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...
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