STROLL AT BORACAY SHORE

White Sand Beach & Pastel Colored Sky

It was only a month away when I got an email regarding our flight being rescheduled to a 12hr later flight. I have to admit, I was a bit angry because I was too excited and have already planned out everything as soon as we reach Kalibo – but things don’t always work out, and we have to comply for safety precautions.

On the day of our trip, we woke up and prepared early and reached the airport ahead of time than expected. As we pass security check, we went straight to the web check-in counter – since I web checked-in us 72 hours early, we managed to get good seats; confirmed our check-in and got ourselves our boarding passes. We ate our morning snack inside the airport as we strolled along to find a store where they sell Instax Films, unfortunately our luck was a bit off since we found none. Several shots later for everyone’s social media posts, we proceed to the boarding gates. As we wait for boarding, my Mom facetimed me for her last minute reminders.

Since our plane wasn’t connected to the tube, we had to wait in line to ride the bus to the bay where our plane was parked. It took a while until the plane was fully boarded for take-off, and it gave me additional time for my visuals and to run-down our itinerary one last time before we leave Manila.

As the pilot announced that there’s traffic in the runway and we’re queued no. 5 for take-off, the cabin crew started to offer transfers to and from the island. Cebu Pacific offers Ceb Transfer; transfers that are good for one way or roundtrip for only 500/pax per transfer, we availed for a roundtrip transfer immediately for a hassle free trip.

Even though our plane took off a bit late in Manila, we arrived in Kalibo at 12:30H contrary to 12:55H. As soon as we disembarked the plane, we headed straight to the SouthWest Tours booth, Ceb Transfer’s transfer partner in Kalibo and booked the earliest bus leaving for Caticlan. It was a 2hour ride from Kalibo International Airport to Caticlan Jetty Port and a 10 to 15 minute boat ride from Caticlan Jetty Port to Cagban Port – the port they utilize when it is high tide, and Tambisan Port if it is low tide.

Boracay is popular because of its clear water and white sand beach wherein it is divided into 3 stations; Station 1 – the home to some of the luxury resorts and generally more quiet than Station 2. Station 2 – is the restaurant, shopping, entertainment and party central of the White Beach. And, Station 3 – nestles most of the remaining budget and native bungalows, there are a number of good and cheap restaurants, diving shops and little stores in the vicinity.

We reached our hotel by 4:00 pm, after unpacking and changing to beach suited outfits we finally headed out toeat lunch – everybody was ecstatic when we saw MangInasal, and decided right away that that’s the place where we’ll eat our lunch. I had 6 rice and I feel no shame adding that in this post. After our sumptuous meal, we strolled along D’MallPalengke while munching on some ice cream for dessert. By sunset, we were on the beach planting Ate Dianne in the sand. We took a moment to appreciate the beautiful sunset on our 1^st day and headed back to our hotel to bathe and get ready for dinner.

After getting ready, we walked by the bay as we look for a place to eat. We ended up eating in Station 3 where the ambiance is more quiet and chill, the restaurant we ate in uses bean bags and plays reggae music as the diners munch on their food. 11:00 ticked the clock and we went back to our hotel and bid good night.

On our second day, we went island hopping. We stopped in the middle of the beach to go snorkeling, it was a 20 to 30 minute dip until we left for the 1^st island which is Crystal Cove Island. In the island, you can see a 360 view of it where you can also see its neighboring island – Magic Island, where you can go cliff diving; and go swimming by the beach or inside the cave that also leads to the sea. An hour passed, everyone’s hungry and it was time for lunch - we had a buffet lunch at Piknikan. The afternoon sun strikes, as we were on our way to Puka Beach where you can play beach volleyball with ease since the beach isn’t crowded unlike the White Beach.

We were back at Station 2 by 3:30 pm, went back to our hotel to change our clothes and charge our gadgets. We then rushed back to Station1 to enlist our names for water activities. Several shots later for Hannah’s profile picture, we rode the boat leading to water activity station in the middle of the beach for our banana boat ride. We didn’t reach the station in time for helmet diving, it closes at 4:00 and we got there 30 minutes later. On our banana boat ride, we were accompanied by another family. After riding the bananaboat, it is time to go parasailing. One of the most awaited part of the trip for me, for all of you to know, I’m a big fan of Jurassic Park and I was imagining that I was the kid parasailing in Jurassic Park; The Lost Word that ended up in the island where the park is closed becausedinosaurs are on the loose.

My parasailing experience was so surreal, from up above you can savor the 360 breathe-taking view of the island while the sun was setting. I didn’t want to go down at all, but it was a win-win situation since we were one of the few parachutes to go down.

After being captivated by the glorious rays of the sunset, we went back to the beach took a dip and left for dinner. The restaurant we ate in has their own entertainment, there were poy dancers dancing to the beat while the diners eat. It is quite funny because they mixed humor while they danced along their fired poy.

As we walked back to our hotel for our spa, we made stops at shops to buy pasalubongs for our friends and family. We rested for a few minutes before heading to the spa house which is only at the upper level of our hotel. After being massaged, we tucked ourselves in and settled for the night.

As morning came, we managed to get out of our beds despite how comfy it was especially since we went to thespa last night. We went to Bulabog Beach to witness the sun rise, it was a bit disappointing because there was a big lump of cloud covering the sun. We ate breakfast at McDonald’s after since Hannah’s craving for cheesy eggdesal, made some last minute pasalubong shopping, stayed in the beach for a few minutes and packed our bags and left. As the receptionist called our attention to go down because our shuttle service isready to leave, nobody wanted to go, but it is time, our itinerary has come to an end.

It was pass 10:00 in the morning when we arrived at the airport in Kalibo, the queue was already long, as we head to the check-in counter for our confirmation of check-in and to get our boarding passes and paid the terminal fee, we knew there’s no turning back. Our plane arrived just as scheduled, took off a bit late since there were no available parking bay back in Manila.

As we touched back in Manila, we were all still happy and started planning when our next trip is. They dropped me off in MOA Arena for this year’s LiveLoud Concert. It was such a great experience.