I have always wanted to visit Boracay, after seeing the awesome views of the island on travel blogs. I had the chance last year ( this is a pretty overdue post). With a group of 10 friends from various nations, we embarked together on a trip to this beautiful island.
M and I discussed about the trip in June and the trip was planned around 6 months before departure. Yeah! Kiasu eh! But at that time, the tickets were much cheaper and we thought we should just grab the opportunity, whether we can take leave or not,we shall try to arrange it around the trip, no dilly dallies, no hesitation, can join, JUST DO IT! So with M's wide network of friends, she managed to get 10 people to join us. And there were friends who were keen after that too, but we have to keep to 10 people. During that time, both Tiger and SIlkair has flights to Boracay direct to Kalibo airport, which is supposed to be the nearest to Boracay ( Actually Caticlan airport is the nearest!) However, if we choose a round trip ticket via tiger, we have to leave on a Friday and fly back on a Monday, technically, we will only have 2 days spent on the island. So we decided on a one way trip via tiger on a Friday, and a return flight on Silkair on Tuesday instead, giving us at least another day to spend on the island. (total cost on air tickets: $155 (tiger) + usd 200 (silk air))
Next, since we have a group of 10, we decided to book villas instead of hotel rooms. There were lots of exchange of ideas and we finally booked through Agoda, this villa hotel called Cohiba Villas. It is a very big and spacious villa that overlooks the Bulabog beach. We book 2 villas, one 3 bedroom villa and one 2 bedroom villa. And for 5 days 4 nights, each of us only pay about $180 per person, seems like a pretty good deal! If you want to enjoy some peace from the busy white beach, this hotel would be nice. There are also shuttle bus services every one hour to D'mall, so the hotel is still quite accessible to the main tourist areas.
The long awaited trip finally began
It was about 4 hours flight from Singapore to Kalibo. Once we reached Kalibo, we would have to take a 2 hour trip to Caticlan jetty. There are many van drivers outside of the airport trying to get passengers to the jetty. You can just ask around different drivers and compare the prices. We got a van that cost 2000 PHP in all inclusive of our ferry tickets. With 9 people in our group at that time, it is still worth it. The journey there is super long, by the time we reached the jetty, it was almost 6ish already. The sun sets early in Kalibo, it was almost dark around 530pm. We paid this terminal and environmental fee for 175 PHP each and we went to alight the ferry almost immediately. It seems that the ferry schedules are quite frequent, it was not a long wait and the locals are like also going back to the island too. When we reached the island, there were many trikes and multicabs waiting for passengers. We took this open air multi cab for 300 in total that took us straight to the door step of Cohiba Villas. FINALLY REACHED! PHEW!!
Total of 6 hours, 4 hours flight on tiger. Thank God for getting a seat by the emergency exit which has alittle more leg space. 2 hours on the van, Yes Kalibo also has such transport. Everyone squeezing and standing on one open top lorry. It rained awhile but it cleared and welcoming us is a rainbow by the sea on the way there.
After checking in and putting our things down, we caught the shuttle service and went to the D'mall at white beach. There were alot of restaurants along the beach, the place where the touristy activities are. There were also vendors who are promoting their beach activities. Somehow, the guys managed to find one who give pretty good rates for a boat and snorkeling trip. We confirmed with him for our activities for the next day.
The boat ride with the locals was packed but we are still feeling excited for a wefie. One of the restaurants has performers doing some fire stunts. Our guy friends were mostly " on fire" . Btw the top right corner photo shows the view of our villa outside.
2nd day of sun and sea
We took our breakfast at D'mall before meeting the guy for our snorkeling trip in the morning, it is a half day trip from 10am to 2pm for 3000PHP for the whole boat and extra 375 PHP for the snorkeling gear for 10 people. They also charged this snorkeling fee for 180PHP each. Ok la, the total amount per person is like 16 dollars, for half a day, and 2 snorkeling venues.
The beautiful beach as we make our way to our boat
We also had an island hopping trip to Crystal cove island which charges an entrance fee of 200PHP per person. We went to visit two caves and took quite a lot of photos there. The island is actually very beautiful especially when you take it against the blue blue sky. But please put lots of sunblock, it can get really hot!
The views around Crystal cove island
After returning to the white beach, it was just lazing on the beach, trying stand up paddling, it was quite fun leh, but i don't really dare to paddle too far and my legs were shaking as i tried to stand up. We tried to view the sunset before going for dinner which is about 530pm...
Handling the paddle boat with trembling legs
The sunset
As some of the guys went for scuba diving, the ladies mostly R n R at the hotel, catching up on sleep. I had breakfast with M before heading to the pool to swim, chill and chit chat.
The views around our villa, the awesome pool with the view of the sea
4th day: Parasailing, massage, sailing when the sun sets
M and some friends went for a fun dive. I woke up to see if i can catch the sunrise and then went back to bed to catch up on more sleep.
After which, i got brunch with the twin before going for a para sailing trip and a massage. We book the package with the same guy who took us on snorkelling trip, seriously i cannot really remember his name but he is always standing at this diving school. (Argh cannot remember the name) We met up with the rest in the afternoon and had our finale activity: a sailing trip with the sun setting in the background.
5th day: Heading back
We cannot do much today because it is a long journey back to Singapore. You know, when you have guy friends in the group, the ladies would just depend on them to check for affordable transportation to make our way back. I have no idea how much, we manage to get this van driver, who sent us to the jetty and then from the jetty, someone is there to receive us to send us to Kalibo airport. Oh if you are taking Silkair back, there is an additional tax of 700 php to be paid at the customs. We thought tax was just 200 php so most of us spend our pesos till we had enough to pay, in the end realise that it is 700 php instead. So some of us has to withdraw at the atm which charges an admin fee for every withdrawal of....(there is an amount limit...)
And that is the end of the awesome beach holiday in Boracay.
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