Wakeboarding at Republic Wakepark
I’ve lived in my beautiful island country, the Philippines, my whole life but I’m still amazed how many things I haven’t done yet in the water. I’ve gone diving with millions of sardines, snorkelled around a shipwreck, swimming with sea turtles, canyoneering, cliff jumping, and so on… but I’ve never gone wakeboarding! One reason, I guess, is because I didn’t have any close friends who were into it and it just never crossed my mind to try.
Thankfully, one of my good friends Alex (whom you may recognize from my Indochina photos) recently got into it and invited me for a few hours of trying it out! Alex is all over the country because she works sales in a multinational, but I was lucky enough to catch her for a fun day out in the water at Republic Wakepark in Nuvali, Calamba, Laguna.
Republic has been around since 2012 and they’re said to be one of the most advanced wakeparks in the Philippines.
Getting there is easy thanks to SLEX. If you’re driving, you can exit at Eton City/Greenfield Exit, pass Sta.Rosa -Tagaytay Road (Tagaytay Bound) and then turn left to Nuvali Blvd. It’s going to be the 2nd exit at the roundabout. If you’re commuting, ride a bus to Balibago, Sta.Rosa at either GMA-Kamuning or Buendia LRT, go down at the Coca-Cola Plant near the Sta. Rosa Exit, ride a bus to Solenad 2 and use the Nuvali Shuttle from the Robinson’s Supermarket. The shuttles leave every hour starting 7am!
Be sure to not eat too soon before wakeboarding, use sunblock, wear rash guards (especially if you burn easily), slippers, towel and toiletries for showering. If you’re going to use the beginner pool (like me), be prepared to have a loooong shower (more on this later). You have to be atleast 7 years old and have an adult sign a waiver if you’re under 18. Everyone who comes there for the first time has to sign their waivers and register.
The prices are pretty affordable with you expecting to spend Php250 per hour with free wakeboard rental in the beginner’s section. Although, I have been told that the minimum is actually two hours. Either way, I do recommend getting longer than an hou for your first day as you’ll soon realize that’s it’s not enough!
Don’t be intimidated by all the cool kids that are in the big kids pool with the fast reels and the fancy boards. They all started looking stupid too. The sooner you get over it is the closer you get to riding with them! Thankfully, they have a beginner area where you can fail in peace with similar newbies who were as brave as you to try something new. You’ll find a lot of people who you can be endeared to by the end of your time together and though I never really got anyone’s names, it was a super encouraging environment where we would celebrate little victories — like making it to the other end of the pool for the first (or only) time!
One thing that I was a little disappointed by was the lack of visual design that made the experience easier for beginners. There were no signs to where the beginner’s area or toilet would be. In the beginner’s area, there aren’t any posters or signs of what to do or not to do and no place to store bags when one would take their turn.I was quite lucky to be with a friend who had been there before or I would have been a bit lost!
You’ll spend a lot of time initially falling flat on your face in the water and trying to swim to the nearest ladder while pushing your heavy board, you also have to wait in line for your turn as other guests will be taught by the instructors one by one as well. It’s also interesting to note that the water is green because of the algae and filled with many tadpoles during the rainy season that can enter your mouth mid-scream while falling. I’d hate to say that wasn’t speaking from experience but I really can’t be sure given the amount of water I swallowed in my first hour.
The 5 key things they told me were: keep your knees to your chest, butt perpendicular to the board, don’t pull on the line and when in doubt lean forward. It took about 2 hours before I was able to properly stand on the board! Unfortunately, it’s also because I did a heavy leg day the day before so my legs weren’t very stable (don’t do this, kids). The instructors were quite supportive and occassionally maxed out the speed of the reel when they feel like we were ready for it. Most of the time, I was not. I experienced several moments wherein I physically sank from the weight of disappointment from them when I failed their trials. It was fun though!
I’m not a big fan of their shower facilities. It was dark, the water was weak, and the heater was broken. I would definitely recommend taking a shower after though. I hope they improve this! They have rooms you can rent if you want to stay overnight and make use of their day passes at Php1750. I think it would be a great idea to spend an entire weekend just trying things out as it’s easier to correct errors when you do things repeatedly with less time in between. However, I’ve heard that there isn’t many food options at night on ground. It’s also good to note that you’re not allowed to bring outside food during the day!
While I didn’t take as many photos of myself in action, I promise to do so in the future when I’m good enough to go to the big course. Meanwhile, I don’t think my legs will be okay for a while so I’ll be doing more upperbody workouts this week like archery or parkour. Until the next wakeboarding adventure!
