March 24th 2015 Peneplata, Samal- Punta Del Sol Beach Resort

Entrance to Punta Del Sol Beach Resorts on Samal Island.

 

My small room for $20.50 Cdn. Being 6'3 I had to duck to get in as the ceiling is less than 6 feet.

When I first got there I saw filipinos swimming as there are dormitories where a family can rent a room with a bunch of beds in it. Very good value.

That same night I came out for dinner to find out their restaurant was closed and the cook had left so I had to get something from their sari-sari store. Not much to pick from. It was chips and a one liter bottle of San Miguel beer. It was nice chilling out at the resort with no one around and basically had it all to myself.

The Punta Del Sol Beach resort was by far the cheapest I saw online for Samal at $20.50 cdn for a small non-air-conditioned room (Fan only). I read lots of complaints from other western travelers about this place online when I was about to book but they ultimately gave it a 7.2 rating out of 10 and because it was much cheaper than all the rest online for Samal I decided to take my chances and reserved the room for one night but it is decent for a budget accommodation. The worst place I stayed at was the very first place in Cebu City called CEBU GUESTHOUSE. Just a filthy shit pit but there were lots of westerners there and they weren't complaining. I asked the guy "Do you have BREWED COFFEE here?" and he said "Yes we do serve it but I will have to double check with the kitchen staff to see if we have any available" so he leaves for 10 minutes and comes back and says "We have enough to make 2 cups of brewed coffee" and I say "Good enough, that will take care of me for tomorrow morning". 

I arrived at the resort a little early from check in time at 9am and he said the room isn't ready right now but will be in 30 minutes so told me to take a look around and come back then. As I said I read a lot of complaints about Punta Del Sol Beach resorts on the booking sites but they all said it had the friendliest staff that made all difference and I did find them all very friendly here. Once I unpacked I went for a swim for an hour and then realized it was 11am and I still had the whole day to explore the island so I went to the front desk and asked the guy how much to rent a scooter for a day and how much for half a day. He said "Sir, I will go to the scooter place and will negiotate with them on your behalf and will come back with a price" and jumped on his scooter and left. I didn't feel comfortable about him saying he would negotiate on my behalf since I know my best interest will NOT be looked after unless it is me doing the negotiating. He comes back 15 minutes later and says 1000 pesos for the day and 700 pesos for half a day and although I was willing to pay 1000 pesos for the day there was no way I was paying 700 pesos for half a day and I really only needed a bike for half a day anyhow so I told him I would think about it as I left the resort and a motorbike guy came by on the road and picked me up and brought me back to Central Warehouse where scooters were being rented and after hearing how much each particular motorbike was to rent (A couple hundred pesos CHEAPER than "my friends" quote who negotiated hard on my behalf I might add :))  I decided to go with a guy name Lloyd who brought a decent bike and was going to charge me 500 pesos for 7 hours of driving and I knew that was all the time I needed.