freethinker

June 26-28 2009

Well obviously, its roughly a month since we got back from BORA…and honestly, I just can’t get over it..not now..not ever…I’m missing it badly..It feels like I left my heart to that place that I need to go back the soonest so I can be complete again..ahhaha..sounds corny but it’s for real..it’s 101% TRUE..I fell in love with the island BIGTIME!!..That was the finest vacation I ever had..

Day 1: We left Manila at 11:30 in the morning. Actually our original flight is at 6:30 AM but unfortunately early flights that day were cancelled due to the recent overshooting incident of a ZestAir plane on the Caticlan Airport’s runway. But, as the super determined that we were, we managed to rebook our flight that very same day.. I just could not imagine myself rescheduling the long-awaited trip with my MAN (my man?...cheeessyyy!!!).

At 10:50AM, we heard the boarding call of our flight..we immediately made our way towards the shuttle bus that would take us to the aircraft. At 12:00 noon, during the trip, flight attendants hosted “bring me” game or rather “show me” game with inexpensive prizes at stake which, in one way or another, made the flight more entertaining We smoothly reached Caticlan Airpot half the hour pass 12noon. It wasn’t that hard finding our way in Caticlan-Boracay as we only had to go with the flow of the crowd and asked around.. I kept in mind to not act like a complete ignorant tourist lest some locals would take advantage of us. Due to so much excitement to get into the island at once, we neglected the fact that we were already starving. In fact we neither had our breakfast that day due to the last minute preparations. So we went straight to the ticket booth, just few steps from the Caticlan Airport, and paid the necessary fees (environmental fee, terminal fee for jetty port, trike fare). Next we rode the trike and off we went to Caticlan jetty port.

By 1pm..we arrived at Cagban port. Again we boarded a trike and told the driver to drop us at Island Nook which is located near Budget Mart. We paid for Php20 each only.

When we reached the place..the caretakers immediately handed to us the key to our room. Upon seeing the “boutique hotel”, I felt like backing off. Not that I awfully detest the whole place. It’s just that we were just not-so-warmly welcomed by the caretakers who happened to be very busy with the laundry shop situated on the ground floor of the “boutique hotel”. We were escorted to our room by one of those caretakers and we were delighted to see the ambience inside our room. We were really overwhelmed that the owner (i dunno if 'twas Francis or Trondz) instructed the caretakers to give us the premier room with 2 double beds which we paid same rate as that of the standard room which we booked in advance .

After a short rest and a quick nap..we took a shower and decided to stroll along the beach...And the beach?... oohhh so perfect!!!...love the sand, the sky, the sea…the beach…I love the BEACH!!!.. coudn’t wait to get a splash… I shouldn’t have sauntered till station 3 have I not been halted by Dindo from swimming.

Island Nook is in Station 2 and a 5minute walk to the white beach. So we paced towards station3..We took photos of beachfront resorts as we passed by. While walking, we stumbled upon Andok's and that was the time we felt our belly’s craving for something to eat...

After eating, we went on with our walking and reached station 3...we eyed some discounted souvenir items and decided to shop a few… Most souvenirs can be bought at the sidewalks along Station 3 and at the stores in DMall. Very popular and cheap things and stuffs to buy are bracelets, ref magnets, key chains, and of course T-Shirts.. After shopping, we traversed our way back to Station1... I told Dindo that I couldn’t wait to feel the drenched fine sands and little waves play with my feet..so I asked him if we could walk by the shore..and we did!...‘twas like..”i am back to my childhood days!!! ..yippeee!!!”..got no problems..just enjoying life!!!...

We also took pictures of Paraws (boats) docking at the shore. There were lots of them since the sun is about to set, and it’s actually the best time for sailing…you’ll get to have a stunning view of the sunset.. While walking, a middle-aged man approached us and offered us 600php for fun tour of island hopping. Quite hesitant, we just got his number and told him that we’ll just give a ring once we have decided… we thought he was overpricing but of all the Komisyoners (term in Bora for those offering island activities since they do get commissions on what they do) who approached us, his was the most reasonable .

Just before dusk, we reached the famous Willy’s Rock in Station 1. It was low tide that time so we were able to climb Willy’s Rock without having our shorts get soaked into the seawater. We stayed there til 6:30 PM..We went back to our hotel to change into our swimming outfits. We intended for a night swimming but when we came back to the beach we were disappointed to see a dark and quite deserted seawater…I mean unquestionably Boracay offers one hell of a real Nightlife with the best night spots for drinks, dancing, karaoke and other entertainment, each with its own ambiance.. but it’s just that the lights of those beachfront bars were dim that we could hardly make out our way into the seawaters..

