DAY 16-18 (25-27 April 2023): PHILIPPINES BORACAY – Boracay – Crystal Cove

Boracay is a tiny little island on top of a much bigger one, Panay. It is famous for luxury resorts and as a honeymooners island, especially from wealthy Manila, Korea and Japan. Boracay is only 1,032 hectares (8km long by 1km wide) with 79,617 permanent residents.

 

I stayed in a hotel amongst heaps of others right on the main 4km beach called WHITE BEACH – terrific soft white sand with turquoise waters but way too many tourists for my liking. If you are into café’s, buffets, bars and souvenir shops with family in tow then White Beach is the place for you. The honeymooners tend to stay away from all of this at smaller more isolated beaches on the east and in the north. Getting is here is a novelty, landing in the town of Caticlan at the north-most tip of Panay Island and then catching a ferry only 800m across to Boracay with a short shuttle to your hotel – a total trip of 45-60min from airport to hotel doors. Boracay was awarded as the 2012 Best Island in the World by the international travel magazine Travel + Leisure but my view is it is way too touristy and kitsch at the moment – well at least the White Beach strip. Boracay town is small and I visited: The Grotto (Wilkins Rocks), The White Cross, Downtown Lake, Downtown Shops (D'Mall).

 

Water activities dominate the “things to do” for Boracay. The highlight was a day-long island-hopping cruise which took in the following: Snorkelling at Coral Garden, Crystal Cove (2km Swim), Balinghai Beach Pass-By, Puka Beach and Helmet Diving. The coral was OK but not as good as Palawan. Crystal Cove is a tiny island between Boracay and Panay and a tourist trap, so I decided to swim my 2km around the island instead. My favourite and biggest surprise was Helmet Diving, which I have never done before. What a blast. You wear a 30kg Perspex Helmet on your head (in water) and get lowered down 5m underwater with oxygen hose attached to your helmet back up to a floating pontoon full of oxygen cylinders !!! The helmet sits like an upside-down fish bowl on your head and held in place by your hands – there is no seal because water will not get in if the helmet is held upright. You get to walk around on the sea floor much like astronauts on the moon bouncing around !!! Of course, my key activity was the Dag Dance !!! Plenty of fish and some coral. A total of 15min of activity before a diver pushes you back up to the pontoon.

 

The following day, Philip and I hired a local tri-wheeler to take us to the following: Mount Luho Lookout, Puka Beach, Llig-Lligan Beach. I sent my drone up at Puka Beach to make up for the day before when I sent it up despite local “guards” trying to stop me but in all that excitement I forgot to press the RECORD button to film the flight !!! Nevertheless it was mission accomplished and the footage is to die for – you can see the entire island 2km over the ocean from Puka Beach !!!

 

Food is good on Boracay - lots of seafood laced with all kinds of meat. The most popular veggies here are carrots and cabbage. Everyone eats rice with everything, even breakfast and there is a strong influence of Indonesian and Malay. Despite the marauding tourists the swimming was great and the all-you-can-eat buffets for $12AUD made it clear why everyone comes here.

Please enjoy the images of Boracay...

 

DAY 14-15 (23-24 April 2023): PHILIPPINES CEBU – Cebu City – Oslob – Kawasan

Cebu (Pop 4,408,103) is the 9th largest island in the Philippines and 6.5% the size of Tasmania.

 

Cebu City (Pop 1,008,662) known by local as “The Queen of the South” is only an hour flying time from Puerto Princesa. Philip and I checked into our respective rooms and caught a tri-wheeler downtown. It is the oldest city in the Philippines founded in 1565. Cebu is the centre of trade, commerce, and tourism in the Visayas. At first glance Cebu City is not in good shape. On second glance it is even in worse shape and on the third glance you don’t really want to look any more. The only saving grace is that it has wide city streets and does not feel closed in. The churches and government buildings are amongst the best-kept buildings but everything else is falling apart so it lives up to its status as the oldest city. I managed to visit the following places which Ire in reasonably good shape: San Pedro Fort, Plaza Independencia, City Hall & Memorial, Plaza Sugbu, Basilica Minore Del Santo Nino De Cebu, Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, Cebu Heritage Monument.

 

The next day may have started at 4am but it was spectacular and Ill worth it. I drove 3hrs to the bottom of Cebu Island to a place called Oslob where I literally swam right next to WHALE SHARKS !!! It was a fantastic experience and these creatures are HUGE !!! It was love at first sight – for both of us – see photos below where I kiss and touch “Edward” the biggest Whale Shark !!! Whale Sharks do not attack humans and eat only micro-shrimp. You only have to travel 20m from the shore and there are 3 local small-boats feeding them the shrimp from 530am. There Ire a total of 2 males, a female and an adolescent that came in to see us. They then swim off at 1pm to rest and come back each morning. I saw them at 830am and the footage is marvellous – another film highlight !!!

 

Here are some interesting facts about Whale Sharks:

• Whale Sharks are not whales, they are sharks.
• Whale Sharks are technically the world’s largest “fish” growing up to 12m long.
• Whale Sharks have hundreds of tiny teeth being sharks but they are not sharp and they do not use them to eat.
• Whale Sharks swallow up to 6,000 litres of water per hour with shrimp in it and filter the shrimp out.
• Whale Sharks can live up to 150 years old but only 10% survive to adulthood.
• Whale Sharks only swim at 5km/h but migrate thousands of kilometres to find food.
  

This Whale Shark encounter was one of the greatest encounters I have had with giant living creatures !!!

 

In another 2hrs drive I found myself in Kawasan where I trekked and swam a total of 5.5km over 4hrs and 1,021m of ups and downs. Canyoneering is huge in Cebu and this was no exception. When you “canyoneer” you actually walk and swim along a fast running river over rocks between steep mountains. I rode backseat on a motorbike for 7min to a Zipline. The Zipline took me 600m down a steep jungle slope to the start of the canyon river. I lost my hard hat and my Kokoda Hat underneath it in a flash – the buckle came loose as we launched – as long as my head was not in it, I was vey happy. You will have to wait for the film to see the Zipline drama !!! Once down off we went. Four jumps from 1m to 10m and then 3 waterfall levels. Best way to describe them is to see the photos below – especially the one with my 10m jump !!!

What a day !!! Off at 4am from and back at 6pm to Hotel made for a HUGE day and that first glass of red was a marvellous celebration of a marvellous day – enjoy every image !!!