The Boracay Saga 2009: One Of The Bests That I Had

WHAT TO DO IN BORACAY?

All the planning, inquiries, bookings and payments for the air and accommodations to Boracay have been made. So the next step is to formulate the itinerary, although at the back of my mind I know I shouldn’t be doing one. However, I really wanted these Boracay virgins, so to speak, experience the best of what Boracay has to offer. Probably not the best but at least comparable to the best experiences that I have ever had during my previous vacations.

The Best Things In Life Are Free Activities:

You’ll never run out of things to do in Boracay Island. Aside from swimming on the beach one can also do a bit of strolling along White Beach especially from sun down to sun up.  A lot of sight-seeing, sunbathing, beach volleyball and Frisbee playing are also among the no-charge activities that you may do along the White Beach coast. 

Tight Budget Activities:

If you are traveling on a tight budget, I would highly suggest the following activities as these are usually done in groups. YES! Meaning, the rates vary because the entire cost of the activity is divided among the number of joiners, this means cost-sharing. Among the activities are as follows:

• the famed island hopping with snorkeling  (usually costs Php1800 for maximum of 8 persons: fee includes the boat rent for 6 hours and bangkero; does not include snorkel gear rental & entrance fees to several islets)
• paraw sailing (around Php1500 as well, best done at sunset)
• banana boat ride (usually priced at Php150-200 per person)

Affordable To Moderately Charged Activities:

There are also affordably charged activities that we can do at Boracay and among them are as follows:

• The much hyped skim boarding on White and Bolabog beaches is becoming one of the very common activity in Boracay
•  Boracay also has a very rich marine environment and life. Although it’s incomparable to those in Tubattaha Reef’s or in Coron, Busuanga’s, the people of Boracay knew that they had to take care of the marine sanctuaries in the area before it’s too late. To appreciate such, one may do the Reef Walking which is normally charged at Php1200 for 2 persons (includes the reef walking gears and underwater photos already).  Much to my chagrin, the sanctuaries come off little by little each and every time I have the chance to visit the island. But I’m not losing hope though. I know that the people in Boracay surely would know how they would be able to save their marine sanctuaries. I still have faith in them. You may also try to indulge yourself in spas, which is offered in most resorts along the White Beach. Usually charged at Php200-500 per person for 1 to 2 hours.

Super Splurge Activities:

If you consider yourself to be one of the avant garde’s of the world, you may also try different water sports or activities that the businesses around the island.

• They have for rent diving peripherals, speedboats, yachts, kayaks, wind surfing, kite boarding (they even have a school in the island for kite boarding), the glass bottom boat and the like
•  You can also do fly fish (Php600/person for 10-15 minutes). Para-sailing in Boracay is quite expensive. It costs around Php1500-2000/person and you’ll stay up in the air for about 20-30 minutes. When I did para-sailing last year, I didn’t believe it lasted for 30 minutes as what was promised to me by the boatman. And so I’m never gonna try to doing that again.
• If you’re fond of mountains there’s also hiking and mountain climbing activities in Boracay. One can rent an ATV (Php5000/person for the whole day rent including the gas), motorcycle (Php1000/person for the whole day including the gas) or the plain mountain bikes (Php500/person for the whole day including your effort to pedal) to be able to do these things.
• The newest activity introduced in Boracay Island just recently was the Zorb ball adventure. It’s located near Station 3, Barangay Yapak. I’m really not sure how much it costs because the last time I did this was sponsored by my company, lol! I love it! That’s what most of what people has to say after this type of adventure. You can do it over and over again, provided that your stomach is not full and you don’t get dizzy easily.

The Challenge, The Challengers and The Verdict

So many activities, little time and budget! Whew! That’s the challenge for this trip. And of course, with so little time I have to make the most of what we have and what Boracay has to offer. The very first activity that we have done as a group, well of course aside from the pancit cooking mentioned earlier here in the posts, was the Island Hopping Adventure. This was the hardest to arrange since I have to haggle with the boatmen to get the most reasonable price and value for money trip. I know that these Boracay virgins would love this activity. It would be their first time to explore marine sanctuaries di ba? The island hopping adventure somehow integrated the snorkeling part as well.  The boatman charged me Php1800 for the entire island hop trip for 7 persons. We rented snorkel gears for Php200/head. We saw several things during this trip and it was compiled in the cool video below.

