Lago de Oro Wakeboarding Experience

My friend Carlo and I have been planning to try wakeboarding at Lago de Oro in Calatagan, Batangas for a while now but it was just yesterday that the chips have finally fallen where they should. We left Dasmariñas at around 7AM after taking a healthy (okay maybe not so healthy, haha) breakfast at a fast food. There ordinarily aren't too many buses for Calatgan so we took the Nasugbu bus. From Robinson's Dasmariñas, the trip would pass by Tagaytay, and then through the perilous road to Nasugbu, and then Lian. I don't know if it's the gravity or the driver had too much coffee, but our descend from Tagaytay which is 2,100 feet above sea level toward Nasugbu was, well, very exciting. Carlo is from Batangas and he said that his usual homeward trips would generally be described by fast bus driving. Our bus driver had driven in the wrong lane one too may times, overtaken small and huge vehicles, and avoided an incoming bus and overtaken an automobile in split-second. And to add more style, he had classic "senti" songs playing in the background.

Snapshot from Google Maps

When we arrived at Lian town square around 9AM, we walked to the jeepney station just right around the public market for the final ride to Calatagan. This last ride took a solid 30 minutes.

When we finally got in the Lago de Oro, we could immediately see the pros flipping and gliding through the water from the entrance. Then I thought, "Holy shiz!" The day was mildly hot and the setting was generally okay. As we walked toward the reception, the resort's adequately sized pool was crystal clear and there were spacious parking areas. The resort is also set right in front of South China Sea. Carlo had said that there are only two wakeboarding sites in the Philippines and the other one's a government-run facility in Camarines Sur which is quite bigger compared to Lago. We didn't want to waste any time so we went ahead and inquired on the rates. The weekend "Walk-in" rates are a little higher but we decided to take the whole-day session. We were given resort baller IDs, session tickets, and head gears. We changed into our boardshorts right away and walked to the wakeboarding area. We put on our life vests the then game was on!

For beginners the first few tries are the toughest part. I for one had literally no idea what was going to happen - how strong the pull of the cables will be, how to maintain balance (when I can't even really ride a bike, haha), how to position my legs, and arms. So the introduction part to all these factors is kind of like the threshold; you keep trying until your brain develops familiarity. I'm not a pro to be discussing techniques let alone styles, but if you already have a good balance, and surprisingly I did (haha), I would say that wakeboarding becomes more of a strength sport. I was able to stand full on the board on first try while being pulled by the cable. The tricky part is, the cables in the beginners area are supposedly attached to sensors so the tension changes depending on the consistency of your pull. So relying on the cables for balance would not be a good idea. The general instruction was: do not pull on the cables, extend your arms, find your balance and then that's it, maintain that and don't move. I've seen people who get catapulted, and dragged through the waters. That was fun enough, haha! But if you get to experience them, well, there's pain definitely but still, it was fun! The idea really is to position your board such that it becomes parallel to your skating direction. If you position your feet in a way that you and your board are directly perpendicular to the force of the pull, the force of the water against the board is also at a maximum. So the end the result is the water will be pushing your feet back hard and the cable pulling your arms forward. Also since this requires familiarity, you cannot just stand on the board and wish for luck. You have to consciously know what you're doing; it's the only way to train your brain what to and what not to do. Carlo's been giving me reviews on my trials. He'd say, "You're putting too much of your weight on your lower back when you're taking a turn. Transfer it to your thighs", or "Move your arms sideways when the cable tension starts to disappear." These kinds of inputs are necessary because you don't actually know your shape and from when you're out there. So it's good to have a wakeboarding buddy around.

The sessions stop at 1PM for lunch break and resumes after an hour. We changed into our dry clothes and headed to the restaurant for lunch. We took one of those tables by the pool. There's a variety of foods available - there are Western and native entrées in the menu. We took our orders from the native section and picked sodas for drinks. The service was good albeit it took 25 minutes to serve chicken tinola and chicken pork adobo.

In the afternoon session, all I was trying to do was get myself to make the turn. Carlo said that in the pro area, the cable pull and speed don't change during turns, which would be much easier since you don't constantly need to adjust to varying forces. In the beginners area however, if you don't make a huge swerve angle , your tendency is to sink while waiting for the cable pull to resume. Needless to say, we were able to master the turn before the day ended, haha. It's a little rough trying to maintain balance and strength when you're already tired but it was a very productive day.

By the time we left the Lago, it was already a couple of minutes before 6PM and particularly dark. The guard in in the entrance said jeepneys would no longer be accessible past 5PM. A couple of locals however gave us a free tricycle ride to the nearby barrio hall where hired tricycles can take us back to Lian. The road back to Lian was really dark. When we finally got there, we bought snacks and waited for the 8PM bus bound for Manila - this is also the last bus trip to Manila. We got lucky again. The trip back home was really more snoring and less talking. It's been a really fun and and physically exhausting day.

The sport was quite addicting. Already, we're setting our next trip back to Lago. The beginners section alone gave me cuts and bruises not to mention sunburn. The body pains become more pronounced in the morning. But hey, I am still able to make this post, so it can't be that bad, right? Below is the rough estimate of our expenses.

Damariñas to Lian                                               P   220  (bus; 2 pax)
Lian to Lago                                                              50  (jeepney; 2 pax)
Lago de Oro Weekend Whole-day Session           3,000  (for 2)
Lunch (Lago de Oro restaurant)                             640  (shared)
Lago to Lian                                                            200  (tricycle - past 5PM; 2 pax)
Lian to Dasmariñas                                                  220  (bus; 2 pax)
Others (snacks and breakfast)                                250  (shared) 
Total                                                                  P 4,580  

This is the resort's official website: Lago de Oro Cable Ski Park & Resort
They have average room rates for overnight/day stays. They offer membership and other packages. They also accept major credit cards.