Photogenic Grande Island

The agreed-upon meeting time was the ungodly hour of 4:30 AM. 4:30 AM?! But I haven't spent a whole weekend at home with B since the wedding, and I wanted to spend more time with him. So it was that jetlagged me accompanied B to his company outing to Grande Island in Subic.

For 3 hours we travelled north towards Legend Hotel in Subic. Near the hotel was the pier where we boarded a boat which took us to photogenic Grande Island.


One hour later, we were at the island. Very clear waters greeted us. I can even see the jelly fish swimming by the boats. All around, there was a great view of the surrounding mountains. The white sand beachfront though was a bit small. However, the waters were still very clear...although if you go a bit farther from the shore there were a lot of menacing-looking seaweeds. We only spent the day there though, so we didn't get to experience the comfy-looking cottages and accommodations. Instead, we baked in the sun, swam in the man-made salt-water pool (with water pumped in from the ocean), and swam some more in the beach.

During our trip, there was another company outing, and lots of other Asian foreigners spending the night there. There are facilities available for jetskiing, fishing, and other water sports.

Grande Island is located at the mouth of Subic Bay. It has an area of approx. 1/2 square mile, with the highest point being 167 feet above sea level. It was formerly known as Fort Wint during the American period. Grande Island has been a natural point used to protect shipping in Subic Bay since the 16th century.