Career Reboot: Beach life in Boracay

Deciding a route through the Philippines has been a tough job, so much to see and do. I wanted to get one of the two iconic beach resorts in during my stay either Boracay or Palawan. I choose Boracay as I had a vague over land and sea route from here for the rest of my 4 week stay. Boracay was one flight, Palawan would have needed two.

Boracay Beach - home for 4 nights

Following my flight from Manila to Kalibo on the neighbouring island, my first introduction to Boracay and its tourism orientated pricing was at the ferry terminal before I got onto the island. I bought my ferry ticket for 25 Peso (38p) before side stepping to the next counter where I had to pay 75 Peso (£1.14) for an environmental ticket, one sidestep later I was another 100 Peso (£1.52) lighter this time it was a ferry terminal fee. To my knowledge the terminal fee was to pay for someone to collect my 25 Peso ticket from me and a further two forms that I'd had to fill out.

My first view of Boracay from the boat

The boat ride was a nice trip, fairly short and worth the fee be it 38p or £3.04. To get to my resort you had to take a tricycle, which is a small motorcycle with a side car attached. A shared trip was 20 Peso a personal one was 150 Peso.

I choose a shared one and was pointed to a sidecar that was already overflowing with 9 Philippine guests and their luggage. It was amazing how they all managed to get in, let alone me join them. Anyhow I chucked my bag on the roof, and managed to squeeze half an arse cheek onto the back of the sidecar and away we went for an uncomfortable ride.

Late afternoon I was hungry, and in looking for somewhere with local foods and definitely avoid the McDonald's, Subway, TGI Fridays and Pizza places that line the the beach front. I started hunting down the alleys that lead from the main road to the beach. I came across the fish market and that did a perfect job for my supper (most nights).

The fish market had a dozen or so stalls selling lobster, tiger prawns, squids and various fishes and was surrounded by local restaurants that for a small fee would charge you for cooking what you'd purchased at the market.

Lobster or giant prawns

I bought 0.5kg of prawns 11 big sized in total and accepted the first price of 375 Peso (over £6), I should have haggled the price down further or used the other traders a leverage to lower the price. I paid small fee about 100 I think to get the prawns cooked in garlic and chili. They were delightful, I had wished I'd ordered a side dish, but it was just prawns, prawns, prawns washed down by a couple of cheap beers.

Prawns for supper

All the messing about eating the prawns made me almost miss the sunset, which as I was later to find out that Boracay does one hell of a sunset. I walked the full length of the beach in both directions, taking a mental note of live music, entertainment, drink prices and promotions for subsequent evenings.

Just missed the sunset on day one

At the furthest point away possible, it started to rain heavy, which is when my investigation mission turned into a sampling mission, as I dived into the nearest bar which had an excellent band on. An excellent way to seek refuge from the rain which soon passed.

The next day I went for a wonder to the other side of the island, it is only a ten minute walk to Bulabog Beach where I was very surprised at how windy this side of the island was. The wind was perfect for some water sorts including hundreds of kite surfers which were nice to watch.

Back in my side of the island I decided to see how far North I could walk. Around a path, over a few rocks brought me to delightful small beach cove Diniwid Beach set with hotels and restaurants clinging into the steep hills surrounding the bay. After looking on the map more beaches are further North but getting from Diniwid to them didn't seem possible.

The beach from the sea

Boracay from a hole in the cliff on my way to Diniwid

All that walking built up a nice thirst, and following the previous evenings reccy I knew where and when to go to hunt out the cheapest beers whilst and after watching a glorious sunset. The beach bars either had a band on or a solo singer or fire dancers twirling chains with fire on them.

The sunsets on another glorious day

Fire dancing in action

The next morning I had the thing that solo travelers dread, money worries. I tried to transfer some cash from my current account to my trusty travel account that is the Norwich and Peterborough. But in doing so managed to lock my current account due to forgetting the password.

The reason I have a travel account is it gives you free cash withdrawals* from ATMs all around the world. Due to a mix up I hadn't got my current account bank card with me. A quick call though and I was back activated and back in the money. It did give me around 4 hours of worry whilst I waited for UK bank opening hours.

* In Philippines they do something a bit naughty in my opinion, withdrawing 10,000 Peso (£150) appears on your statement as 10,200 so you do get stung for about £3 each time. Elsewhere on my travels recently I've seen the same in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. At least I don't suffer any of my own bank charges on top of this top off (rant over).

Once again the day was spent walking on the beautiful white sand fringed with coconut trees, stopping every now and again to cool off in the sea. The sand was perfect in Boracay, almost as soft and white as powder. The sea was also perfect chrystal clear and almost bath water warm.

Boracay beach

View from the very shallow waters

Which one to have for dinner

My final night in Boracay I got sat on a bean bag on the beach, and I watched one more magnificent light show as the sun sets. No sooner had I ordered my 2 for 1 beers a bloke rocked up with a didgeridoo, then his mates all plonked themselves down with drums and played some hypnotic tune as the sun went down. Shame they kept blocking my views, but they did draw a healthy crowd.

Man with didgeridoo and his drummer mates

So it was 20:30 on my last night and I was shattered, could I really go to bed this early on such a party island on a Fridays night? No, I didn't think so either. I went to one of the cheaper post sun down bars and got on the local run and cokes. With a healthy crowd in there, I soon got talking to fellow travellers and got a second wind which saw me through to a respectable bedtime.

So my thoughts on Boracay, it is a beautiful place, I loved the shallow clear sea, the soft white sand and the coconut trees. It was great for nightlife and it could be done fairly reasonably if you played the happy hour game. As a 'solo' destination I've been to plenty places where I've found mixing easier.

Looking back now a week or so after leaving I'm really glad I went, probably the nicest beach I've been to, but on my next visit to Philippines I will go to Palawan to compare.