Ericka,

Wonderful write up on Amanpulo. I have been trying to get there for years. I was supposed to go in December 2001 just following 9/11. Ultimately, I decided not to drag my family there for fear of reprisals towards Americans and went to Amanjena in Morocco, instead.

At that time, I corresponded with the GM at Amanpulo and below is a copy of what he wrote about security.

[I]The Island - Amanpulo sits alone on the 200 acre private island of Pamalican. The only residents of the island are Amanpulo staff and guests. No other people are allowed access on to the island. Amanpulo has an excellent security team specially trained by a US Embassy-recommended firm here in Manila. Being an American myself, I met with and requested the US Embassy security attaché to review all of Amanpulo's security procedures. The firm he recommended is on-island periodically for continuing training exercises as well as keeping us abreast of all security issues affecting Manila. Our security equipment on the island includes a marine radar station to monitor all boat traffic up to 12 miles from Pamalican. In our nine years of operation, we have never experienced an incident where someone has tried to gain access to the island to harass or threaten our guests or staff. [/I]