Our second day at Boracay was the most eventful one. As I've mentioned on this post, we didn't do any preparations before the trip. The moment we stepped out of the hotel, a group of travel agents surrounded us. After talking a bit, they led us to their booth.

A bunch of different agencies ready to fill your trip with a variety of activities

We went with island hopping, cliff diving, parasailing, and helmet diving (you can check out the prices here). Let the adventures begin!

Island Hopping

To be really accurate, no island hopping really happened here. This is more like snorkeling at two different spots and that's it. We didn't even got to go to some beach. The reason for this is because of the wind. The wind was too strong and the waves were going berserk, hence, not allowing us to go to some of the islands that were included in the package.

So, anyway, the first spot was somewhere near Pacquiao's mansion.

is it? Is it really his mansion? I didn't do my research

We all got our life jackets and snorkeling gear and jumped from the boat.

Woohoo!

Look at all those colorful fish!

Calm down, my scaly friends, there's enough baked goods for everyone

I was surrounded by a school of this fish and it was amazing!

Our boat guide told us that we can actually remove our life jackets as long as we don't die know how to swim

The others still went

Cliff Diving

The waves were punishing during the boat ride and we were just grateful that we are finally going to walk on land

Unfortunately, there's a php120 entrance fee to the island premises so the other friends had to wait outside

geronimo!!

This idiot dove, ass-first, in the water. She came out alive but her legs were covered in black and blue. Huwag tularan.

"ANG SAKIT!" (IT HURTS) were the first words she uttered

We didn't notice that there were different heights. We jumped from the 7 meter diving block

Hi Crystal Cove! Maybe someday we'd be able to visit you

It was so darn cold because of the wind. We were shaking

Parasailing

The guy on the further right fed the fish with puke. A lot of us were dizzy, actually, because the waves during this time were even more merciless

Each pair spends 15 minutes in the air

I wish we had a camera up there because the view was BREATHTAKING.

Jhoy and I trying to recover from the seasickness. Good thing the boat guys had some scented oil with them to ease the dizziness.

Helmet Diving

A little bit of orientation before the dive

The helmet was so heavy!!

I didn't expect this to be so fun

they gave us bread for feeding the fish

The guy taking our photo and videos

The pressure in the helmets may frighten some people

It's really fun though. Helmet diving ftw!

Talipapa

Darn it Rhey!

Actually we went there on Rhey's recommendation. I can't believe we still listened to him after what he did to us.

We checked out the menu to figure out what we wanted for dinner

Then we did some shopping at the wet market

I wonder what that blue fish is

I never knew lobsters were colorful. I thought they were always orange  :))

Shellfish, anyone?

Squid squid squid

I've never had sea urchin before

Buttered shrimp

Squid gambas

Sinigang na mayamaya yum

Mangoes for dessert

1 kg Prawns	php600
1/2 kg Fish (maya-maya)	php120
1/2 kg squid	php170
Cooking services	php660
Total	php1550

After the scrumptious meal, we strolled for a bit and headed back to the hotel for a good night's rest. And that concludes our second day in Boracay. :)

Day 1: Pub Crawl
Day 3: Beach bumming, shopping
Itinerary and Expenses



Photo credits: Shingley, Wendy Fraginal, Rem Calumba

After months of working our butts off at work, the friends and I were excited for a long overdue vacation. Boracay, here we come!

We all met up at Terminal 4. Our flight was scheduled at 12:25 pm and we arrived an hour later at the Kalibo International Airport.

It was the first time I had a flight not scheduled in the wee hours of the morning. It feels great to arrive at your destination not feeling like a vegetable.

We were expecting someone with a placard with my name on it or at least someone from the travel agency but we didn't find any. After calling a number of people from Shadow Travel and Tours, someone finally answered and told us that Island Star Express was to be our transport provider. When we approached the Island Star Express booth, we finally found my name.

There.it.is.

None within our group were aware that we would be riding with Island Star Express. Why oh why were we not informed??

Island Star Express

One unpleasant 2-hour bus ride later, we arrived at the Caticlan Jetty Port terminal. Paid php100 for the terminal fee and php75 for the environmental fee.

Be mindful of your fees

On our way to a jetty ride

There is enough blindingly orange life jackets for everyone

The jetty ride is just about 15 minutes. When we arrived at the island, an L300 van was waiting for us. They drove us to La Carmela De Boracay and we arrived some time around 3 or 4pm.

La Carmela De Boracay

All dead tired from the travelling

I showed our voucher to the front desk and paid the deposit fee of php2000. We got a pair of connecting rooms.

One for the guys

and one for the goddesses :))

The room is in very good condition. Clean linens, clean toilets, a safe that is free to use, cable, air-conditioned.

soaps and shampoos

Clean and spacious toilets

A safe for your valuables

After settling down and resting a bit, we head out for a very late lunch. We were too hungry to stray too far from the hotel so we decided to eat at the nearest familiar food joint, Reyes' Barbecue.

Look at those tired and hungry faces

When the tummies were satisfied, we went to D-mall because some of the guys needed to buy a pair of board shorts for swimming. Why they didn't bring one, I don't know.

