Beautiful Boracay Island

   Hi All!  Happy November!  Wow!  It has been quite a while since we have posted, hasn't it?!?  We can NOT believe how fast the time is flying by while we are traipsing around the Philippines.  We have been doing a little more local traveling and experiencing some of the holiday festivities here lately.  The park is almost ready for lighting.  It is going to be beautiful!  We are astounded every time we walk through and see all of the added lights and decorations.  Right now they are readying a sound system so the lights will dance to the music.  We will upload pictures and videos as soon as we can!  There were fireworks last week to celebrate the lighting of the decorations in the medians between streets.  Together with the giant bowls of poinsettias, it is really starting to feel like Christmas!

     Speaking of Christmas….we have finalized our plans to go back home to Texas for Christmas.  Kind of.  We will arrive in DFW on Christmas Eve day and then load up the cars and head for New Orleans the day after Christmas.  We are going on a cruise!  There will be NINE of us cruising together, so it should be a lot of fun!    Originally, we thought we would be able to bring the kids over here for Christmas, but things didn’t quite work out that way, so this is the next best thing!!  Judy and Roy (Eric’s parents) will meet us in New Orleans, and we will all relax on a 5-day getaway to the Caribbean.  We are both SUPER excited to be heading home for a bit!!  Thanks in advance to my parents for hosting us while we are in Texas!! We will spend a few days after the cruise back in Texas and then head back to the Philippines on January 6^th.   We have layovers both ways in Dubai, and we are kind of excited to check out the airport there. Our nerdiness may be showing a little.  :)

     Our latest adventure took us to the Philippine island of Boracay a few weeks ago.  The island is quite small, only about four miles from one end to the other and less than a half mile wide at its narrowist point in the middle. The island is shaped like a dog bone. It's just a little over six square miles in total area.  We took a tryke up to an observation platform on Mt. Luho which is the highest point on the island.  From there we could see the entire island.  Seemed like a million steps to get to the top of the observation deck, but it was totally worth it.  Sweat and all!

This view is from the top of Mt. Luho to the east. 

Top of the observation deck.

Trykes.  There are hundreds of them on the island to take you anywhere you want to go! 

Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao's house on Boracay Island.

     The beaches on Boracay are known for their talcum-powder-soft white sand beaches.  It’s true!  We can attest to the fact that walking on the sand is like walking on powder.  It felt so amazing!  Neither of us wanted to put our shoes on.  Ever.  I have never felt anything like it on my feet.  But the most astounding thing is that the sand NEVER GETS HOT.  You can walk barefoot up the beach during the hottest part of the day, and the sand will still feel cool on your feet.  No kidding.  We loved it!  The sand is the biggest reason that Boracay was voted "World's Best Beach" in 2012 by Travel and Leisure Magazine. 

Sailboats in Station 2.  We took one of these on a three-hour tour around the island.

In the evenings the local kids made sand sculptures like these all up and down the beach, and for a small 'tip' you can have them take your picture with it.

They will even write your names on one of the sculptures.  :)

We had one stormy morning while we were on the island, but it made for cool pictures.

Dragging his fishing net.

     Boracay has become quite touristy over the past ten years or so.  There are hundreds of restaurants and shops all up and down the beach.  Restaurants serve right on the beach front, and there is usually entertainment of some sort every few “blocks” down the beach.  We saw firedancers, bands, and lots of guys sitting on stools playing acoustic guitars and singing (the latter is our favorite form of entertainment).  We sat at a coffee shop one evening and listened to someone play, and another evening we had drinks and dinner and watched the firedancers.  There really is something for everyone in Boracay, especially the party crowd!  For a small fee, you, too, can participate in the Boracay Island Pub Crawl!  You can wear a bright yellow t-shirt, join a group of about 50, and drink your way up and down the beach with shots, drinks, shooters, and more!  I know you will be surprised, but we chose not to participate in this activity.:)  We did, however, take a paraw (small sailboat) around the entire island.  We were supposed to snorkel on the opposite side of the island, but it was a little too choppy for our inexperienced skills.  We did stop at another beautiful beach, and it was just nice to sit back and watch the world go by for a few hours as someone sailed us through the water.

Eric at Yapak (Puka Shell) Beach

Right outside our hotel restaurant.

