to. The hotel staff was charging extra because they miscomputed the original cost of the stay which they already billed the previous day. After going through several versions of the bill, the stokedtraveler understood and settled the remaining payment.

He then went on and asked for a quote for admission to Ocean Adventure. That quote ended up messed up too so the group had to deal with another trouble at the park's cashier. Short story told, they got into an argument with the resort's supervisor.

Things escalated and the resort supervisor eventually apologized and offered to give complimentary dolphin encounter (photo opportunity) passes as a form of apology. It wasn't exactly necessary but the lack of initial admission of fault from the resort staff made it really irritating enough to accept whatever they offered to make the experience better.

Kudos to the resort supervisor for eventually taking accountability and giving closure to the incident.

Dolphin Photo Encounter at Ocean Adventure

The dolphin photo encounter experience would normally cost a group of 4 persons around Php 950. Thus, the complimentary pass was a pleasant surprise for his nephew's birthday. It was the first time for him to see a dolphin show and he was lucky to even get to touch one. With all the conservation issues aside, the experience of being up close with one of the ocean's smartest was one of a kind.

The skin felt like touching plastic. It was like a stretched balloon that can easy get scratched.

Ocean adventure is much more than just a dolphin show park. They offer other immersion activities such as Fish Friendzy (feeding sharks, jacks, sea turtles etc), Animal trainer adventure and Diving encounters. They also have an oceanarium showcasing ocean life with marine fishes, corals and other crustaceans.

Below are just a few other snaps of ocean life featured in Ocean Adventure: