Abandoned Puerto Azul

In its heyday, the Puerto Azul Golf and Country Club in Ternate, Philippines, was a lush pleasure destination where people from around the world came to enjoy its tropical amenities, but today large portions of the resort have fallen into disrepair, closed off and abandoned to the jungle to become the lost ruins of tomorrow.

During the 1980s, when the resort was new, it was called "The Golf Capital of the World," and "Asia's Paradise Resort", but today it looks more like a nightmare resort. When it was at full working capacity, the massive facility had more than 300 hundred rooms spread out in little clusters that essentially formed their own village areas. The jewel of Puerto Azul, however, was the challenging and picturesque golf course, which had been designed by a legend in the sport, Gary Player. For a time it was surrounded by an air of exclusivity and opulence that was nearly unrivaled.

Unfortunately, the changing tastes and trends of the rich and vacationing began to change as other resorts and golfing options opened up in the area, drawing away the customer base and making Puerto Azul seem more and more dated. The resort also ran into legal troubles, and eventually portions of the organization had to be shuttered. Although both the property's owners and local government continually talked about revitalizing the sprawling property, nothing ever materialized. While everyone dithered, nature and time took their toll on the abandoned portions of the resort.

Today Puerto Azul continues to operate, but large portions of it are abandoned and off limits to visitors. Rumors of an effort to bring the resort back to life still surface, but the many of the buildings have been irrevocably retaken by the tropical surrounds. Parts of the old resort now look like a modern version of some crumbling Indonesian temple; given enough time and neglect, they may come to mirror those stunningly overgrown ruins even more closely.