The Exotic blog is back!

                

The blog is back! Apologies for the absence since Typhoon Yolanda struck. Here’s a catch up on what’s been happening at Exotic over the last couple of months.

Aid arriving

Obviously the typhoon was a major incident for everyone on Malapascua and we thank everyone for all the goodwill messages we received. The damage sustained to the resort was relatively minor in comparison to elsewhere on the island and with some people losing their homes we considered ourselves very lucky.

Taken by Exotic guest João Paulo Krajewski last week

However, there was still plenty to do to get the resort back in shape and ensure the continued comfort of our guests and this work was started by our dedicated staff immediately. We were the only place anywhere on the island with electricity for some weeks which certainly helped! Fallen trees were cleared, roofs and boats repaired. In fact, within a couple of days we were the first dive operation on the island to be fully operational again which was testament to all the staff here and their efforts.

Fortunately, the Thresher Sharks Malapascua is famous for have been in high numbers recently and we’re all thankful for that!

Happy members of Red Cross 

As mentioned earlier, not all the islands residents were as fortunate as us here at Exotic so we were proud to host several aid agencies including The Red Cross and assist them in transporting food and medical supplies to the island as well as making sure all those in need received them. A special thanks must go to the ‘Peace Riders MC and Outsider MC’, two groups of bikers from Cebu who raised substantial funds through their network and thankfully decided to donate it to the island in the way of food and building materials which were distributed to the islands residents. 

Thanks must go to everyone for all their support for the island.

Another successful Instructor Examination 

So what else has happened at Exotic in the last couple of months… loads and loads! Just three weeks after the typhoon we held a highly successful Instructor Development Course and hosted the subsequent Instructor Examination. Congratulations to Jasper who heads for a year in Australia as a newly qualified instructor! Within the next few days we’ll be welcoming three new instructor candidates in eager anticipation of this months IDC which begins on 14^th January.

Snorkel test

At Exotic we take much pride in the quality of the dive professionals we produce before sending them out into the big wide world. Our Divemaster program is top notch and in the coming weeks we’ll be welcoming several new additions to the team of interns we have here on our programme. So a big hello to Jessica who arrived yesterday as the first of 2014’s intake! Hello and go and clean my equipment… only joking! We’re very kind to our Divemasters here! At the beginning of December we held a graduation party for some of our newly qualified DM’s which featured the famous snorkel test. So congratulations to Ted, Ervin, Jasper, Jay and last but by no means least Lars who entertained everyone on the night!

The three musketeers Jay, Jasper and Lars

Towards the end of December the much anticipated annual Christmas party took place at Exotic. Many of the staff had been practicing for the interdepartmental talent contest for days in preparation and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of all the acts on show. Congratulations must go to the restaurant service staff led by the eccentric Junnell for scooping first prize with a comedy dance routine to leave everyone in stitches of laughter. I dropped my beer for laughing and that doesn’t often happen let me tell you! In fact, the restaurant as a whole claimed the top two places after the chefs delivered a superb act to claim second place. All in all a great night much enjoyed by both staff and guests alike.

Santa comes to Malapascua

A couple of days later Santa Claus made a visit to Malapascua and set up camp at Exotic. Actually, it was one of our guests, and newly qualified Advanced Open Water diver, JR Molinar who strapped on a Santa outfit for half the day in thirty degrees of heat! Nice work JR! Thanks to Toys R Us and all the individual donors who helped make the day possible. It was a total success and was great to see so many smiles on the faces of the kids which was the intention.

New Year saw Joshua, our head chef, lead efforts as the restaurant hosted a first rate buffet to see in 2014. We are looking forward to a great year and are hoping to see you soon!