Boracay Blast!
Date: May 21-23, 2010
Overall Cost: 4,500++
May 21 - 10am flight to Kalibo was the start of an energy-requiring outing. Together with my officemates, after months of preparation (to have that bora bod), today was the day. We arrived at Kalibo airport after a quick 45 minute plane ride. Transferred to a bus which took us two hours before arriving at Caticlan, where we transferred to a boat taking us to Boracay Island, then transferred to a van which took us to La Carmela de Boracay Resort.
Once your eyes set on the white beach you would literally forget the painstaking travel you took, it was like powdered milk, only whiter. We first had our merienda buffet around 2pm, rest for a while at our rooms, played cards, change costume before strolling at the world-renowned beach of Boracay. Some of us took our time to stroll some more, swam the crystal blue water and some rented a “paraw” to get a better view of the breathtaking sunset. At 6pm, we had our buffet dinner, soup, fish, pork, Mongolian stir fried noodles, crepe’s and the famous La Carmela-Sun glo strawberry juice! After the dinner, we head back to our rooms to prepare for a wild night, and a wild night we did have. You can either walk to station 1 (which is a very long walk) to take a peek at the other establishments(we opted to walk and stopped at Bambooze [which offers a bucket of beer for only P 200 until midnight] because of our aching feet) or you could ride a tricycle going to station 1 and choose among the top 3 (in terms of population) bars, Guilly’s Island, Club Paraw or Coco Mangas, we opted to stay at Club Paraw, which offers beer at P75, though not happy with the price, the music and the crowd was great. We partied till 2am and head back to our hotel to call it a night.
May 22 – woke up at 6am for the breakfast buffet, head back to the rooms to freshen up, then at 8am we were off to our island hopping (which cost us P350, but you can find someone who can offer it for only P 200), We went snorkeling first, which was very disappointing, compared to the coral gardens of Puerto Galera, afterwhich, we went to Crystal Cove, which also has this powder like white sand, took some pictures, and then we were off to Pucca beach, which was amazing considering it didn’t have the sea of people you would see at the main beach, we had our pictures taken, swimming at the blue crystal water, some of us took advantage of the space to skim board. We head back to our hotel in time for the buffet lunch, after freshening up, we head our separate ways for our own water sports acitivities. Here’s a list of water activities you can try and their corresponding prices (prices vary with the contact person):
· Parasail – P 1,300 for 15mins
· Banana Boat – 160 for 15mins
· Flying Fish – 400 for 15mins
· Reef Walking (Helmet Diving) – 350 for 30 mins with pictures and video
· Cliff Diving – 450 (estimated at 4 -5 hours)
· Paraw sailing – 800 for 1hour
I wasn’t able to take a mental note on the other activities and their prices. Out of the water activities, I only tried the reef walking, which, I think, was the coolest thing I did in boracay. We were submerged 15 feet under water with a 25kg helmet that is pumped with oxygen, you have to stand up straight at all times to keep the water level at your neck. Pictures were taken, videos shot, and fishes fed. We went back to the hotel to freshen up again (the sea water can really give that sticky feeling to your skin), dinner at 6:30pm, then I slept, I was too tired to go clubbing, which the others had the energy to do.
May 23 – Breakfast again at 6am, bought pasalubongs, then we left the hotel at 8am, we arrived at Kalibo airport around 12nn, checked in our baggages, had lunch at the nearby restaurants, then head back to Manila.
- a traveler’s journal
