My Boracay Escapade

Day 1 – May 19

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)
We arrived at NAIA at 9:30AM to check-in and get our boarding passes. Ryan’s friend, Harold, who works at NAIA, accompanied us to the Cebu Pacific check-in area at Terminal 3. After getting our boarding pass, we went to the 2nd floor to get food. Our flight was at 12:05nn, so we had plenty of time to tour the terminal. By 10:45am, we headed to the departure area to wait for our boarding time at 11:35am.

Inside ATR 72-500: Flight 5J 899

It is Ryan’s 1st time to fly. This is my 3rd, so I am not as nervous as he was. Of course, we took photos before – during – after the plane ride. It is my first time to ride an ATR, though. It is a smaller plane.

Arrival to Caticlan Airport
The airport was quite small compared to NAIA. When we arrived, we walked towards the tricycle terminal to take us to the Jetti Port. We paid the environmental fee, boat ride, and tricycle ride. It took about 5 minutes to arrive at the Jetti Port, where we paid the terminal fee, and road a 20-seater motor boat. We were all required to wear the life jacket, or else, the motor boat won’t start moving. I think, that’s just right, even though we can see the other port from there. It’s a 10-15 minute boat ride to Cagban Port.

Welcome Boracay!
Ryan and I were both excited when we arrived at Cagban Port because only minutes away, we will arrive at the famous beach of Boracay! In our haste, only Ryan has a picture at the port.

We took another tricycle ride to Budget Mart, which is a grocery at the main road. We are to be greeted by Roland, one of the staff members at Tans Guesthouse. It was a 5-minute walk from the main road to Tans Guesthouse, which is less than 1-minute away from the beach. Yes, Tans Guesthouse is not beach front, but it is so near the beach. I will write a separate review of our stay at Tans Guesthouse. We got settled in our room at 2pm.

Lunch time at I Love BBQ

And because it is passed lunch time, and we’re both hungry… we didn’t jump in the water just yet. We decided to go to d*mall to find a place to eat. We settled for I ? BBQ, where dieting is NOT an option! We ordered pork barbecue, which is P250 for 5 sticks. If you ever go to Boracay, don’t forget to eat at this restaurant. I’m pretty sure there are more of their food that are must tries!

Pasalubong @ d*talipapa

After lunch, we headed to the famous d*talipapa to buy souvenirs from Boracay. Walking towards Station 3, you will find a sign that will guide you towards d*talipapa. It is best to get your souvenirs here because it is much cheaper than the ones near the beach. We decided to get our souvenirs early because we won’t have time come our last day. I only bought souvenirs for my family and myself, while Ryan bought souvenirs for his teammates at work.

Getting Branded
Almost everyone thinks that getting a henna tattoo is a must when going to the beach. Ryan is one of them. So he got himself one before we looked for a bar to settle in that night.

Night-Out
Since this is our first time, we decided to stroll down by the beach and look for a place to go. Ryan wanted a bar with music playing, so we were attracted to Pat’s Creek Bar, with reggae music, which is very relaxing. We settled for a table near the shore. We kept muttering, “This is the life!”, and it really feels that way when you are there. We ordered margarita for me, San Mig Light for him, and a plate of sisig for both of us.

It rained that night, for 10 minutes. Our night out was cut short. We returned to our room, but after 30 minutes, we decided that the night was still young. So, we headed out and strolled along the beach. Too bad we didn’t bring the camera anymore, we were afraid that it might rain again, but it didn’t. We decided to sit on the sand and talk. After a while, we laid down the sand and watched the stars. I’ve never seen the stars shine so brightly until that night. As if, all the stars decided to show up and twinkle one by one. Okay. That sounded cheesy, but it’s true! We talked for hours, but when I realized that mosquitoes found us, we headed for our room to get some some sleep.

Day 2 – May 20
Rise and shine by 6am. We were too sleepy to get up, so we just watched some TV for an hour, and then prepared for our buffet breakfast at Tans Coffee shop, which is included in our room rent. The food was great, well, the food was satisfying, I should say. A variety of Filipino breakfast staples and hotdogs, hehehe.

