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Oops! – they’ve done it again! by Ronnie Hoyle SOMETHING like 400 rooms have been available each day in past years at the top vacation spot in the Visayas, which is Alona Beach on Panglao Island, and now those seeking a place of escape from their workaday life have a much bigger choice of accommodation for the coming season. Not only have existing establishments added to, and upgraded, their available rooms during the months leading up to the start of the new season, there are now more resorts on and around the 900-meter beach. One of them is already renowned for its’ quality restaurant with its’ international cuisine and the variety of drinks they supply, but now Oops Bar! has done it again by opening up their own ‘special interest’ resort with their own cottages. Focusing on the backpacker end of the market on Alona Beach, which seems to have gradually faded away as other resorts have aimed to improve the quality of their accommodation by turning to concrete and block construction, Oops Bar! has reached back to the roots of the beach - which was initially discovered by backpackers and scuba divers - and come up with eight native-style beachside cottages. Immediately behind the popular south facing bar itself, the resort sits in its’ own walled and secure garden-style compound only a few strides from the beach and the coral-white sand which has brought thousands of visitors – both locals and ‘foreigners’ - to the expanding little village since the beach was discovered some 25 years ago when the first similar-style cottages appeared. Sitting almost in the middle of the beach and close to all dive shops and other beach facilities, Oops Bar Cottages all have their own elevated verandas and sit under a canopy of coconut trees. The new double-bed size cottages and duplexes have their own bathroom and toilet, with simple native-style furnishings, and all are equipped with fans. Although there are no individual facilities for cooking by customers, staying at Oops Bar Cottages will include a special American or Filipino breakfast with the accommodation, while tea and coffee-making facilities are available in all cottages. Operated by three partners from England, Switzerland and the Philippines, Oops Bar! was begun some five years ago when the trio took over the defunct Planet Divers Bar and remodelled it to its’ present form, upgrading the food facilities to include some 80 dishes from around Europe and the Far East and a drinks menu which exceeds most other bars on the beach. With live guitar music on Fridays and a disco on Saturday nights in the bar, the cottages have been designed so that the bar music never reaches the cottages so clients are ensured of a peaceful nights’ sleep, ready for their early morning plunge to the coral reef just 150 meters from their doorstep and the array of colourful fish waiting there…sorry, customers are discouraged from bringing back samples for a barbequed breakfast! With prices beginning at under P1,000 per night for single occupancy, the three who call themselves the party people have added an even bigger sparkle to day and nightlife on Alona Beach and can truly say: “Oops! We’ve done it again!”
Oops Bar! Alona Beach, Panglao Island, Bohol. Cell phone: 0920-461-7895
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