The many bars especially those along Boracay Beach, are more than the heat of the Boracay Nightlife. Most Boracay Bars and Restaurants are open not only at night, but in the morning and all day!... It's open plan, and facing the beach - perfect for dancing in the sand on those full-moon nights. Real fun begins after midnight. Dance on the beach. Dance on the table. Anything goes!..The bars attract a friendly crowd of tourists, expats and locals, and the music varies, with a variety of events taking place . but bar hopping just seemed too rowdy for the two of us..I mean we too do love to have a taste of the famed night life in Boracay with the loud music, all night dancing and drinking-- that is, if we’re with group of friends…But since it’s just the two of us we rather stayed away from the maddening crowd and noise of the bars..

Anxious of swimming in the dark..we just decided to take a stroll in the beach by the moonlight.. and did some stargazing…we mooned over a sea of stars, watched the parade of white clouds, and basked in moonlight, we kept our eyes wide open but haven’t seen a falling star…maybe we’re just too busy browsing our pics together that we missed the falling stars… ‘Twas indeed a romantic setting ( AAWW!!). After an hour, since we could hardly see passersby on that spot, we decided to just walk through D’Mall in time for dinner..At the backside of Andoks, we spotted the not-so-most talked-about SMOKES..I ordered BEEF SALPICAO and Dindo unsurprisingly ordered SISIG for himself, as always. We could attest that dishes served in SMOKE were must-tries…When we got back to the hotel, I contacted Manong Komisyoner whom we met along the shore for the island hopping--- our 2^nd day’s major activity.. So for the first day, we spent it just lounging around..no swimming yet and and no water activities…

Day 2:

At 5:30 AM, we were awaken by the noise of my cp’s alarm.. I set the alarm so we could get to watch a pleasant sunrise by the beach but I was surprised to see the message on my phone which came from CebuPac..they informed us that our flight going back to Manila is cancelled.. I hastily dialed the Airline’s hotline hoping we could still get a flight the day after.. but I’ve already wasted 20 minutes worth of phone call and to no avail I didn’t get to talk to any of the representatives.. I impulsively dragged Dindo from bed so we could go to the nearest cebu pac office…unfortunately we realized they have no ticketing office in the island. We still had to go to Caticlan for our flight booking but we thought it would just be a waste of time since it would take us half an hour to get there..and we knew that nearly everyone of the airline’s patrons were making their ways too to rebook their flights that time…it’s a race of time indeed!!..cebu pac’s hotlines were all busy but we didn’t give up..We even consumed Dindo’s load plan..We were almost 15 minutes hanged up due to queuing when I finally heard someone from the other line…the representative we talked to was very cautious that she had to remind us some things over and over that took us almost 12minutes of chatting and yet we were not able to confirm our flight… due to so many blah blahs that we ran out of load… conversely, we were pleased that the rep called us back to confirm our flight. Whew…that was a whole lotta waste of cellphone load..!! Anyways, we were still fortunate that we got the flight schedule that we wanted… After settling things, we rushed to the shore to have an early morning dip…

When we started to feel the warmth brought by the sunrays, I asked Dindo to bury my body in the sand…And to be fair, I did the same to him after…See our pics below…Dindo was completely clueless with regards to my Obra as he was sleeping the whole time I was covering him with sand…hahahha!!!

After almost 2 hrs of fooling around…we rushed back to the hotel to freshen up since Manong Komisyoner will pick us at around 9:30 AM…So at around 10:00AM everyone was set for the island hopping. First stop is the snorkeling site near Crocodile Island. There we have seen, in the flesh, the buko vendor who sells his goods over the sea..

We did snorkeling for about 30 minutes and I pretty much had fun…it was my first time actually. I just got nutty when Dindo didn’t want to put on his life vest. I know he can swim but still it’s not an assurance that he won’t get drown. So the whole time we were snorkeling, I just couldn’t help but to grasp him with my one hand even if I wasn’t sure if I could have save him if something happened…

After a few minutes, our guide informed us that we are leaving for the Crystal Cove where we have to pay 200php for the entrance fee. At first, the island didn’t seem appealing so I was hesitant to get inside…besides 200php is relatively pricey. But just staying in the boat too would be mind-numbing so we decided to get into the island. As we stride inside.. some sort of Japanese structural designs caught my interest…alongside of which is the splendid view of the tempting sea…

I’ll let pics do the talking this time………

There were two caves in the island and both were superb spot for in-house swimming. The water within was so cold. I wasn’t able to get inside the 2^nd Cave because I’m afraid I might get slipped. After almost 2hrs of lounging around, the guide told us that we’ll be having our lunch buffet on the other side of Boracay Island and so as expected, we hurriedly headed our way back to the boat…

During lunch, I loaded my plate with every dish servedin the buffet table. Actually everything that was served, well if not all, were my favorites…chicken bbq, pork bbq, grilled fish (I forgot the name), chopseuy, shrimp etc…and the dessert…overflowing pineapple chunks, bananas…..yumyum!!!..real pinoy foods!!

