Acacia Resort and Dive Center Web Log

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy for the resort’s construction and completion. Since the last update, the kitchen’s arrived and been installed, just waiting for the gas lines, the landscaping’s been started, the viewdeck on the lower level’s also been started, heaters, exhaust fans and other room amenities have been installed, and so on.

Pictures taken from last week:

The landscapers arrived also last week, bringing with them the plants and some of the materials like wood and stones to be used throughout the resort.

The kitchen, fabricated by Gomeco, finally arrived last week and was installed throughout the week. At the moment we’re just waiting for the gas lines to be installed and the kitchen will be ready for use.

And on to the pictures from yesterday:

In about 3 - 4 weeks time, we’ll be opening. We’ve actually started accepting guests with pre-opening rates as a sort of soft-operation to smooth out the details. We’ll be posting our pre-opening rates later tonight, so for those interested, please check again here later for that.

Most of the resort’s already in place, just waiting for the kitchen to arrive on Monday, along with some last deliveries for heaters, towels, utensils etc. This weekend, we’re actually closing down due to the heavy preparations we’ll be needing for next week. The landscaping will also start on Monday. Anyway, as usual, pictures offer a better idea of how things are currently going.

First off, the compressor arrived a couple of weeks back. We’ve been filling our own tanks since then, providing Oxygen compatible air as the minimum baseline.

Filtration system built by Matt Cadwell.

Second, the common shower area is almost complete, just waiting for the granite sinks and benches to come in. The acrylic enclosures are already in place and can already be used.

Frosted arcylic for partitions

Plate type shower heads even in the common locker area.

The railings for the entire resort have also been completed 2 weeks ago.

Some of the tables have also already arrived for the dining area. The tops are made of granite called ‘Salt and Pepper’. Still looking for nice chairs to go with these though. Any suggestions are very welcome.

Wooden veranda for the lower floor rooms facing the dining area completed last week.

Diver’s area, dive shop and wash area. Note that the covered wash area is exclusively for photo and video equipment use.

Acacia.

So, for a very VERY overdue update… We’ve started having guests over at the resort last weekend. Currently, there’s no kitchen yet so we have food prepared off-site and then just brought down to the dining area. So far so good. Anyway, the rooms are nearing completion, we’ve only got the bathroom doors to wait for, they’re taking so long because they’re glass and have to be tempered.

Wooden blinds. The room looks a little bare due to its size, we’ll have to fix that with some more bits of furniture and decor.

Wooden deck outside the the upper floor rooms nearing completion.

The glass-enclosed bathroom.

Completed building A, except for the wood decking on the lower floor rooms and some landscaping.

Using the dining area.

Extension dining being decked with wood.

Just a quick update. I’ve had the wash bins for the SCUBA equipment laid down a couple of days back, and I need an excuse to post the night shot of the pool so… LOL.

and…

The pool at night. It glows

Sorry for the delayed update, have been spending a lot of time at the resort and the internet connection there just won’t allow me to do any uploading. Anyway, what’s new:

Photographer’s area. We’ve set a separate wash area for cameras and other photographic equipment. Underwater photo equipment is one of the biggest investments a diver can make so we think it just right to make a photographer friendly area for washing/cleaning/drying.

We’ve got glass! Finally, the aluminum and glass came in. Well, not completely, but the glass walls/doors are all in, we’re expecting the bathroom enclosures within the week.

The pool’s filled and working! I’ll try to get a night shot of this next time (it glows at night owing to the overkill of lights that I had installed).

This will house the compressor and the tanks that will be used for diving. Still have some modifications to do on the building to properly ventilate it to make sure operating temperatures for the compressor remain optimal.

The washbins for all the other equipment being contructed.

This is what the divers’ area is looking like so far.

Update! Pictures were taken last week (April 19).

Pool’s very near completion. At the moment we’re just waiting for the lights and the pump to be installed.

New structure being put up on the opposite end of the lot, this will house the compressor and tanks.

Divers’ area. Tiled and waiting for poured concrete for the outside areas.

Completed dining area (except for a couple of tiles waiting for electrical outlets)

Another room being built to house the dive equipment. Notice also the bar under construction.

We’ve been delayed another week because the glass couldn’t arrive on time. Moved again to next week. Furniture’s already ready and we’ve had to delay delivery because of this. The kitchen’s also coming along nicely, will be meeting with the supplier today to discuss the final proposal, hopefully by next week we’d also be able to start with the kitchen. 2 weeks!

Sorry for not updating since the Medical Mission, been really busy with school and then the construction. For those who’re wondering, the Medical Mission went quite well, pictures can be viewed here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33314&l=a10e5&id=764707525

So anyway, lots of things happening at the resort now, the dining room structure’s almost done, the diveshop and compressor shed are going into construction, the pool’s 70% finished, airconditioning, aluminum and glassworks should be coming in this week too. Hopefully we can start training staff in three weeks. So, this update’s pictures:

The pool’s been under construction for 3 weeks and so far things have been going on schedule (estimated time of construction was 1 month). This is actually 2 and a half day’s worth of tilework. At this rate, they should be finished in another 2 days. You’d also notice the pump room’s already up at the far end of the pool. The water will be pumped back into the pool via a waterfall coming from the top of the said shed.

Diver’s area being tiled.

Extension deck getting its wood supports taken out. I also had that marble wall thing taken out. Looks a lot more spacious!

Dining area roof structure painted black. Notice that the said marble wall is gone in this picture

Polycarbonate roof coming on. ‘Bringing the outside in’.

Starting to look like a resort!

Party piece. Polycarbonate roof for the dining area.

Divemonsters Inc. is a non-profit organization of divers aimed to raise awareness of the richness of our seas, to promote camaraderie between divers here in the Philippines and to of course give something back to mother nature, especially in the sea, through civic efforts and programs aimed at the conservation of our marine habitats. A huge part of this aim comes through ensuring the welfare and education of coastal communities who have daily contact with the said habitats.

The Divemonsters Inc., in cooperation with Acacia resort, will embark on a small medical mission on March 22 and 23, 2008, at Barangay Ligaya, Mabini, Batangas. The mission will consist of basic medical checkups, dental services (flouride application and extractions) and as a little twist, we will also be offering veterinary checkups for canines. This initial project will cater only to a limited number of individuals.

Interested participants may leave comments on this thread or send me emails at oliver.ang@gmail.com. Contributions are also very much welcome!

Below are pictures of the construction being done at the site taken first week of March.

First building fully painted and ready for fixtures and glass and airconditioning. Some of the paint has to be redone though, not very happy with how it looked.

Images of the lower floor of the second building. Like the first building, the walls were taken down and reconstructed for the new 3-room layout. This should be done in about a week.

Dive-prep area. Walls have been painted, we’re waiting for the glass that will eventually become the whiteboard for lectures and briefings and such. Notice the doors to the lockers are the same shutters we took from the existing buildings.

Kitchen structure being built. This is 1/4 of the area of the current open deck. The rest of the deck will be the dining area, but this will still be expanded outwards facing the sea.

Initially I thought that the kitchen area we had layed out would turn out too small but looking at it now, it seems big enough, if not already too big.

Materials for the dining area structure arriving.

Metal to be used for the frame of the structure.

Polycarbonate material to be used for the dining area structure. We’re very excited about the dining area. It’ll be very very open, following the concept of bringing the outside in. There will be no walls in this area to really give the place that open feel.

Dining area and kitchen.

Just a little preview of what’s to come.