Boracay was so much fun. It was relaxing, exhilarating, exhausting, and above all else, a ton of fun. Our second day in Boracay, post-pubcrawl, we headed down to white sand beach and rented a paddle board for a few bucks. Nicole and I took turns riding it, then got really confident and tried our luck with both of us on it. As you can see from the Boracay video, disaster hilariously ensued.
ATVs and Mountaintop Towers
After some fun in the sun we returned the paddle board and rode ATVs up to the top of the highest point on the island. As if that wasn’t enough, someone built a tower on top of the island that takes you above the tree-line so you can see everything in all directions, literally the entire island.
Snorkeling and Cliff diving at Ariel’s Point
Later in the week, Nicole and I visited Ariel’s point, a private beach area separate from Boracay. To get to the island we met up at a hotel in Station 1 and took a boat 30 minutes out to Ariel’s point. Boarding the boat was an adventure. It could only come in towards the beach so far so we waded out to meet it, carrying out bags and backpacks over our head. The day we went it wasn’t too crowded. The island can handle three boats of visitors, but we only had 2 boats go out the day we visited. On the island there’s a bar, catered lunch, free snorkel gear, kayaks, and several places to cliff dive from: 5m, 8m, and 15m. We spent the afternoon cliff diving, Nicole and I each did all three jumps. Nicole was actually the last person to jump off the 15m cliff before we boarded the boat back to Boracay. In addition to cliff diving, we also rented snorkels and explored the reefs surrounding Ariel’s point.
Parasailing
At Ariel’s Point we met two teachers teaching in China. One of them was from my alma mater, UF. Nicole and I ended up joining them for some parasailing along the white sand beach the following day. I’d never been parasailing before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. At the one we did, you got all hooked up in a harness and attached to the sail then they slowly let you out like a kite from the back of the boat. Aside from boarding the boat from the beach we never even got wet. I was surprised by how far the parasail went out. By the time the sail line was all the way extended, the boat was a tiny dot far below us.
Island Hopping
The following day we met up with out Chinese teacher friends and took an island hopping cruise around the coast of Boracay. This was one of my favorite days in Boracay. Our first stop was on a small island called Crystal Cove. The island’s coast is all white sand beach along one side and volcanic cliffside on the other. On the cliffside there were two coves we could climb down into and go snorkeling out through a hole in the cliff face. The first cove was reached via a bamboo spiral staircase into the Earth. The second cove you walked down into then crawled through a narrow tunnel no more than a meter in height which opened into a much larger chamber.
Crocodile Island
After Crystal Cove we went Crocodile Island, named for it’s shape, not the animals that inhabited it. The island could barely be called an island. It was no bigger than my apartment. However, the snorkeling around it was fantastic, almost as good as Bali. The current was really aggressive though so we snorkeled near the boat and occasionally had to grab hold of one of the many safety lines to keep from being swept out to sea.
Beachside Lunch Buffet
By this point I’d worked up a hearty appetite and was grateful to break for lunch at our next stop, a small beachside cafe. The cafe served a buffet of cured meats, veggies, and rice. I had my fill and walked out to the beach in front of the restaurant to watch the waves. At this point we’d navigated halfway around the island of Boracay and were opposite Station 1, 2, and 3. This side of the island was so much quieter and more peaceful. Aside from our island hopping group, there were only a handful of locals on the beach. I watched our boat bob up and down in the water as several little boys, took turns climbing onto the outriggers and doing flips off of them into the water.
After lunch, we all boarded to boat again. The boys doing back flips climbed onto the outriggers and rode with the boat for a few minutes before jumping off and swimming back to shore. Our next stop was another snorkeling spot, this one nestled into a lagoon on the Northside of the island. The snorkeling here was the best of the whole tour. There were tons of large brain coral and other colorful varieties that I could not begin to name. Aside from great snorkeling, the Northside of the island, is also home to some truly extravagant resorts off in their own little area and not easily accessible from the rest of the beaches at Stations 1 through 3. From where we snorkeled we could see white stucco villas in stair step formation descending down the mountain to greet the sea with their own private beaches. We looked up the prices on the hotels there and they were quite reasonable, in the neighborhood of $200/night: way more than we were paying, but on par with a hotel in a big city anywhere else in the world. With all the amenities included, such as private speedboat pickup from the port, it’s probably worth it if we ever return.
Puka Beach
Our last stop of the day was Puka beach on the northernmost point of Boracay. It had even fewer people than our lunch buffet beach and the few people it had were spread along its expansive shores. Our boat pulled right up to shore and we all hopped out. Greeting us right along the beach was a local Philipino selling Magnum ice creams right out of a makeshift styrofoam cooler. Man, the only thing better than an icecream on a hot day, is ice cream on a hot beach. Ice cream in hand, we found some lounge chairs to rent and spent the last hours of our afternoon enjoying the calm beach waters and tranquility of Puka beach. We tried to go back later in the trip, but alas, the weather didn’t hold up.
Dinner
After Puka beach we returned to Station 2 and had a bite to eat for dinner. All along the beach, after sundown, restaurants have fire dancers entertaining hungry patrons at their restaurants with impressive fire juggling and tricks. Nicole and I did out Boracay trip for pretty cheap. However, if we ate frugally we could have done Boracay for even less, but what’s the point in vacationing and not living it up with delicious foods from around the world. One night we had seafood pizza and tuna ceviche. Another night we had truffle mac & cheese. One night we really splurged and went to one of the best seafood buffets I’ve ever been too. There was limitless crab and lobster, steak and oysters. Throughout the night the chefs would come out and dance to pop songs. It was definitely my favorite meal of the trip.
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