Beach Time
We headed for the beach and wandered around Stations 1, 2 and 3. I tell you, it is looooonnnnggg walk from Station 1 to 3. It’s a good thing we are staying at Station 2. Station 1 is for people who needs peace and quiet. Station 2 are for people who wants to party. Station 3 is for the budget-conscious. I think the best shore line is at Station 1. The grotto is also there. When we were headed for Station 1, I saw a friend of mine from one of my previous jobs, Phoebe. It was really nice seeing someone familiar there, besides the celebrities Ryan and I have seen. Too bad we both didn’t think to get our pictures taken together. It was a pleasant encounter, though.

We took a lot of photos by the beach and at the grotto. By 4pm, we decided to try some water activities and we chose Jetskiing. It was Ryan and I’s first time. We looked for Mang Biboy. Someone recommended him to us, as he gives really good rates for water activities. We were brought to a floating raft in the middle, well I’m exaggerating, the floating rafts are really really far away from the shore, and that is where all the water activities are being held: para sailing, jet skiing, banana boat, fly fish, etc.

2nd Night Out
On our 2nd night, we decided to have dinner at Mang Inasal because we wanted to eat Chicken; but we did eat at Andok’s for lunch. After dinner, we strolled along the beach and found a dry spot to sit on. I did bring my sarong and sat on it. We talked for hours again. We headed for Starbucks to get a quick-coffee-fix, then we looked for a bar to settle in.

There was a live performer that night and he was quite good. He sang a lot of mainstream music with a touch of reggae. We were surrounded by foreigners, mostly Asians, and they were quite noisy. We still tried to enjoy our last night at Boracay. We stayed at the bar until it closed because we wanted to make the most out of our short stay. We had to wake up early the next morning for another morning swim.

Our Last Day – May 21
I set my alarm at 6am. There was no time to get a real bath, I changed into my swimsuit right away. I woke Ryan up to ask him to do the same thing. We hit the beach bright and early and enjoyed the powdery sands of Boracay. The water is so clear, you can actually see the fishes swimming by your feet. We saw this school of white fish with black markings. We have no idea what they’re called, but they looked like janitor fishes. They were swimming so near our feet! I also saw a green anchovies-sized fish that I caught between my palms. I gave it to Ryan and he plunged his hands under water, but the fish won’t swim away. Weird, isn’t it? As if the fish was socializing with us. I saw another one and placed it on Ryan’s palms again. This time, the fish started to fight for space. Before we left the beach, we met a young boy named, Ravie. He was quite talkative and asked a lot of questions. He called over to his dad after we left, “See dad? I made more friends today.”

We went back to Tans Guesthouse to have our last day breakfast buffet before we leave. I told Ryan how blessed we were that we were given a whole day of no rain. A few minutes later, it started to rain really hard. So much for no rain! I was worried that we won’t be able to make it on time for our flight. Ryan received a text message from Harold that our flight arrives in Manila at 3:45pm. I got confused because our flight leaves at 1:25pm, we should arrive around 2:30pm in Manila. I called Cebu Pacific to confirm our flight schedule. If I hadn’t called, I would not know that our flight was delayed for another hour and 15 minutes, plus, they wouldn’t confirm that we will be joining that said flight. Hello Cebu Pacific, shame on you!

We were accompanied by Tans’ staff with 2 large umbrellas to Budget Mart. It was still raining, but sadly, we had to go. When we were already inside the tricycle, Ryan realized that he left his mobile phone. So, we had to go back. Ryan was the only one who walked back to Tans. I waited for him at the Budget Mart.

We arrived at Caticlan Airport a few minutes before they announced the last warning to confirm seats for flight 5J 900, which was our flight. It’s a great thing that it stopped raining. We sat there in 1 chair and waited for our flight. Like I said, the airport is quite small, and with the other flights delayed, it was packed. Our flight was delayed for another 35 minutes. Surprise, surprise!

Finally, it was time to go. I miss the beach already. It seemed like time flew by so fast. We plan to go back on December with our friends for a 5-day vacation. I hope it does happen because our trip, even if it was quite short, was fun and memorable.

Bye, Boracay! We’ll be back soon!

I will be posting a Boracay Guide entry soon.

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