Behind the ruins of this island resort is a glamorous past. Fortune island resort was an exclusive resort for the rich during the 90’s. It was too exclusive I could not even find photos of its original Grecian structures on the internet. What we can only find now are the same ruins we saw during our overnight trip there.
Until now, there are various stories as to why this extravagant resort closed down. There was a typhoon that completely ruined it. But prior the typhoon, there has been rumors and controversies about the legal ownership of this resort which involved big names and politicians in the Philippines.
Aside from the big chunk of land, it is no surprise that influential people will fight over this property. Surrounding the island is a marine reserve, a Spanish shipwreck from the 1600’s when the Dutch fought against the Spanish, and probably other hidden treasures.
Upon arrival on the island, you cannot avoid but notice the ruins of the Greek pillars on top of the hill.
The dilapidated structures are scattered throughout the 27-hectare land. Here you can see an area that could have been a kitchen for one of their villas. This is where we took a bath. The island has no fresh water source and we had to use a little amount of the fresh water that we brought.
There is also a swimming pool now filled with muddy water. Of course, we didn’t swim in here. 😄
And here’s a helipad now just covered in grass. Having that on an island here is a sign that only the extremely rich people in the Philippines can land on this resort.
We found an unexpected remains. They look like bones and there's a skull. We found out that these bones belong to a woman! Our tour guide said that the woman remains unknown until today and they never discovered the cause of her death. There were stories that her ghost roam this island. Creepy!
To forget about this ghost story, knowing that we will stay here overnight, we continued exploring the island. It was a long walk to the Greek-inspired ruins. It helped that there were stairs going to the top of the hill where the pillars and Greek statues stand.
This is the most common picture of Fortune island you will see in advertisements.
There is also a good cliff diving spot from here where I tried my first ever cliff jump!
Our tents were set up on the other side of the hill near the old kitchen. It was too hot I slept outside the tent for a time.
And I woke up and saw this snake trail! I must be a cat and have already lost one of my 9 lives! 😹
We didn’t swim in the morning as the waves were too rough. And most of the time, the waves are really strong. The sand isn’t fine and it is filled with crushed corals which might injure you if the waves are too strong.
But it would be nice to come back here for freediving. The shores aren’t so good for swimming but a lot of freedivers say that getting a boat a few meters away from the island would be good spot for the underwater. And a chance to see those shipwrecks!
Travel tip:
The island can be easily reached from Manila by land and by boat. The land trip will take you about 4 hours to reach Batangas and you will have to ride a boat for about an hour.
We went there conveniently through a travel group we found in Facebook. This is cheaper than doing a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) trip because you share the cost of the boat fare with other travelers. Otherwise, you would need to charter a boat which will take a bulk of your travel budget.
Our total overnight budget (inclusive of food, transportation and fees) was PHP 2000 (approximately USD 40) per person.
