Enjoy the Sun, Sand and Sea

Our stay in Boracay was short. But all the laughter, the out of the blue chatter, the made up scenes in our head just so the cute aircrew from Air Philippines would notice us (ooppps! haha) has made my every minute of the trip worthwhile. The lovely ladies I'm with had so much energy and happy vibes in them.

Vain Plane Snapshot!

In the two days we were there, we stayed at Orinda Boracay. I found this place via booking.com (you can check them out here)

Despite being available to the public, Orinda Boracay's beach front is like a private beach since you can't really see a lot of people chillin' there. Its location made it one of the last options for tourists who are visiting Boracay because it is far from their mall, the happenings and to the other water activities station. But for those who needed some alone time, Orinda could make it to your list of place to consider.

We paid 5000PHP for 2 nights. Good for 4 persons. It includes free breakfast, free wifi,  free shuttle transportation from orinda to dmall and vice versa.

Beach Front.

Sorry I wasn't able to take pictures of the room we stayed in. :(

It is also in Orinda where we met our really nice tour guide, Jerone (not sure if I got the spelling of his name right). He was the only person we met that could speak Bisaya, so my friends and I instantly became comfortable talking to him. He convinced us to try the water activities and gave us a very reasonable price for each activity too. :)

Here is a picture of him.

I don't know if he is the only tour guide assigned in Orida or what, but if you happened to be staying there, you could ask the receptionist there for him to tour your around. :)

Some snapshots of Boracay

Clear Skies, Calm Seas :)

Kids and the Sand!

Before I forget, Here's a summary of my Travel Expenses

Dec. 20

P   85 - bus fare from Iligan to CDO

   300 - taxi from CDO bus station to airport

1,897 - Plane Fare (CDO - Cebu)

     30 - terminal fee (CDO - Cebu)

Dec 21

P 200 - terminal fee (Cebu-Caticlan)

   675 - Plane Ticket (Cebu - Caticlan : got a promo fare for this one)

   350 (divided by 3) - Fees from Caticlan Airport to Caticlan Jetty Port

     80 - lunch

   100 - Terminal Fee

   200 (split to 3) - tricycle to Orinda

5,000 (for 2 days, split to 3) - Accomodation

   260 - dinner

Dec 22

P 700 - Helmet Dive

   700 - Parasailing

     70 - dinner

     90 - Gelato :)

   115 - Coffee from Coffeeworks

Dec 23

P 100 - Terminal Fee (caticlan Jetty Port)

     25 - Bangka Fee

   350 - Van (Caticlan to Iloilo)

     50 - Dinner

   120 - Taxi from SM Iloilo to Airport

Dec 24

P   200 - Terminal Fee from Iloilo to Cebu

955.96 - Plane Fare from Iloilo to Cebu (promo fare)

        50 - Lunch

      200 - Terminal Fee from Cebu - CDO

   1,040 - Plane Fare from Cebu - CDO

        16 - Airport to Carmen, CDO

          9 - Carmen to Bulua Terminal

        85 - Bus Fare from CDO to Iligan

Miscellaneous Expense - 700

Total Expense (more or less) : 11,451

Despite the very short vacay, I was still able to do what I intend to do in Boracay. Enjoy the sun, play with the sand and experience the sea. I will sure to visit this place again, tagging along my lifetime partner. :)

A Must Try Activity in Boracay - Helmet Dive & Parasailing

Day 2 in Boracay started with me waiting for my friends to wake up, getting my daily dose of caffeine over the beach. I am really not the type of person who would spend long hours on the beach, but the feeling of the wind, the sight of the rising sun and the serenity of the beach is so alluring that it makes me want to sit there for hours. It was the perfect way to spend mornings.

Finally, Quality Time with myself. :)

I remained still, until I heard distant chatter and giggling sounds, I knew it was time to pump more energy into my system. My "hyper" friends have woken up from slumber and were hungry for adventure.

Good Morning Boracay!

We haven't planned anything for that day, we just want to enjoy the beach, build sand castles and chill (okay, we were broke! haha). The guide from Orinda approached us and asked if we have activities planned. He showed us this list of the activities we could try. At first we hesitated, the price per activity range from 2,000-3,500, PER PERSON. It was way too much our pockets could handle. But then he told us not to look at the prices, and offered that we could try 2 activities for 1,400 per person.

We agreed that it was a good deal, so we got ready for some water splashing morning.

After filling out some form, a motor boat was waiting for us to take us to our first stop, Helmet Dive!

When we got to their station, everything else was pretty standard. Since we can't hear each other underwater, one guide showed us basic hand signs that we could use to communicate under water, what to do when we feel the pressure building up on our ears and that sorts of stuff.

