Come Away to Balesin
By Rome Jorge 

Balesin Island is the anti-Boracay. No noisy  rabble hogging the beaches. No misplaced themed restaurants spoiling the local fauna. No noisy tricycles farting diesoline fumes. Balesin Island is nothing but a horizon of white sand, crystal waters and lush greenery at daytime, and a sky of glittering stars and fireflies at night.

In an age when karaokes disturb the most tranquil of rural villages and honkytonks infest the most popular of tourist havens, getting away from it all is now a luxury found few and far between. But to the east of Luzon's Sierra Madre and at the hem of Pacific Ocean, Balesin Island awaits those craving for a beach resort all to them selves.

Spanning 5 kilometers and encompassing 424 hectares, Balesin is but a 30-minute flight from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila. ChemTrad Aviation, along with other carriers, flies charter flights to the islands.

Nearby islands shield Balesin from the ocean's temper, allowing only the gentlest of waves to caress the island's powder-fine sands and who ever cares to wade in the island's expansive shallows. The Pacific graces Balesin with a cool and crisp breeze. The afternoon drafts bear with them the chirping of birds and the lapping of waves. The night wind makes air-conditioning superfluous.

The entire island is the property of one corporation. Aside from harvesting copra, they maintain tourist cottages and facilities, not to mention an airstrip and a golf course. No gaudy hodgepodge of competing commercial interests screaming for one's attention here. The well-tucked facilities and discreet service allow the island's natural attractions to come to fore.

Manicured lawns await one's bare feet. A narrow dirt road and its leafy canopy shade joggers and nature trippers exploring the island and its locals. But what its waiters, chefs, bartenders and masseuses offer; succulent lapu-lapu kilawin with tausi, chilled rum-cola and soothing shiatsu.

For all the quiet pleasures that it offers, what makes Balesin Island a pleasurable is what it lacks. Free from all that clutters beauty, Balesin is the beach experience pure and natural.