KAKISA Dive Resort

The cottage was clean, and this is a nice beach compared with other spots in Dauin. It’s right beside Bacong Tree House and works well for big groups or families. Entrance was 100, with the cottage extra. We visited during a brownout, and my friend was charged 300 to charge her phone. You can bring food, but my friend had to pay corkage for the lechon.

It looks nice at first, but the little problems add up. The kitchen shuts at 5pm, so dinner isn’t an option. The rooms are okay, but the AC is in a narrow hallway by the bathroom and couldn’t cool the sleeping area properly. The bathroom window was partly open, letting in lots of mosquitoes. When we opened the door, they got into the bedroom too. We killed at least eight there and still got bitten by more overnight. There were small ants on the bed, plus several little spiders and one large one around the room. We weren’t given a room key, though luckily family were by the pool while we went out for food. The curtains don’t close fully because of the rod holder in the middle, so people can see in unless you overlap them and prop them in place. The dining areas also have no fans. That might not sound like much, but the Philippines is very hot, and many visitors are foreigners. It’d be nice to have a fan while eating. The place is okay, but these issues keep it from being as good as it could be.

We booked the outside cottage with six tables for my sister’s birthday. That was our mistake, but we didn’t have enough room for everyone. It started raining too, and six tables only fit around 40-50 people if they’re packed in. The resort was accommodating about letting our caterers set up. We paid the corkage fees for outside soda and liquor bottles and 250 for the lechon, which seemed fair. We also paid an electricity fee to use a videoke machine we rented elsewhere. There were lots of flies. The shower area opens onto the stairs down to the sea, and many people were washing dishes there. Food scraps, including fish bones, spaghetti, and fruit peels, ended up on the steps. That’s worrying for people walking barefoot, especially kids, and it may be why there were so many flies. A drain cover would help. We’d planned to stay in a room overnight because of a brownout the next day, but the outage was rescheduled. A prenuptial or wedding event was also taking place in the conference hall, so most rooms were occupied by guests.

The beach is nice, and you can cook or grill in the public area. The rooms were clean and the atmosphere was pleasant, but the pool water was green and didn’t look appealing. It’s a decent place for an 80-peso entrance fee.