I was so full..perfectly full..………I didn’t know I could eat that much..

After the sumptuous lunch and a short rest, we again boarded the pump boat and headed towards Puca Beach..we passed by Bulabog Beach where extreme water activities are held.. jetski, parasail, banana boat etc…Few minutes after, we reached the Puca Beach.. Blissfully deserted, Puka Beach boasts of fine white sand and millions of puka shells. It is where they shoot the movie When Love Begins---starred by Anne Curtis and Aga Muhlach.

Since the heat of the sun is very much inconvenient..I didn’t bother to collect some shells anymore..I stayed on its crystal clear waters instead..Boracay made me realize that salty water is not always a dilemma..especially for me with a frequently rebonded hair…not with Boracay..everything about Bora are worth the sunburns and dry hairs…

After Puca beach, we did snorkeling again on the façade of Manny Pacquiao’s under-construction-Mansion. The current on that part is quite sturdy so I didn’t let go of the rope tied to the boat..

For a moment, we savored the thrill of floating in a more or less 15-feet depth

of water as culmination for our island hopping…

When we got back to the white beach, my officemate Ann, who just arrived in Boracay that day, instigated a Banana Boat ride and she forced us to join them..She’s with a friend of hers actually. Tired and a bit helpless, we just gave in.

The 10-min ride was a whollatta fun but I was annoyed to see our pics right after because kuya photographer didn’t know how to zoom in our cam..that’s really sad…

After the ride, we hurriedly traversed the alley to the main road…rode the trike and headed back to our hotel.. We promised Ann that we’ll visit them in their hotel that night but things just didn’t turned out as planned…we were in deep slumber until nearly 9PM… We quickly made our way to D’Mall to fill in our craving stomachs..After eating…we looked for a net café so we could print our itinerary for the flight back to Mla…Still exhausted from a hard day of activity, we marched back towards our hotel and spent the remaining hours of the night dozing off..

Day 3:

At 0600 AM, we were already out in the beach enjoying the morning sea breeze… while walking, a new assumed Komisyoner approached us…and yeah we were right actually..he is a Komisyoner with a laminated brochure in hand.. he offered us the helmet diving for 700..we thought it was too pricey that we declined his offer… Our last day shouldn’t be wasted without another adventure so when another Komisyoner came up to us…offering same activity but the difference is..he is 100 bucks cheaper than the first…we tried to haggle it for as low as 1300 including underwater pics but we didn’t succeed…have we known the diving shop’s location…we could have made a better deal..kuya Komisyoner was persistent to persuade us so he offered it for 500php.. Dindo and I knew that its their way of making a living so we just gave in…kuya Komisyoner was just fortunate to meet us that day because we were also encouraged to try the ATV…we didn’t have much time negotiating with him anymore because we were running out of time.. we are to leave the island that day…huhhhuuhu..so we just took pleasure of our remaining hours in the island..

Since it was still 7:30 in the morning..we decided to give ATV a try first …Before hitting the road, we were given a short briefing for safety precautions. Clad with safety gears.. one will have to wear a helmet, elbow-arm and knee-shin guards, all of which they will provide...excitement and apprehension electrified me…It’s a good thing, I easily got the hang of it after a short drive test..While Dindo seemed to be out of control of the ATV given to him.. but after a few rounds in the practice ground, he finally was able to muster it..We did love the action very much..it felt soooooo cool…we just wished one hour will not last...see pics below..

The path to the main road was smooth at first..in fact it came to a point where we had to race with the other trikes so as not to break our queue.. We had so much fun for that experience..but as we got near the place, the terrain became too rough which made me panic..Nonetheless, I was able to handle it well… .In less than 30 mins..we reached the Mt.Luho Viewpoint…It was such a relief that our guide for the ATV knew how to operate the zoom-in of our camera..the pictures looked so astig!!!..

