As promised, here’s the second installment of my Boracay series. This came a bit later than I intended but, know that I’m trying my best to inject writing from my crazy, wonderful life. haha! If you haven’t read the first segment yet, feel free to click here, otherwise, let’s proceed to our Boracay Day 1!
We woke up around 5:00 AM, which means I only had 4 hours worth of sleep. I didn’t regret sleeping late from our karaoke night, though, it was hella fun! After turning off my alarm clock, I did what I usually do, drink coffee. I needed extra fuel at times like this, you know. We freshened up and prepared our things for our 2 nights stay in Boracay Island. My friend’s mom prepared breakfast for us. Again, I ate like a QUEEN!
We took a van going to Caticlan Jetty Port. We spent 2 hours van ride to get to our destination but 2 hours is nothing when you’re asleep. haha! We then transferred from Caticlan Jetty Port to Cagban Jetty Port via quick boat ride. Upon arrival, we were welcomed by these Ati-atihan dance troupe! People were taking photos of them and watchers seemed entertained by their costumes and dances but, I honestly felt pity for them cos they were there entertaining and welcoming the people under the scorching heat of the sun. Mind you, the weather was really hot. I only hope they were fine.
Accommodation
My friend’s sister-in-law who is the best at getting star of Honolulu dinner cruise discounts helped us get into our accommodation. We stayed in La Fiesta Resort Annex located at Station 2, actually it was somewhere in the middle of station 1 and station 2. The location was very convenient cos it was only a few meters away from the beach front. The place wasn’t too noisy and not too quiet either, just enough for a relaxing and peaceful stay. The air-conditioned room had two queen sized beds, mini refrigerator, TV, cabinet, private bathroom, and a small veranda. We stayed at the ground floor, most right corner room from the photo above. I’m not sure if they have an active social media account but you may check booking websites if you are interested.
Island Hopping and Snorkling
After lunch, we prepared ourselves for our first activity, island hopping with snorkeling. If you’re wondering, we only ate McDo for lunch. I KNOW, I KNOW, but we were really on a tight budget and I wasn’t aware that even McDo was overpriced in Boracay. Well, we were on an island, what do I expect?
I was so excited to try out snorkeling here in Boracay cos, if you have read my Cebu post, I mentioned there that I was already fascinated when I saw the underwater world of Malapascua Island. Then a friend told me that it was nothing compared to Boracay.
We rented a private boat and toured around the sea. I couldn’t help but sang “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana, it was pretty addicting song! There were A LOT of fishes and corals here compared to what I saw in Malapascua Island. Now I can confirm that my friend was right. Though I’m quite sure that there are other islands in the Philippines that offer more alluring underwater treasure. Not that I wasn’t satisfied with what I saw, but because I know that Philippines is so rich with this kind of wonder that I’m yet to discover.
Snack and Pasalubong Buying
We were already hungry upon finishing the activity but we didn’t want to eat full meal yet. We couldn’t afford to miss the sunset watching, you guys! We roamed around the area and found this Coco Mama stall at D’Talipapa. It looks appetizing from the tarpaulin so we gave it a try. Coco Mama offers coconut ice creams raging from Php 40.00 to Php 125.00. We ordered Coconut Ice Cream with Mango. It was served in a coconut shell with shredded coconut meat, biko (a Filipino rice cake made from sticky rice), pinipig and topped with mango fruit. It was really delish!
We headed to D’Mall afterward to buy cute key chains and ref magnets for pasalubong. There were so many designs and a variety of souvenirs to choose from. You can score key chains and ref magnets for 7 pieces for Php 100.00, you do the math. There were also accessories, clothes, hats, home decorations, and foods available at D’Mall too. We were overwhelmed by the number of stores there, felt like we were in the city.
Sunset Watching at Boracay
We were already at the beach front even before the sunset. We hoarded so many photos there for memory’s sake and FINE, for Instagram’s sake. haha! There were a lot of people in the area waiting for the sunset too. Some were swimming, tourists were sunbathing, others were playing beach volleyball and some were just chilling. The sailboats started sailing, they did make the view extra beautiful and romantic in my opinion. We swam for the last time that day but the sea water was freezing cold that I needed to jump out from the water after a few minutes.
We stayed there as we watched the sky shift from blue to yellow, from yellow to orange, and from orange to gray, until we can no longer sight the line between the sky and the sea. It would have been a pretty cool time-lapse video, but I didn’t have the right equipment with me. All I had was my eyes to record how I fell in love with the beautiful Boracay sunset.
Dinner and Chill Night Out
We went back to our accommodation room to freshen up. We were already in a hurry as we were all feeling hungry during that time. As mentioned above, we were in a tight budget so we looked for a decent dining place where we can eat generous amount of food in an affordable price. There we found this one particular restaurant offering boodle fight meal. I forgot the name of the restaurant though. The viands were not that satisfying but their kare-kare was the bomb. It doesn’t look as appetizing on the photo above, but it tasted really good. Aside from the kare-kare, others are just okay. We didn’t consume all the food, that was how generous the serving was, if you can imagine.
I honestly liked to eat some more but I was already feeling sickly that I had to asked them to go back to our room. I lay straight to bed and curled my body. They were playing cards while I was resting and I can hear their loud laughs as they played. I envy them! huhu!
After a few minutes, we went outside to check out what Boracay looked like at night. Thankfully, I recovered pretty fast and I was fully well when we went out. And then, we saw the night life people were fussing about. I’m not much into partying and so are my friends. Instead, we went to a bar with a good reggae music called Bom Bom Bar. They offer a laid-back vibe which we preferred. I realized, we didn’t have any photos taken here, but I surprisingly enjoyed the reggae genre.
We went back to our room after an hour or so, and slept at 2:00 AM. It was a day well-spent!
