Boracay Part 2

Okay I took like 3 days to complete this post. This post isn't very long but it's just that I've been shuffling back and forth between blogging, planning for my USA trip and FYP researching. So finally, time to continue on Boracay Part 2! For Part 1, click here.

(Credit to Ger for some of the pictures!)

Day 3 in Boracay! We decided to cover some water activities today, namely parasailing and banana boat. But upon waking up in the morning, the sky didn't look promising ):

Cloudy and gloomy, threatening to rain!

But that didn't dampen our spirits, we were ready for some parasailing! :D After a quick breakfast, we met up with our agent who brought us to Boat Station 2 to take a speed boat. The speed boat brought us out to this floating platform in the middle of the sea.

The water sports company we "chose" was Diamond Water Sports. We didn't choose it per se, but it is the company tied to the agent who we approached. They are pretty okay, not pushy for tips at all, and one of the supervisors in charge of this floating platform was very nice. He bothered to start a conversation with us. I guess locals there are generally very friendly, and it helps that we are Singaporeans and can speak English! IMO they didn't communicate as much with the Chinese PRCs and Koreans due to the language barrier.

We were then transferred to the parasailing boat. I'm not sure why the boat people are wearing masks. Maybe cos of the wind + water? They looked pretty intimidating! But afterwards when it started to rain, they took off their tops and masks and started dancing? Lol. They were playing club hits really loudly on the boat. 

Since there were 7 of us, we had to split 3-2-2. Denise and I were the second pair to go. Each of us have about 15 to 20 minutes of parasailing. It's very very serene up there, and all you can do is enjoy the breeze and the view. I guess being up there with someone else makes it much less scary! 

When we were up there, it started drizzling. ): It wasn't sunny but I still wore sunglasses. I felt that it helped me protect my eyes from the rain/sea water! 

Kudos to Val who could still smile despite feeling seasick and puking! This picture was taken before it started raining. As soon as they were up in the air, it started pouring. It was so bad that they signaled for the boat men to bring them down early. The rain got heavier, so we had to postpone the banana boat ride to another day. 

TIP #10: Bring a waterproof bag to store your belongings. Most of us brought cloth tote bags and our belongings on the inside ended up soaked. It's worse when it rains, but even if it doesn't, it's good to have some protection as you'll be exposed to sea water quite often!

We went to grab some lunch at a restaurant called Red Coconut along the beach. Expect to find Pinoy cuisine and western food at most of the restaurants! 

After lunch, we hung out near the beach because the rain had stopped. I didn't fancy getting tanned (even though there's no sun, there's still UV rays!) so I chilled on a beach chair. (We had to "pay" for it by ordering drinks from the restaurant that owned the beach chairs.) 

The weather was clear enough to play ball and build sandcastles.

Ahem. They even bought sandcastle tools (pail/spade/etc) just to build this! 

At about 5pm, we headed back to the Diamond Water Sports counter and told them we wanted to go ahead with the banana boat. The rain had stopped completely by then. They were actually closing shop for the day but was gracious enough to allow us to return to the floating platform to see if anyone was willing to take us. One boat driver was actually about to knock off work, but was so kind and agreed. I didn't sit the banana boat cos I wasn't too keen on it. But on the bright side, the boat captain allowed me to steer the speed boat for a few minutes! Although he was working past his knock off time, he still tried to ensure we had a good time, and didn't even scrimp on the duration of the ride. Needless to say, we gave him a relatively bigger tip!

Went home to cook dinner, cos we were all sticky and soaking wet. Maggi mee with Campbell mushroom soup, luncheon meat omelette, and chicken wing and prawns that we ordered from the hotel. So simple and yummy! 

Day 4! We woke up earlier because it was the day to go for island hopping! Met up with our agent again and she brought us to sit the "tuktuk". Okay I have no idea what it's called but it reminds me of the Bangkok tuktuk.

The "tuktuk" took us to Boat Station 3. 

Boat station 3 isn't a place for beach-goers to chill, but rather a rendezvous area for tour boats.

In Phuket, I went for the island tour as well, but the boats there are much more modern and new. Boracay boats for island hopping are more rustic and old. But then again, I guess that adds to the charm!

Our group was put onto a boat with another Pinoy couple who were quite friendly. But on a small boat, I thought our group alone made it quite squeezy! The first thing we did was to go snorkeling. I have a phobia of fishes ever since Phuket so snorkeling isn't really my thing. But my friends who went down to the water told me the fishes weren't big or aggressive (phuket one are!) so I gave it a shot. The water wasn't fantastically clear and the corals were pretty okay. I've seen prettier/bigger ones at the Great Barrier Reef and Phuket.

The second place we went to was Crystal Cove Island. The agent told us that admission fee was needed to enter the Crystal Coves. And upon hearing that we weren't very interested. But when we reached the island, there was really nothing to do but pay and enter (cos the beach was pathetic.) The fee is only 200PHP/6SGD.