To get inside the Mt. Luho View deck..we had to pay an entrance fee of 20php each..So everything in Boracay is to be paid…Nevertheless, 20php was all worth it when we got inside…The stimulating part is, we have to trek a little to get into the apex of the mountain. The view was undeniably fabulous…

There is a 360 degree lookout at Mt Luho which is absolutely breathtaking, especially after an adventurous and exhausting ATV ride.. You’d get a glimpse of the whole Boracay Island… We even spotted the luxurious Fairways and Bluewater Boracay Golf Club… I’ve learned from Kuya Guide that the neighboring Island that we have sighted is already a part of Romblon. Amazing that is!! It’s a splendid view.. animals were just a bonus attraction. Boracay is made up of three little communities: Yapak in the north, Balabag in the middle, and Manoc-manoc in the south. Hilly elevations up to 100 meters above sea level characterize Yapak and Manoc-manoc. Intertwining trails link the small villages together but may sometimes lead to lush tropical jungles... Boracay is every inch a paradise…Below were the pics taken at the summit…

The way down from Mt. Luho was a bit challenging.. Ascending trail is a lot easier for me than the downhill drive… I have to grip the brakes from time to time.. Speed limits are to be reduced..Going back to the ATV shop made me feel cheerless..I didn’t want the activity to stop… People can go around the island on foot, on a bike but this mode have got to be the most exciting.. I loved the exhilarating feeling I got from driving that ATV! I’m definitely coming back to BORA to give that ATV a go again… They’re very easy to drive.. you not need to be expert on driving. What’s important is to know when to break.

On our way back, we dropped by at Fairways and Bluewater Boracay Resort to have a sight of the Butterfly farm..but then again…shit just happens sometimes…it was still closed when we got there…so we just pleased ourselves by taking a peek of the farm…

After the thrilling ride…we made our way back to the white beach.. Aboard the trike, we’ve decided to withdraw our deal with kuya komisyoner for the helmet diving because by the looks of it we we’re just brought in a substandard atv shop which is very much contradictory with his sales talk…along the highway, we have seen far better ATV’s than those once we had… nonetheless, we did enjoy much the activity...We just didn’t want to put our lives at risk for the helmet diving that’s why we talked to him in a polite manner..it’s a good thing, he believed our palusot…so getting off from the trike, we swiftly went to the beach to hunt for a better Komisyoner..Of course, we didn’t made it obvious that we’re very much interested with the activity.. we’re not done yet with Boracay…not until we try the reef walking aka helmet diving..so when a local approached us..after a short bargaining..we prepared ourselves for the next big thing… another must do in Boracay especially to those who are eyeing for an underwater adventure that does not require swimming skills..just like me..I tried my best to learn the sport the day before but I failed all over again…for the nth time..

The lucky Komisyoner escorted us to the dive shop where we were to sign the waivers and pay the necessary fees..Since I was uncomfortable with my swimsuit and a cover-up dress for the activity, we asked the owners if we could used their diving suits…its good they agreed..At around 0900AM, we were picked up by a speed boat at the shore then they took us a kilometer or two away from the beach. There was a stationed boat in the site where we transferred as instructed by our guide. As we saw the gears (looks like an astronaut helmet with an oxygen cord attached to it), I felt quiver down to my spine...perhaps because I don’t know how to swim…The helmet weighs 30 kgs but when in water it only weighs a kilo. We were instructed how to equalize because the pressure below is a bit terrifying.. We were also briefed of sign languages to be able to communicate, pretty cool, about 5 signs, very easy to remember…

After a few reminders, one by one we were asked to get down into the water…I told Dindo I’d go first…hahahha..fearless ME…when I was about a neck deep, they placed the gear on my head resting it on my shoulder, then the diver slowly pulled me and directed me to the ocean floor. I was a bit terrified at first because I could hardly hear due to the pressure…Following the diver’s coaching during the briefing, I was able to compose myself…

After few minutes…Dindo was with me na…It felt great to be able to walk on the seabed which is roughly 25 feet deep. The diver handed us big bread, and suddenly the fish came to surround us…it was really really cool seeing variety of fish, nice colors and sizes. So we were down there feeding the schools of fish … It was kind of interesting…We even saw fish twice the size of my hands, i got a bit scared that they would bite me hard...but they didn’t…lol…

Our pics below could testify that we had fun underwater…

Our pics are pretty obvious…its one heck of an extraordinary experience…Right after the activity..we waited for our underwater pics (placed in CD) in the dive shop then went to a last minute shopping..since I don’t feel like leaving without having a last look of the fine white sands in Station 1, I begged Dindo that we visit the spot. ..so we rushed to the place riding a trike…To get into the white beach..from the main road, we intentionally passed through Jonah’s Shake so we could have a taste of its famous shakes..

Jonah’s is very near to Willy’s Rock .After the short break, we ran towards the beach for the last minute splash…Every minute of it, we savored the magnificence of the beach..Its still midyear yet our BORACAY ESCAPE already completed my year..

BORACAY is the place to be!!..it just made me realize that I don’t have to travel a thousand miles in order to enjoy life…there is so much splendor that our nature has yet to offer only if we learn to value them …

…I know…someday.. I’d definitely go back to Bora…I confess, I’m now a certified BORADDICT!!!

freethinker

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Win a Free Boracay Package

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Sweet Escape

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