D-Mall

D-mall

It seems like they have everything here

They've got souvenirs,of course . Money changers? All over the place

Left your sunnies? D-mall's got you. Gotta pay your phone bills? No problemo!

Lost your luggage at the airport? Get a whole new wardrobe at D-mall

Forgot to put your GoPro in your bag? No worries! They've got the latest release for ya!

These hand-painted shirts are wow

Finally, I was able to spend a vacation at the beautiful island of Boracay! Thanks to one of the friend who found a cheap package online. Awyiss!

We were able to avail a package from Shadow Travel and Tours. You can check it out here. We got a package that includes air fare and hotel accommodation for 3 days and 2 nights for only php4k+. Not a bad deal, I believe. After a couple of e-mail exchanges later, and paying up via bank deposit, the booking confirmation was made. Boracay, here we come!



One of my friends and I tried to make an itinerary for the trip but we were having a hard time because of reasons. These reasons include not knowing what kind of activities the whole group wants (there were so many to choose from), how much does the activity cost, how long will it take, etc. Usually Google always has an answer for us (which was the case for our Puerto Princesa trip) but this time, nay. So we gave up on creating an itinerary and just hoped that everything would work out on it's own. 



And it did. We had a really great time! Although there are some things we were not able to do. All the more reason to come back when we get the chance :)

Day 1
Arrival
Pub crawl	php990/pax; php790/690 if online registration	5+ hours
Day 2
Island Hopping	php2300/6pax	3+ hours
Cliff Diving	php100/pax	15+ mins? Depends on how much bruises you want on your legs after a crappy jump how much of an adrenaline junkie you are
Parasailing	php1500/pax	15 mins
Helmet Diving	php500/pax	15 mins
Talipapa
Day 3
Beach Bumming	freeee	until you achieve an impressive tan line
Shopping	so many pesoses	until your wallet runs dry
Departure

We were able to haggle with the prices of some of the activities - One of the advantages of not reserving activities beforehand. There are also other expenses to take note of.

• Rental of snorkeling gear, php100
• Snorkeling fee during island hopping, php20
• Bread for fish feeding (optional), php10
• Terminal Fee at Jetty Port, php100 x 2 (Going there and coming back)
• Environmental Fee, php75
• Airport Terminal Fee, php100 (departure only)

Also, the hotel check-out time is 11am and our flight was set at 12 hours later. So we asked La Carmela if we could extend our stay. They said that we can check out by 12nn (still free) and then leave our luggage in their care so that we can go do whatever we want until the shuttle service arrives for us. It sounded good at first but we thought if we were to check out by 12nn, we'd have to be back in the hotel by 11 to pack up. That means we'd only be able to enjoy the beach an hour or two (because we wanted to swim near the grotto area which is quite a long walk from La Carmela). So we decided to stay until 3pm, which costs half the rate of the room. You can stay after 3pm but that will cost you the full price for the room.



And that sums up our itinerary and expenses of our short Boracay trip. I made separate blog posts about our activities in detail. You can check it out here:

Day 1: Pub Crawl
Day 2: Island hopping, cliff diving, parasailing, helmet diving, Talipapa
Day 3: Beach bumming, shopping


Photo credits: Rem Calumba, Wendy Fraginal

Hi there! I'd like to share with you a list of things I have to absolutely have with me during a casual day hike. This does not include the important things that you're really supposed to bring. These are more like things that you can or cannot bring depending on your preference.

Arm & Leg warmers

I'm not really sure if this is a supposed-to-bring thing but I know people who don't use these so I'm adding this to the list. Since the Philippines is a tropical country, I don't really need extra clothing to keep me warm during a day hike. The purpose of these is to protect your extremities from getting cut from sharp weeds and from being a blood-sucking critter's next meal.

The horror

Gloves
I am the only person I know who always have a pair of gloves when going for a day hike. I have a tendency to grab on rocks and weeds because my knees are not as strong as I would like them to be. There was a time that I didn't wear my gloves and I got cut from some grass I grabbed on while getting down to lower ground. I took that as a sign and swore never to expose my bare hands to the wilderness ever again. 

They always do

Extra footwear

I don't use these during a hike. I wear them after. The sandals I wear for day hikes are terrible. There are parts that rub against the skin until it bleeds. I know I should buy a new pair and I will, but for now, I'll always bring a pair of extra footwear for the sake of my feet's comfort.

so that's why

Camera



I used to always bring my mirrorless camera, but now I only bring may camera phone with me. Besides the fact that it is less bulky, the photosphere feature on my Nexus is great. I can fool people into thinking that I have a camera capable of wide-angles. Ha ha!

No matter what your camera is or no matter how many times you've been to the same mountain, I think you should bring one just in case. You never know what you'd find.

photosphere users would understand

Walking pole

I don't actually have my own walking poles because I hear those things are pricey. The walking poles I use are from the mountain itself. Sometimes, a tour guide would cut a branch and turn it into a pole for me (I kind of feel bad for the plants though). Sometimes, I just stumble upon poles used by other hikers. I actually like it better than the kind that you can buy. It makes me feel more explore-y and more like a mage or wizard.

I wish I had the guts to really do this

And that's it, my list of essentials. I hope you learned something new from me today. Have a good day!