You depart Manilla via a small plane – like everything AMAN do, the moment you arrive at their lounge your every need is catered to. A short 1.5-hour flight across the vast sea you almost feel like you are flying into the abyss.
As you land on the island the AMAN family are there to greet you, personally by name and that level of service continues for our entire stay. No request is too great, everyone seems to know who you are, and kindness nestles at the heart of the Filipino culture.
We visited the nearby local island called Manamoc where many of the local people are from who work at Amanpulo. The hotel has established a hospitality program on the island to educate and teach the locals skills so they can in turn work at Amanpulo. For this, they are very grateful, for an opportunity to earn money for their families and learn skills beyond their daily rituals. It was a beautiful thing to experience their simple way of living – their appreciation of work and their constant state of happiness. We could all learn from these people.
Our casita is your quiet space to reflect, escape the sun, and go slow. As you know my family are not good at any of these things, so adventure we opted for. An afternoon was spent on the floating bamboo raft, swimming, eating, spotting turtles, and swimming with them. There are so many turtles, and they are big, small, beautiful, and graceful. I was lucky to get up close with a hundred-year-old female sea turtle as she ate sea grass and remained unphased by my presence.
Our boys swam in swarms of anchovies, chased turtles, and swam in the depths of the deep blue sea. This is blue like no other and is 30 degrees in and out of the water most days. They befriended Mac at the rock-climbing wall most days at 4pm and raced the airstrip in Go-karts. This was fun for the whole family and a must-do.
We went fishing with Ed and we were spoilt with our catch for fresh sashimi and sushi for lunch. The food is exceptional, and the service is everything you would expect from the AMAN group, but the Filipino people are who bring the magic to this island.
Keep an eye out for the Monitor lizards, you won’t miss them as they wander slowly across the path of this island. Some were bigger than our children, but not one bit phased by our presence or golf cart zooming by.
Spend time in the sea, and swim with the turtles, it will leave a mark on your heart just like our Amanpulo family has.
