It's March!
White sand. Sun. Beach. Perfection!
One of the gateways of Boracay is Kalibo airport. The flights are way cheaper than that of Caticlan's. So we booked a flight to Kalibo and hopped on a 2 hrs road trip to Caticlan port.
**Van fare is Php 250/person - one way
The fare is inclusive of the ferry fare in Caticlan but exclusive of environmental fee and terminal fee.
Terminal fee is Php 100/person
Environmental fee is Php 75/person
It was a a long drive. You are literally driving on a mountain with the sea on your side. The view is amazeballs!
I am a sucker of nature; and scenes like this brings out my inner peace.
There, we arrived at the port and shell out a few more bucks (terminal and environmental fee) to reach Boracay Island.
The trip was rather short, 10 minutes I think? And we set foot on the infamous island.
Upon arrival, tricycle drivers will approach you and ask you which hotel you've booked. As for us, we do not have a hotel yet and twas peak season and we are left with a few bucks so we decided to stay in Station 3.
Station 3 is the peaceful side of the island as all party goers are mostly in Station 1 and 2. Station 3 is perfect for RnR.
There are cheap beach front hotels in Station 3 ranging from Php 500 to Php 2000 a night but most of them are full when we arrived. As we are feeling stingy and we wanted to experience the beach (and not the accomodation) in the first place, we haggled for the price of our room (with tb and tv) from Php 1000 for our first night and moved to the Php 500 room for our second night.
It's an apartment looking type of a house - full of cottages and rooms and yeah I forgot the name but it was at the back of the TreeHouse. The place is just a 30 second walk to the beach!
We arrived before sunset so we just unpacked, change clothes, stroll to Station 1 and watch the sun as it sets on the horizon.
After checking out the entire stretch of stations 1 to 3, we grabbed some dinner and went back to our accomodation and called it a night.
I am usually an early riser when we are out on vacation, so I woke up at around 5am on our second day. We changed clothes and head out for an early stroll on the beach, waiting for the sun to rise.
Twas cold and it's low tide so we had fun walking barefoot while thinking of the activities we will do for the day.
We arrived at the infamous Grotto and settled in. Sitting on the sand, people watching, just relaxing.
A few locals approached us asking if we wanted to try out some of the beach's activites i.e. island hopping, atv, helmet diving, parasailing and the likes. We declined and stroll back to Station 3.
We went to the Tourist Center in Station 3 to get some cash from my plastic card. (Yes, they will swipe your credit card and give you the cash!) As we exited the center, a local guide offered Helmet Diving for just Php 400 per person; and as we have nothing to do and we felt bored already, we eventually gave in.
We rode a speedboat to the Helmet Diving facility.
There is a short briefing of the dos and don'ts of the activity as well as hand signals once under water.
We were underwater for 10-15 minutes watching the divers feed the fishes. Lol. But twas a great experience.
We head back to the island and strolled, took a dip in the sea, ate, bought from Jonah's infamous shake, looked for chori burger, and people watched.
We ate dinner at a cheap ihaw ihaw in Station 3 and went to Station 1 to experience Boracay's night life.
We head back to our accomodation before midnight as our vacay was cut short for we were asked by a friend to go to Sablayan, Mindoro.
Mindoro here we come!
TTFN.
Hi guys, I would like to recommend my tour guide. His name is Lawrence, a local from Boracay and his number is 09393283985. He can answer all your questions from which is the cheapest van to get, cheapest activities and how to DIY your trip to boracay including the prices. He assists me with all my van transfers and activities. If you also want to commute to save a lot of money, you can ask him to pick you up from the airport and he will assist you which public vehicle you should get and how much is the right prices. I always do this every year and I just give him a tip and his round trip fare to the airport. He also help me carry my luggages. I always recommend him to my friends I can say that he is very well trusted because I go to Boracay every year since 2008. The island is great but is getting crowded so you should hire someone who can look after your belongings. You can save a lot of money because he will assist you with everything and all the cheapest in Boracay. I am a DIY traveller and I am doing this to help him. Thanks for reading.
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