Plantation Bay Resort and Spa‘s man-made freshwater and seawater lagoons coupled with its access to the sea via the Galapagos Beach makes this resort the perfect holiday destination for water sports lovers!  You can kayak on the East Saltwater Swimming Lagoon (1 hour rental for 500 Philippines pesos (PHP) or 15 SGD) where you can check out the beautiful lagoon side or water’s edge houses e.g. Dune House and Chenonceaux House.  Alternatively, kayak to one of the islands in the middle of the lagoon and take a nap on the hammock for the rest of the afternoon (or rather for the rest of your kayak rental period :-))

Plantation Bay Resort and Spa has three freshwater pools of different designs each scattered around the resort and 2.3 hectares of saltwater lagoons. They have water-slides of various shapes and lengths, mist-caves, whirlpools, volcano fountains, bubble-benches, rainmakers and waterfalls of different sizes.This brings the swimming experience in Plantation Bay Resort and Spa to a whole different level of fun, discovery, adventure and excitement. If you like to do a “cannonball”, go for it in the 4 metres deep Diving Rock.  There is also a Children’s Lagoon with a maximum depth of 0.5 metre so children can also have safe water fun.

For a preview of the sights as you cruise in Plantation Bay Resort and Spa’s lagoon, check out this video below:

For Island-Hopping along the Mactan Channel just off the coast of Plantation Bay Cebu, we took the half-day Coral Reef Encounter tour (minimum 2 persons to go; 3000 PHP per person – half price for children 4 – 12 years old) on a boat interestingly named Miss Flirt.  Additional persons beyond the first 2 are charged at 500 PHP each so if you are on a vacation with a group of friends, this can be quite an inexpensive island to explore the islands around Plantation Bay Resort and do some snorkelling to check out the fishes and coral reefs in the sea.

If you have not snorkelled before, the staff onboard will guide you on the basics on how to breathe correctly (through your mouth onto the mouthpiece) and safety issues to take note.  Once in the sea, the staff will also guide you to check out the most beautiful corals on the seabed and the fishes to look out for.  The water is very clear but the snorkel masks fog up easily if you don’t breathe correctly i.e. if you try to breathe through your nose so rinse your masks regularly to clear the fog.

The staff will swim with you and bring along bags of bread crumbs to feed the fishes.  The fishes will be attracted to their treat of bread crumbs in the water and will swim around you so you will have an up close encounter with the fishes.  These fishes can be quite aggressive so don’t hold on to the bread crumbs for too long – the fishes will not bite you but will snatch the bread crumbs from your fingers.

After an exhausting swim in the sea with the fishes (but well worth it for the up close encounter with the fishes and the view of the beautiful coral bed), it is back to the boat for a leisurely cruise back to Plantation Bay Resort and Spa.  There are freshwater shower facilities available on the boat as well as a clean toilet so you can freshen up or at least wash off the seawater.

There will be peddlers coming onboard to sell souvenir items and coconut juice so bring some money along if you are interested.  Do start your island-hopping tour early if you want to avoid the crowds – not very nice to snorkel about in crowded waters.

If you are into fast-paced water sport, then jet-skiing is a must-try!  The Jet-Ski adventure (30 minutes rental at 1900 PHP) starts from the same jetty at Galapagos Beach where you would depart for your island-hopping tour with Miss Flirt.  The jet-ski is easy to operate and you are free to explore the sea off the coast of Plantation Bay Resort and Spa.  There isn’t a lot of traffic in these seas so it is quite safe to speed around in the jet-ski.

An interesting sight while you jet-ski in the waters around Plantation Bay Resort and Spa is the fishermen fishing off the coast in their small banca boats.  You can drive up close to see what they are doing as they prepare their bait and dip their heads into the sea to catch shellfishes and fishes.  Don’t get too near as you might scare away their targets or the waves from your jet-ski might cause their boat to bobble unsteadily in the sea.

To get a great view of Plantation Bay Resort and Spa’s freshwater and saltwater lagoons together with its various houses, we tried the Parasailing services offered by the resort.  For a Standard Flight which takes you up 150 metres in the air (minimum 2 persons to depart at 3500 PHP per person), you get great views of the sea around Plantation Bay Resort and Spa as well as a bird’s eye view of what other resorts as well as Plantation Bay looks like.

Parasailing isn’t as scary as it looks – most of the time, you will be floating in the air as the speedboat cruises around the waters.  The harnesses will secure you to the parachute so you will not fall into the seas from height.

The most exciting part of the parasailing adventure is perhaps the dip – the speedboat will slow down and your parachute will bring you slowly down into the seas until most of your legs are soaked in the sea – then the speedboat will speed up and then you will float slowly up into the air again.  The landing is also very smooth as you land on the boat itself slowly so you will not get totally wet – just your legs during the “dip’.

Still not convinced that para-sailing is not scary, check out the video of our para-sailing experience:

Guests at Plantation Bay Resort and Spa can arrange for all the above activities (except for kayaking) directly with the Aqua Sports centre by the Galapagos Beach in the resort.  For kayaking, just approach the kayak station by the East Saltwater Swimming Lagoon to arrange your kayaks.  Besides the above sea sports, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa also boasts an accredited PADI 5 Star Dive Resort and there are colorful reefs, steep walls for drift diving, exciting underwater caves and wrecks to discover, and virgin marine sanctuaries teeming with aquatic life. You can visit www.7seas-cebu.com for more information on the dive center.

The close proximity of the dive center and the aqua sports hub to your rooms in the Plantation Bay (any room in the resort is at most 5 minutes by buggy ride from Galapagos Beach) makes it easy to grab a quick change of clothes or to freshen up before your next activity.  You can charge everything to your room so you need not find somewhere to stash your money while parasailing, snorkelling or jet-skiing.

If you just want to swim in the lagoons, Plantation Bay is a symphony in water, with enough water features to keep most families happy for days on end (for FREE – pool access is free all day). Four freshwater pools of outstanding design; water-slides of all shapes and lengths from thrilling to scary; mist-caves; whirlpools; volcano fountains; bubble-benches; rainmakers; waterfalls of every size; and 2.3 hectares of saltwater lagoons for unlimited cavorting.

For general inquiries and reservations for individual travelers, please contact
inquiry@plantationbay.com with the Email Subject: Room inquiry

Plantation Bay Resort and Spa is located on Marigondon, Mactan Island at Cebu, Philippines 6015