Boracay: The First of Many

Boracay, as they say, is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. For me, what makes it  beautiful is the quality of its sand. For others who haven't been to other beaches in the Philippines, Boracay may have the finest beach in the country. I still think it's not.

After Zeke's assignment in the Philippines, he decided to extend another week in the country to get his well deserved R&R. The original plan is to get to Bohol but our budget won't just permit us. So then we went to Boracay instead.

Day 1:

We should be taking the 8am flight. However, Zeke forgot to pick up our laundry from the shop the night before our flight. Although we'll be strutting our swimwear when we get to Boracay, we just can't afford to leave our home butt-naked. So we re-booked and took the 11am flight instead. You have no idea how upset I was because of his miss. >_<

First flight together

We made it to our 11am flight with our fresh clothes on from the laundry shop. We arrived in Caticlan, had a tricycle transfer to the Ferry Terminal then boarded a boat to get to Boracay Island. When we got off from the boat, we took another trike to take us to our accommodation - White Beach de Boracay.

Ferry transfer

An accommodation for me is a place where you can sleep comfortably and have shower. That's it. Accommodation can eat up a lot of your travel budget if you are not wise enough to look for the reasonably priced ones. White Beach de Boracay is a no fancy, no frills place. Since we are on a budget, we have to stick to our basic criteria for the accommodation: regular sized room with AC, has a decent  bed, ensuite toilet and bath, and hot and cold shower. With a rate of Php1,500 per night, this is quite reasonable. Plus they have Wifi and our balcony boasts a view of the beach. I'm glad that Zeke liked the place. He tends to be picky with accommodation.

The view from our balcony. We're on top of Yellow Cab

We didn't waste our time. As soon as we checked in, we looked for someone who can arrange our activities for us. We found a certain "kuya" who suggested we could start with the helmet diving and the ATV ride the next day. So we spent the rest of the afternoon strolling at the beach, swimming and watching the sunset.

Boracay's clear water

Boracay's fine beach

Day 2:

We woke at 9am excited for our itinerary for the day. We had mexican breakfast to stuff ourselves up before we do the fun stuff for that day.  Giddy giddy! Where's kuya?

Helmet Diving: I don't know how many metres deep we have to go down so we can reach the bottom of the sea. I went down first and fed the fishes while waiting for Zeke. He had issues with his ear in terms of pressure. He had to come up again, change his helmet then go down and equalize. I was concerned about him though because he seems to be drowning the entire time. Turns out, he had the wrong breathing technique. Oh babe!

While waiting for our turn

He's got a pink helmet. So cute!

Attempting to make love with Patrick the starfish even if he's drowning

Giving him food for the fishes

ATV/ Quad Bike: We had a bike each to drive and go to the highest peak of the island. Unfortunately, we can't race and my bike keeps on getting broken. Boooo!

Not again!

View from the peak

Zorb: Zeke was a little bit disappointed with the quad bikes. He thought we'll go off road and I thought we can race. Apparently, we had to convoy with our guide on a concrete road. Boring. We still wanted to do more. One good thing about Boracay is they never run out of activities in the island. So we finished our afternoon with a few rounds of the Zorb. Rolling inside the huge ball and landing on a pool was so much fun!

Just waiting for the water

A jump shot is a must

Roll out of the ball and in to the water

We actually did a lot of things on our second day. We missed the sunset though :( But Zeke could not be stopped in taking pictures from the sand sculptures. By the end of the photoshoot, we were both famished. My dearest Zeke then asked me if I wanna have a nice dinner. Why would I say No? It's food! So we had buffet dinner at Astoria Suites Resort beside our place. The food was really good. After our dinner, we dropped by a bar and had some cocktails. We were still full. We went back to our room, went to sleep... stuffed.

Beautifully done by kids

I got to have a picture with this thing

Day 3:

We woke up to a very nice morning. What's for today is just island hopping. But little did we know, we're bound to do something better and more awesome in the afternoon.

Island hopping: We rented an entire boat for ourselves. We went to Crystal Cove Island and explored its caves. We had to hike, swim, and crawl to see what's inside in those caves. The island also shows a great view of the sea.

Crystal Cove Island

In one of the caves

Where to jump?

Lovey love

We then went to another island to have our lunch.

Koreans using plastic gloves when eating crabs

This is our view while having lunch

After our lunch, we were supposed to head home and the rest of the afternoon will be spent doing nothing. Zeke decided to do tandem parasailing instead. So I did my role. I haggled. Haggled. And haggled until we got a good deal. So off we go again but this time in a speedboat to go to the parasailing base where we can put our gears on and they can release us up, up in the sky. I enjoy riding boats more so if it's a speedboat. So just imagine when the driver of the speedboat offered me to drive the damn boat. I was so happy I couldn't contain myself that I drove the boat like I'm some crazy animal. Whoah!!!! Best activity ever!!!! Zeke was just taking pictures of me and looked so amused.

I'm not really that excited. Hahaha!

Oh yes, that's me!!! Yebah!

Parasailing: I call this our date up in the sky. The ninjas (safety personnel) put our safety gears on and slowly released us up in the air. I may not have the worst case of fear of heights but this is somewhat pretty scary too. But once we were up and just sailing, I totally enjoyed it. I wasn't scared at all. We spent a good 15 minutes up in the air doing sweet nothings to each other. Up in the air, it was just the two us. There couldn't be any more peaceful, quiet and romantic date than this.

Ready to take off

We have a Superman chute

Is that us?

Love is in the air

Close up picture of us with the Superman logo

Picture from above

After our date up in the air, I got to drive the speedboat again this time with several rounds in the water. Woohoo!!!! Best afternoon ever!

We went back to our place, had shower and took a rest for a while. We then head back to Jonah's Restaurant to catch the sunset and some surprise...

Surprise!!!

Another Surprise!!!

Had the chance to play soccer with the kids I met at the beach

Zeke had an awesome time sipping his cocktails, watching the sunset and taking photos while I was down and sweaty playing with the kids. We ended our last night in Boracay by having a romantic Korean dinner date by the beach. The night was a bit chilly but it was perfect.

The next day we woke up late. We got probably tired from the activities we did for the past 3 days. And oh, I forgot to mention that we also did night outs enjoying House and RnB music in a bar in Station 2. So that has been the routine: we would wake up early, do fun stuff, pig out, party and get drunk, then wake up early again the next day. So on our last day, we just spent it packing our stuff. We arrived in Caticlan excited to get on our plane only to find out we've been diverted to Kalibo. And so there's another story of the 2 hour trip we had from Caticlan to Kalibo. All in all, this was really a fun first trip for the both of us. We didn't just have good stuff. We also learned a lot from each other. This is like a test trip for us: see if we can stand each other and cope with the environment that we are not familiar of. Zeke and I love to travel. Our future plan is all about traveling and seeing the world so this first trip is crucial for us. As important as it should be, this trip was also meaningful to us in a sense that aside from getting to know each other more, this is when we learned to just let love and understanding do the talking whenever personal issues would get in the way of the trip and spoil the fun. Issues are issues and can be resolved. Being able to travel and be in a place where you can have absolute fun just comes once in your life. You may never have that opportunity again. So let loose, have fun and be happy. I guess we are ready for our next trip. We are now ready for our future.