Our stay at Gilligans and Villa Marguerita

I’d like to thank you first of all for helping to make our stay so pleasant and for the delicious pizza that you offered on our final day there.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Palawan. As you may know, we requested to extend our stay at Gilligans, as we enjoyed the tranquillity and isolation it offered much more than we had originally expected. We also got along very well with the caretakers (Alvins, Estralia and Ray) and were very happy to meet their relatives at Bigaho and Paradise Island. Alvin’s son caught several fish for us with his spear gun and Estralia’s parents greeted us at the beginning of the path to the Bigaho falls.

It was quite windy when we first arrived and we found it difficult to get very far with the kayaks. However, the weather calmed down a lot after a few days and there were times when the ocean looked like a big lake. We got more adventurous and kayaked together as a family, first to Bigaho Beach, then to the closest island. Upon return from the island Alvin told us there was a cave on the other side so we went back out the next day to see it.

Alvin took us on several boating and snorkelling trips and when our friends from Shanghai were staying in Port Barton he took us on a fishing trip, but unfortunately the weather was windy and overcast and we didn’t catch much. The next day, however, Alvin took my son, Reuben, back out fishing together with his son and they caught a decent sized fish each. Manuel and Reuben were best friends over the two weekends we spend there, and they passed their time playing chess, cricket, catching chickens and building a play house (more like a shack).

We enjoyed our stay in Villa Marguerita as well, and the caretakers their (Arnold, Marilyn, Apple and Jay) made our stay there very comfortable. I must say that Marilyn’s cooking reputation is highly merited, and we really enjoyed our meals over there. We were also able to visit Nobelene, Manuel and Adame’s school on the Saturday we were there. While there, we met a teacher who told us about the Baptist church she attended. We decided to visit on Sunday and had a great time as they made every effort to make the service bilingual especially for us.

I think this was the best holiday we’ve had as a family yet. We would like to wish you all the best for your future, as well as with managing your properties in the Philippines – you have certainly done a great job with them.

– Samuel and Yolanta