The island hopping started off at Bolabog Beach where Kuya Richie left us. We were then met by our boatman there who was ready with our life vests to be used for our snorkeling activity. He then asked us if we wanted to rent snorkel gears. Too bad I wasn’t able to bring mine because I didn’t had extra space in my bag for it. I had to shell out an extra Php200 for that. Shucks! But at any rate, it was worth the pay. The islets that we have passed by or visited during this island hopping trip were the Laurel Island, Monkey Head Island and the Crystal Cove Island (which we stayed for a while and had some pictures taken).  We also explored a mini-cave at the Crystal Cove Island. It was refreshing there, a small roof under the heat of the sun which provided a cool breeze somehow. We also had buko juice along the way. It cost us Php100 for 3 buko heads. The vendor was so nice he gave us one free. I wasn’t able to finish my buko meat and so I shared it with the boatman. He also fed some of the buko meat to the fishes that’s why we were surrounded by Nemo and his clan along the way.

I liked the raining effect during our island hopping trip because it was the first time I experienced rain at sea. The rain just passed by luckily, lasted for about 10-15 minutes or so while we were snorkeling and found Patrick the starfish.

The reason why it was the best that I had been because it’s my first time to have an underwater camera. Since I was blessed to have this wonderful piece of equipment that not most of us have, I felt that I have a need to share to you what is seen underwater. Most of us are afraid to explore such magnificent beauty, of course, it’s sometimes scary to traverse into something unknown. But then again, I believe that we’re running out of time in exploring these magnificent sanctuaries, they’re coming off little by little because of wide-span development. Well, whenever you have the chance of marine exploration, go grab it.

To top off our water activities for the day, aside from the island hopping and snorkeling, we treated ourselves to a banana boat riding. The group decided to try it and they did enjoyed! I didn’t. I seated myself at the very end of the banana boat and whenever we fall, I would hit the waters the hardest. That’s why I had a hard time to go back to the banana boat just to fall off the second time. hehehehe! The boatman wasn’t able to capture our banana boat ride at the best that he can. I’m not sure why though I gave him lessons/short instructions on how to operate that quaint gadget. Oh well, I was able to salvage some of the scenes though, so enjoy at the best that you can as well.

After the banana boat ride, it’s time to explore the famous White Beach in the island. We were brought back and dropped off at the Bolabog Beach again and we walked our way towards Station 3 of the White Beach. Trudging along the main road, it was a refreshing site to see. Businesses grew from the last time I was there. It’s good to know that there’s development in the area, competition is good. It meant that it’s a paradise where one can have a truly remarkable experience without sacrificing a big chunk of your budget like what we had in the previous years of our vacation in Boracay. It also meant that ones comfort is not compromised and one can truly have a great vacation of all time.

We spent most of our time at White Beach in Station 3. My friends made a Sandman out of Hanzel. We also had a couple of beers and some snacks in one of the beachfront restaurants. I was surprised to see the very first Starbucks cafe at Mito’s Inn! Imagine, Jonah’s would have a competition this time! LOL! We also saw the paraws getting ready for the sunset trip. It was also our opportunity to witness the glorious sunset of Boracay. It was picturesque and all. I’m always awed by the beauty of sunsets but none is comparable to that of Boracay’s, leaving you always heartbroken once the sun has set itself to rest and gets ready for its next time to shine. Then afterwards, we headed off to our staple residence by just trudging along Stations 2 and 1. My friends were already complaining that their bladders are full. But since we didn’t have any access to comfort rooms, I just told them that their comfort room is just to their left side, just try to locate the best spot. LOL! We reached home and our boys set off to preparing our dinner. We had a hearty meal of sinigang na baboy and plenty of rice! Aboy made one of the best sinigangs that I ever had. He always does, that’s why I always request for him to prepare one whenever we’re together. I even had a second round after our inuman session. After our dinner, the boys set off to work again. They prepared inihaw of all sorts this time, for our inuman session. Because again, it’s still Marla’s birthday and we had to celebrate a once in a lifetime opportunity, Boracay pa at that! There was inihaw na liempo, inihaw na pusit, and something that I don’t know what could that be. We had loads of beer courtesy of Dencio which by the way costs around Php40 per bottle, that’s for Red Horse I think. For San Miguel Light I believe it’s roughly Php35 per bottle. Pero hindi ako nakatulog sa Red Horse na yan! I stayed up all night and everybody was fast asleep in their comfortable beds. I just stayed at the terrace, just amazed at the eerie silence of the place. Something that I never had in Manila. It was pitch dark outside. I guess everyone is asleep except me. And I thought Boracay was one of the places where people don’t sleep.

All in all, it was one of the best days that I have ever had — day 2 of our Boracay survivors adventure!