‘Go dig,’ the businessman was told. And he found it.

It all started with a dream – literally. Rodolfo Pua bought this three-hectare resort he called Wonder Island in Calamba, Laguna with all the makings of a perfect getaway, save for one thing.

It had no warm, potable water. He and his family had to bring bottles and bottles of the life-giving mineral every time they went there. It had six swimming pools, but the water made them shiver whenever they got out of it.

Pua had already shelled out almost P5 million for the island, and was no fool to let it go down the drain by not enjoying the island to the hilt.

So he exhausted all means to find the water. Pua hired Italian and French priests, even a water diviner. When that failed, he got men to drill several feet below the ground, hoping that they strike the much-needed water. No dice.

The men wanted to give up, Pua didn’t. Months after continuous drilling, the dream came.

"The voice was an elderly woman’s. Her face was blurred and she was suspended in air. But her voice was clear: ‘Go dig there,’ she pointed. ‘And you’ll find it,’" Pua recalls. That same day, he did as he was told. He told the men to start digging on the spot the woman in his dream pointed out. Finally, after drilling 1,000 feet below the ground, there it was – gushing at more than 100 gallons per minute – warm, clear drinking water!

But first, Pua wanted to be sure it was indeed what he was looking for. He sent a sample of the water to his US-based brother for analysis. The good news came soon after: the water from the island had 17 minerals, 11 more than those found in ordinary mineral water.

This means one cannot only swim in the Wonder Island pool, one can also drink from it! The water is almost three times more potent than the one we usually drink.

And since Pua was pumping as much as three million liters of water a day, it was enough to supply all the pools – for children and adults – in his resort. Not only that. Since the island lies in the middle of Laguna de Bay, the water can even serve as cleansing agent to the historic lake.

Now, guests (the island can accommodate 170 persons) need not shiver after taking a long, refreshing swim in the pool, or trying out the open-air jacuzzi. They can sip fresh buko juice (this is coconut country, remember?) and munch various edibles while the wind gently moves the huge umbrellas (designed by Pua to move with the wind and withstand natural calamities) that shade them from the elements.

The umbrellas are not the only improvised things on the island. Even the ferry which takes guests from the makeshift pier Pua himself designed, is the product, not of some big-time boat manufacturer, but of the owner’s knack for making do.

"When the boat I bought in Parañaque had a hole in it, I decided to study boat making and craft the ferry myself," Pua discloses. He even put in piped-in music to relax guests while they take their meals in the ferry.

Noting how the seagulls were attracted to swift, continuous movements, he positioned the propeller in front of the ferry. True enough, seagulls made a neat formation around the propeller once the ferry started moving.

Not only did Pua save millions in purchasing a ready-made boat, he also created a visual delight for visitors, such as Dolphy, Jolina Magdangal, Zsa Zsa Padilla and the cast of the Metro Filmfest entry Home Along Da Riber.

Another "homemade" contraption is the open-air lift, which takes guests, especially the elderly, to their respective rooms without having to climb the stairs. The lift gives a panoramic view of the resort and the vast lake that surrounds it.

It also brings guests straight to a second floor chapel where one can meditate amid the swaying branches of a coconut tree and the stillness of Mother Nature embracing them.

"Nuns and priests used to go here. I opened the place to them, free of charge," states Pua, 59, who believes God gave him the island for a reason, just as Someone up there gave him a rare disease (sclero-edema) that saved him from getting the Big C a few years back.

"My mission is to clean the lake, and thereby improve the surrounding community," he explains. He adds, "Without the island, no one will take an interest in the lake."

Thus, he has brought in facilities for aqua sports, fishing, billiards, volleyball and others to the island, also a jogger’s delight where one can enjoy hours of brisk exercise by taking a grass-covered trail bordered with plants.

Lovers of the outdoors can pitch tents in the wide open spaces ideal for picnics, star-gazing and other leisure activities.

Now, who can blame Rodolfo Pua for ignoring the proposal of a Japanese investor who wanted to buy the island from him at many times its original price?

"A broker once came up to me with an offer to buy the island," relates Pua. "I told him I’ll sell if he can pay me the psychic income I get from the place."

You guessed it. The stunned broker never returned.