Tons of restaurants and shops!

Fire dancers in many of the restaurant/bar areas.

One of our meal in D'Mall. That's Wagyu bacon and potatoes and crab pasta.  Pretty tasty!

Jonah's fruit shakes.  These are all over the island.  We had several while we were there!!  Perfect after a day in the sun.

     

     We stayed at Boracay Beach Club.  The White Beach part of the island is broken into three areas called boat stations where the boats anchor.  We stayed in Station 1.  It’s pretty quiet and although our hotel is across the street from the beach, the hotel restaurant is in a perfect location right on the beach.  We ate breakfast every morning with our toes in the sand.  Station 2 is where most of the night life happens, lots of bars, restaurants, and people!  In fact, there’s an area called D’Mall right in the middle of Station 2 with hundreds of shops and vendors.  It’s a bustling place, and we were there in the off-season.  We talked about how crowded it must get during peak season there.  Station 3 has a few restaurants, hotels, and bars, but as they start to trail off a little, you start to see local housing.  Across the island is Bulabog Beach, a stark contrast to White Beach.  The shore is very rocky, but the scenery is still just as beautiful.  We stopped on our sailboat at Puka Shell (aka Yapak Beach) beach where the entire beach is literally pieces of shells.  The locals make jewelry from the shell here and sell it in their shops.  On the very tip of the island is the exclusive Shangri-La hotel and resort with its private beach and a home owned by famous Filippino boxer, Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao.

     The sunsets in Boracay are beautiful.  I think they are the most gorgeous I have ever seen.  Our camera batteries died at one point during our trip, so we didn’t get a picture of the most beautiful sunset, but you can tell from the one we posted here that it must have been spectacular.  I think our favorite place on the entire island was down at the end of Puka Shell Beach where there are huge cliffs and water as blue and clear as the places you see in the movies.  The cliffs jut out in some places, so that when the tide comes in, you could get trapped on a beautiful, secluded beach surrounded by nothing but wind, rock, sky, water, and salt.  Perfect.  

Love the sailboats taking sunset cruises up and down the island.

This is the second prettiest sunset we saw, but our camera batteries died before we could get pics of the one that was even more spectacular. 

This is our beach front restaurant where we had breakfast every morning with our toes is the superfine sand.  We ordered in the hotel lobby on our way out, and they brought our breakfast to us here. 

Eric at breakfast.  With coffee.  Of course.  :)

Great view everywhere on the island!

Puka Shell (Yapak) Beach where the water is crystal clear and a million different shades of blues and greens.  This is our second day here.  We didn't bring the camera the first day because it would have gotten wet on the boat ride.  The weather was a little stormy this morning, so it doesn't look quite as clear, but it is still beautiful.  Our favorite place on the island!

Yep.  We got ourselves a selfie-stick.  Can you tell?  One of my favorite pics.  Might have to find a place on the wall for this one.

Another one of our favorites.  Love the water here.  Might have to photoshop that guy in the water out of our picture.  :)

Breakfast every morning.  Can't beat the view!

Our first day on the island.

     We aren’t sure if we will make it back to Boracay again or not.  It is truly a stunning place and worthy of the title of one of the world’s most beautiful beaches.  Living here in the Philippines makes it so easy to get to places like this.  We took advantage of a local airline promo fare and paid about $60 USD each for our round trip tickets.  It is about a 55 minute flight to Kalibo and then an 1 ½ hour bus ride to the ferry port and then a 20 minute boat ride to finally get to the island, so it does take some patience, but it is totally worth the ride.  There is a closer airport in Caticlan, but it is typically quite a bit more expensive.  

We arrived to find this on our bed our first day.  Loved it!  Those are fresh flowers on the towels.

Trykes and motorcyles ready and waiting at the bus station.

Inside our boat ride to the island.

Our boat at the ferry port to take us to the island.

     Yes, Boracay is a beautiful place, but it really is the people who make this island so enjoyable.  From our tryke driver (who went to the top of Mt. Luho with us so he could take our picture), to the hotel staff, to the people walking on the beach, every single person made it his/her mission to make sure we had everything we needed and were enjoying ourselves.  This was a weekend that will stay with us for a very long time.

Until Next Time!

Kim and Eric :0)