TIP #11: Visit Crystal Cove! The pictures will show you why.

Beautiful view from the platform!

There are two coves in Crystal Cove Island, and both offer a different experience.

The first cove was hidden away below ground level via a steep and narrow flight of stairs.

Looking happy but feeling quite scared that I'll drop down (cos all you can hear is the crashing of the waves).

View from the top of the stairs. It is kinda slippery so hold on to the handrails!

Upon entering the cove, all you can see is the majestic waves crashing on the rocks. The current is super duper strong. I think the ropes you see in the picture are there in case someone drops in? :/

The cove is pretty small so all you can do it stand around and take some pictures.

Done with Cove 1!

Along the way to Cove 2 you'll see some animals too. Like birds and monkeys.

There are many photo opportunities along the way!

And for some reason, the water is much much clearer here than the snorkeling area. ):

For cove 2, you gotta crawl/duck walk through the cave tunnel. It very dark in there so I would recommend the use of your phone's torchlight! I banged my head on the ceiling a couple of times D:

Very narrow and irregularly shaped!

At the end of the cave tunnel, you'll come to the second cove! The waves here are even stronger than the first, and some times the water comes up and splashes you so make sure you don't stand too close to the edge! 

The cove is in a "C" shape, but one side is narrower than the other. Brave friends climbing to the narrow side!

In the end we all decided to climb to the narrow side for a picture. Just as we took a picture, a giant wave came up to hit us. Which probably explains why this picture caught us with our shocked-but-still-trying-to-smile faces.

Heading back out to our boat and on to our next destination.

The boat brought us to the far side of Boracay Island for our lunch, which is included in the package. 

TIP #12: Don't expect to find what they stated in the menu! They promised us prawns and crabs but all we got was some lousy assorted meat and stale rice. Probably the most edible thing was the satay. But then again the flies circling the whole "restaurant" totally ruined my appetite.

The area itself was quite beautiful, made me wish we stayed in one of those rooms overlooking the beach. But we didn't have time to stay on the beach for long cos our boat captain hurried us back.

Apparently the white house belongs to some celebrity.

Time for snorkeling again! This time at a place called Coral Garden. There weren't much fishes so I was brave enough to enter the water! Guess it just wasn't our day cos the water was so murky and I couldn't see anything at all. What a disappointment. 

And that marked the end of our island tour. I think the best part was Crystal Cove Island. It would have been better if the water was clearer. I have a feeling that the clarity of the water has a lot to do with the seasons. Some season may bring clearer water? Just speculating. 

TIP #13: Don't overvalue the island hopping tour. Okay this is just my opinion but I think you shouldn't spend more that $15 - $20SGD/person on the whole tour. I've heard of friend's friends who have rented the whole boat for $50SGD but we weren't able to find this good deal while we were there. Keep in mind that there will be extra costs like the entrance fee to Crystal Cove and a snorkeling fee of 20 PHP per person which is also a tax to the authorities. Perhaps if the water was clearer it would have been much more worth it!

Reached back to the beach just in time to catch the sunset. There was quite a lot of seaweed in the water. But that didn't stop them from having fun in the water. They had a fun time throwing seaweed at each other. :/ 

After the sun had set, we headed back to the hotel for a quick wash-up and headed back to D Mall for dinner. 

We chose this restaurant cos the waiter offered us a discount and 1-for-1 drinks!

Dinner was okay. The seafood in Boracay is not super duper fresh. I think many people have the misconception that since it's an island (near the ocean), Boracay should have good and fresh seafood but sadly that's not the case.

Day 5: Booo it's already the last day of our trip. And we're so sad to go, even more so for me because I start school the day after! We had to check out at 11am because our airport transfer was leaving at 12pm/1pm. So that gave us ample time to eat lunch at the poolside restaurant. 

The view I was gonna miss. It was definitely a good choice to stay up on Mt. Luho!

Made a new friend before I left. Haha. Everyone was so terrified of this little fella! But I took pity on it and fed it my prawn scraps. Dionne was so scared she sat on a high chair lol.

In this picture you can see the platform I was talking about in the previous post. The highest point shown towards the right of the picture is a platform where people pay to go up and see the view!

A few more pictures to capture the memories of staying here!

Taking the ferry back to the domestic airport. And that marks the end of our very short getaway!

Some thoughts: Given the price and the experience I had there, I won't see myself going back there again anytime soon. I would want to visit Maldives one day, or maybe if I'm craving a beach holiday and on a budget I'll go back to Bali or Phuket again. Felt the traveling time to Boracay was too long and tedious. Though, the culture and people there really made up for it. Lastly, I do appreciate that Boracay is not totally "touristified" yet so there's still a rustic charm to it. I would recommend it for people who wanna experience a new country/area and they have run out of other places to go in Asia. Most importantly, just enjoy without setting high expectations! (: