Pradeep and his friends from MBA were undertaking a fortnight long exchange program with an university in Manila, so the protocol was to not leave a country without exploring some of its best known destinations, the respective partners join if their calendars permit. Being a mountain person, I had mentally planned the trip around Pampanga when someone asked me to chalk out a plan as it is quite famous for its volcanoes. However, I decided to give Philippines a little more credit and looked up a broader term, “Must visit places in Philippines” and there it was, ranked numéro uno, Boracay, the pictures were spectacular, and a little more research resulted in this island having the highest number of untouched beaches. No-brainer alert!
Our flight was at midnight on a Friday and we were a group of 3 people, who had never been introduced before, travelling together to join our partners in Manila for this trip. Sounds quite juicy in my head! But jokes apart, without a doubt, they were a couple of the sweetest people that I have come across and so we chatted throughout the entire 12-hour journey. Manila was a pleasant surprise as I had not pictured it as a capital city with skyscrapers with a mini-pool on the 30th floor and an invisible pool on the 45th floor and yes, we were staying at an AirBnb apartment in that building. Fun fact - Every other building totally undermined ours!
We had heard about the grand casinos in Manila and headed out to Casino Filipino – Manila Bay in the evening and trust me when I say, it was huge! We went crazy visiting the Dreamworks store loaded with original props and gorged on some yummy pizza before heading to the actual casino business. We were bang on time for a performance at the bar; the nosh kept our spirits high as I black-jacked my way through. I don’t mean to brag, but eeeppp eeepp!! We visited another casino within walking distance, clicked loads of photos, gorged on a lot of greasy food and called it a night.
Dreamworks store Casino Manila Bay
We were travelling to Boracay next morning. There is no direct connection from Manila to Boracay (Island), so we took a flight to Kalibo, then a 75kms mini-van ride to Caticlan and finally a ferry-ride to Boracay. It was around 6PM by the time we reached; we were all drained from traveling all day via air, road and water and then…we caught a glimpse of the water while getting off the ferry, it was emerald green, the seabed was visible even at that hour. We sprung to excitement in a trice and could only imagine what would the water be like during the day! More surprise awaited us as we waited for a cab to drop us to our Airbnb; someone at the jetty directed us towards the waiting area and there were many vehicles what resembled an auto rickshaw but had a two-wheeler attached on the side; and that my friends is almost the only mode of commute on this island. We laughed and snorted our way to the Airbnb and received a warm welcome by the host, a British gentleman, married to a Filipino and settled in Boracay. It was a terrific property, a 2-storied bungalow with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, a gigantic loaded kitchen, 2 living rooms, 2 long balconies and a well-done green patio fitted with an old-style barbeque. We were all praises and then realized none of the 4 bedrooms were fitted with doors, only thick bamboo curtains were drawn; got a little odd initially, but meh… We called it a little early that night, super excited about our day trip the next day.
Ocean Water at the Jetty
Rickshaws in Boracay
Our day trip was packed; I started on a fairly empty stomach, half-heartedly ready for my first snorkel; just to point out, I am terrified of water. We rented a boat from one of the diving centres for this tour; it was quite differently fitted with bamboo floaties on both sides, wonder why? Then someone quickly pointed out the heavy water currents and snorkeling without these would be quite difficult. Oh Boy! There I went, all the butterflies in my stomach totally made sense now; I took a mental note and quickly erased snorkeling from my bucket list; boarded the boat and occupied a safe middle seat.
Our Day trip boat fitted with bamboo floaties
Island Hopping - Onboard craziness
Our helmsman was quite chatty and kept us entertained with all sorts of stories and quickly briefed us about our first stop at Ariel’s Point. I was all ears, as I had assumed it to be a hike up a hill on may be some island on our “Island-hopping” trip. But, wait for it.. Ariel’s Point is famous for its Cliff Diving! Trust me, I wanted to run away, but did not want to create a scene, also where would I run, we were in the middle of the freaking ocean.
But then, I told myself, “it would be a total waste if I did nothing, right? Let me just climb up-hill and watch”. I walked meekly behind the group and reached the point; the view was breathtaking, a stunning palette of colours and for a moment I did forget about the jump. The area was teeming with people in their swimsuits, jumping into the water, climbing back up at the bamboo jetty and then taking the next plunge. There are four different cliff diving platforms at Ariel’s Point, with the highest platform at 15 meters above the water and the lower platforms are 7-meters, 6-meters, and 5-meters high.
I noticed everyone was happy after their jump and wanted to go for another one, so fatality rate was zero. After watching a few of our friends jump, Chan and Chika somehow convinced me to try out a plunge from the 5m platform and advised the life guard at the bottom to stay close by when we jump. I was petrified, texted my parents hi-bye for the last time, said my prayers and started walking towards the edge of the platform; surprisingly walking felt quite ok, but the minute I looked at the never-ending water body, my heart skipped a beat. “Amu, no one dies with one jump, max what would happen? I would drink loads of seawater and faint, but atleast I would have tried”, were my thoughts. I closed my eyes and lunged; every second felt longer than a minute and I had finally done it. “I didn’t die” were my first thoughts as I got out of the water with an ear-to-ear wide smile. Pradeep filmed my plunge in slow motion, and the rest is history! The first jump was quite infectious, I really did go for a couple more.
My cliff-jump - Ariel's Point
The tour organizers had arranged a protein loaded lunch, mainly consisting of fruits and barbequed seafood. The mangoes were exceptionally large and tasted even better, bananas on the stem, jackfruit pods, and super delicious mangosteen accompanied with loads of steamed prawns, barbequed chicken legs along with a lot of salad. Our next destination was Crystal Cove; which is basically an island where the ocean water has made its way through the rocky base, now featuring as caves and water holes. The place was very well done and kept immaculate while keeping its natural artistry intact. After the cliff dive, I got a little bolder and wanted to experiment more; climbed atop the hills and jumped off the water holes.
Crystal Cove Island - Water hole
At Crystal Cove
At Crystal Cove
It was snorkel time now and this was the real deal, all alone in the water and I was also scared of sharks! Too many thoughts were crossing my mind, I literally had to shake myself to stop overthinking, breath, wear my snorkeling gear and jump. The water was quite turbulent, I held onto the bamboo floaties, tried to look down, drank a considerable amount of water; I had re-registered snorkeling to my bucket list after cliff diving and some seawater was not going to deter me. After multiple trials, I could finally see the beautiful creatures underwater, hundreds of fish swam right underneath me, the corals resembled that of an explosion in a paint factory; an ecstatic experience. We got back in time for sunset; Boracay is well-known for its gorgeous sunsets, the golden sun with a backdrop of hundreds of yachts lining the horizon.
Island hopping - Sunset from boat
We planned to go partying that night after our successful snorkel. We were staying close to Station 2 and the party hub was super close by and the place was lit! There were fire dancers; well-placed hookah joints with comfortable beach seating and we had our first rendez-vous with San Miguel. No, its not a person, better known as San Miguel Pilsen; the most consumed beer in Philippines; I don’t quite recall drinking water after that evening on that trip! The DJ was fantastic and we partied late that night.
Sunset at Station 2 Partying at Station 2
Fire dance at Station 2
Some of us decided to chill the next day; we grabbed a late brunch and relaxed. We gorged on Adobo, unofficially the most acclaimed food across the country; mainly comprising of meat braised with a sauce made of garlic, vinegar, peppercorns and soy sauce; very sharp flavours but incredibly delicious. The entire stretch of white sand beach on Station 2 is thickly laden with eateries and sunbathing chairs; so, grabbed 6-pack and chilled through the noontime. We rented out few standup paddleboards (similar to surf boards but comes with an oar) and spent the evening paddling against the stunning sunset.
Chill Scenes on Day 2
Chill day at Station 2
Sunset at Station 2
Sunset at Station 2
Stand-Up Paddle boarding
Paddle-boarding on a surf board
We walked around the market, bought some fridge magnets, shell trinkets, and I picked up a San Miguel engraved, wooden beer mug.
Seafood Platter and Shopping scenes at Station 2
On our way back to the BnB, we decided to host our own barbeque party and picked up some veggies, sausages and fish along with San Miguel. Arindam and Prajesh supervised the main procedure with charcoal and petrol, while others worked on prepping the meat and veggies and the rest of us only pretended to work, guilty! We danced to up-beat numbers and clicked loads of candle light photographs (self-named) along with Miguel uncle. The barbeque turned out to be lip smacking, with all the right flavours in place and a slight drizzle of some buffalo sauce just took it up by another notch.
I had planned on checking off another activity from my bucket list, scuba diving! I woke up earlier that morning as hydrophobia kicked in; however, I was determined to not back off today. The personnel at the dive centre was really considerate and agreed to accompany us during the dive. We spent about an hour practicing breathing techniques and learning to use the diving gear; then a little pep talk later we boarded the speedboat to take us to the diving spot. I was excited and nervous at the same time and had to keep telling myself to not be a sissy. I donned on the scuba gear, propped up some weights, wore the fins and sat at the edge of the boat to back-roll into the water; a successful entry into the water and now all I had to do was follow the trainer. Chika and I were together, and he guided us all the way to the ocean-bed. It was a sunny day and so every living thing in the water was lit; we swam with hundreds of vibrant fish; spotted couple of star fish as well, posed for cheesy underwater photographs with some multihued corals. I equalized quite often as suggested as we were at a depth of approx. 20 metres and we spent close to 45 mins underwater. It ended sooner than expected, and I returned with an injured eardrum; as I had over-equalized myself during the dive and having an sensitive ear just added to the risk. However, no regrets, my first dive at such a brilliant location was worth the minor injury. We gorged on a bog bowl of prawn, crabs and oysters with a side of some greens for lunch.
Scuba Dive
We planned to go out for a fancy dinner on our last night in Boracay and picked a perfect place with seating on the beach, elaborate décor, extravagant menu and candle-lit. The flowy beach dresses, balmy ocean breeze, light jazz music; made it an ideal dreamy setup.
We had booked an early morning ferry ride to Caticlan to catch our flight on time from Kalibo. I returned with a heavy golden tan and a bucket load of memories to reminisce till I visit Boracay once again, a very dreamy vacation!
Our last Rickshaw ride
Expense Summary Trip duration - 4 days Flights - INR 35,000 return fare Stay - INR 6,300 for twin sharing rooms Food - INR 5,000 Basic expense total - INR 46,300
Additional Expense Island hopping - $20 per head (inclusive of lunch) Scuba Diving - $50 per head Additional expense - Approx. $70
Recommendations - Swear by San Miguel