The "helmet" we used was designed for people (like me) who don't know how to swim. (YAY!) The whole idea was to walk under water while enjoying the fishes and take pictures at the same time. Head's up! The helmet was VERY VERY VEEEEEEEEERY Heavy! You need to submerge yourself from the shoulders down so  you won't feel the weight. The guides are there to assist you so no worries really. :)

For someone who does not know how to swim, I was pretty confident that I can handle this activity pretty well. I did! We all did! *insert proud look here* 

Here are pictures to prove that I didn't just make this part up. hahaha.

Helmet dive went on for about 15 minutes. You don't have to bring your own camera because the diver will take the photos and hand out individual CD copies. You only have to worry though, that you won't look your best on the captured photos. I guess you could reason that things tend to distort or refract under water. So forgive our faces in the photos above. HAHAHAHA!

After Helmet dive, we waited for the speed boat to take us to our next activity, parasailing.

Us Girls with our super nice guide Jerone :)

In the mean time, more vanity shots from us. :)

A few radio patches have to made to coordinate with the next station. Of course, we took shots while waiting for our ride! :D

All is set, we are ready to rock the next activity!

We transferred to another motor boat with the chute and harness. From what I have observed, the canopy chute (this is the term they used to describe the parachute) can carry 1-3 persons only.

All dressed up and we are good to go. :)

Instructions were given prior to take-off. After checking that everything is secure and in place...

OFF YOU GO! :)

This is another great way to enjoy the beauty of Boracay. High above the blue waters, you can truly appreciate the panoramic view of the sky, the island and the sea. It shuts you down from all the stress in life, all I could hear is the whistling sound of the wind and the giggle of my friends. As the speedboat below continue to control the chute, the wind above sways you from one direction to the other as if playing a tug-of-war. The picture perfect scene and the tugging happening at the same time that all you could ever do is scream at the top of your lungs. :))

If I were to do it again, I would only do it for 5 minutes. 15 mins seems like super short, but when you are up there, it feels like forever! The really exciting part is when you take off and the first 5 mins gliding into the air. After sometime, it made me think... "Now what?" hahaha. For the rest of the time that we are up there, I was just looking at the faces of my friends. It was priceless. The look of excitement combined with the feeling of nausea. None of us want to signal the guide that we wanted to go down, because we are testing our limits like that. :D

I would suggest not to do this after eating. If you are with someone who easily get affected by motion sickness, do not forget to bring something that could help relieve that.

When we were finally back on the speed boat, I was trying to keep my balance as I reached for the seats. I saw my friend was feeling the motion sickness, the guide was kind enough to give her peppermint something to smell on, it made her feel better after sometime. While waiting for the other 2 tourists to finish their round of fun, we battled our boredom with MORE vanity shots! haha.

A 3 hour nap concludes our activity for that afternoon.

I would like to end this post, with another favorite picture :)

PS, If you plan on trying all the activities Boracay has to offer, I would suggest doing 2-3 activities in a day. :)

Boracay Bound

The sun, the sand, and the sea. Perhaps these are the three most common words that people would utter when asked to describe Boracay. Its popularity assured its spot on every traveler's must visit place list.

Because of the buzz that have been going around the internet on how beautiful this place is, my friends and I picked this place as our first destination in the series of travels we planned.

With less than 3 months to set everything in motion, we checked every airline company that offered promo fares to and from Boracay. It was a funny challenge for us, the promos will be available when we don't have any cash on hand, but would be fully booked when we do have cash.

But thankfully, we were able to secure the tickets and reserve a place to stay.

Let's skip the boring details and proceed to our adventure shall we?

***

How We Got To Boracay:

If the truth be told, we have no idea how we will be able to get to Boracay. I have pictured getting lost and stuff but surprisingly, we had a hassle free travel. Every one we asked was helpful (not to mention that you can see help desk anywhere you look).

Even without a tripod, we still managed to get a decent photo of us. :)

1. We hop on the plane from Cebu that will take us to Caticlan.

                           

Look! Cotton Candy Clouds. ♥

2. When we got to Caticlan, (we just followed the crowd and arrived at an information desk. hahaha) we asked the information desk where to go from there are paid all sorts of fees. (I will provide a complete list of the expenses incurred on the next post.)

Touchdown Caticlan.

3. Rode a tricycle to Caticlan jetty port.

                            

4. Upon arriving to the port, we paid another set of terminal fees.

                            

5. Waited for a small boat that will take us to Boracay.
                             

After 20 mins (or so)...
                              

BORACAY BABY! :)

The first thing I noticed when I got to boracay was the sand. It was super fine (which made my feet feel like they are having a very relaxing foot scrub. haha.)

The weather was just perfect when we arrived as if welcoming us to this beautiful island.

Day 2 of our Boracay Trip coming up. Stay Tuned. :)

PS. Forgive the amateur photograph. :|