Punta De Uian: Overrated

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WE HAD A FAMILY outing in Punta De Uian in San Antonio, Zambales over the previous weekend. I am usually excited to write an entry in my blog after an outing. This one is different.

Punta De Uian is quite okay. Itís a nice enough resort ñ if you do not have to travel at least three hours to get there, that is.

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Unfortunately I had to drive three hours to get there. Never mind my aching back and numbed limbs from the long drive, the fuel cost plus P600+ toll fees (i.e. NLEX + SCTEX + SBMA, and back) make it a very expensive destination. And so I was hoping for much better than ìquite okayî and ìnice enough.î

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Punta De Uian gained disproportionate popularity when GMA-7 chose it as its primary shooting location for Marimar, the popular and immensely successful soap opera adapted from the Mexican soap of the same title. Other than that, it does not have much to boast about.

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My three-year old son said it all when, without any prompting, he exclaimed, ìBORING!î

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There is practically nothing noteworthy to do in Punta De Uian.

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There is an ongoing expansion and we were told that there will be a driving range, basketball courts, and so on. But all of these are still prospective, maybe completed in a year or two. But then again, why would you go through all the trouble of going to San Antonio, Zambales for some driving range, some basketball courts, and some ìand so on.î

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There is a swimming pool alright, but it is not even an extraordinary swimming pool by any standard -ñ no slides, no cascading or flowing water, no fountain, no dreamy lighting effects, nothing. Itís a plain swimming pool in the middle of the resort. Of course it comes with a kiddie pool. Be forewarned though that the kiddie pool is too deep for small kids so you should make sure your kids are closely attended to by responsible grown ups. It is too deep for both my 3-year old Johan and my 5-year old Marielle.

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If you are a beach person then there is the beach. Again, a word of caution.: the sea is quite rough especially during high tide. Also, the sand abruptly slopes down so it is not advisable to wander too far away from the shore unless you are a strong swimmer. But hey, letís be fair. This is not true for Punta De Uian alone. This is generally the sea condition along the whole stretch of the coast of Zambales.

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Oh, I almost forgot. They have All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) for rent in Uian, except that you may only drive the ATVs in the road leading to the resort. I can only speculate on what happened to the ìall terrainî in their ATVs.

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Okay, Punta De Uian is boring so go somewhere else. There isCapones and three other small islands nearby. If you are already there anyway I strongly recommend you go Island Hopping to these islands. The beaches in these islands are better than in Uian.

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The two nearer islands are connected by a narrow beach. You can actually walk from one island to the other. The tides meet down the middle so you create an illusion of walking over water from a distant observer. I think these are technically just a single island except that from afar they really look like two separate islands.

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Capones Island has beaches with white clear sand. It also has an old Lighthouse supposedly built by the Spaniards during the occupation. It should be a great place for some amateur photography.

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When you go island hopping remember to bring along your snorkeling gear as there are good snorkeling spots a few meters from the beaches.

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If Capones and its neighboring islands are what you are going there for, I have a money-saving tip for you: Donít book in Punta De Uian. †Adjacent to Uian is Hotel Pat-il. Iíve been there during our company-outing last summer. Book there instead.

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Hotel Pat-il is a 2- or 1-star resort-hotel with plain-looking but clean and quite nice rooms, with clean toilets. It also has a regular-looking swimming pool, maybe inferior to Uianís by a couple of notches, but good enough. The room rates are easily at least half of Uianís. You can book your island hopping arrangement with Hotel Pat-il, or better yet, walk toward the beach and make your own arrangement in a sari-sari store at the beachfront just a spitting distance from Uian. Either way you will surely save significantly. If you can speakIlocano then it is advisable to use it when talking to the locals, as it is the vernacular in the area. It may save you some more pesos. When arranging for your island hopping insist on asking for boats with life vests as the sea in the area can be really rough, especially near Capones. Most of the motor boats for rent are quite small and unstable. It can be a scary ride even if it is not truly dangerous. Better safe than sorry.

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Lastly, if you have already committed yourself to Uian, either because somebody made the arrangement for you or your girlfriend (or wife) is determined to re-live Marimarís life even momentarily by walking where she walked, then make sure to check your charges before leaving the place. Unless you ìwalked inî into Uian, which is very unlikely, you should have paid in advance at least half the room rate because that is their reservation policy. In our case, we discovered that we were made to pay the full amount (without deducting the advance payment) after we already left the place. It was, in effect, an overpayment of P5,500! †Itís a good thing we were just within 10 minutes away when we realized this. Imagine if we were already back home.

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Surely there was carelessness on our part, due mainly to the fact that my ex-girlfriend took care of the reservation and the 50% deposit while her sister settled the remainder of the charges through credit card on site. But what I could not fathom (still canít) is how Uianís personnel could have forgotten our advance payment. It is their standard policy to collect advance payment for all call-in reservations so how can they forget? Not for a second did I suspect them to have deliberately attempted to overcharge us. I think it is just plain incompetence by their staff.

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Enough about Uian. ††If what you are looking forward to are some outdoor activities I suggest you go further into Zambales in a place called†Mango Camp. †I’ve been there in 2006. †Very nice. †The additional hour of travel will be worth it. #

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