Boracay

Boracay Island, the jewel of Philippine tourism, is fast becoming one of the premier beach playgrounds of Asia. This surge in popularity is due to the unique natural beauty of Boracay Island, which is now a marine preserve, that is frequently voted to have the best beaches in the world, combined with a multitude of inexpensive Boracay vacation past times. In most Philippine vacation spots you are confined to your hotel of choice - but not in Boracay! - which offers a 4 k. long sandy promenade stretching the entire length of White Beach with a continuous collection of inviting restaurants offering a wide selection of different national cuisines including: Filipino seafood, French, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Italian, Thai, etc., plus trendy boutiques, craft shops, cozy beach bars and water sports outlets. Most Boracay vacationers at sunset are tempted to stroll the Boracay beach promenade, taking a little refreshment and some souvenir photos of the magnificent Boracay sunset along the way.

Boracay Island is a great place for just lazing around. Seven km long, it is only one km wide at its narrowest point. Boracay's largest villages or barangays are Yapak, Balabag and Manoc-Manoc. A confusing network of paths and tracks connects them, and several smaller hamlets called sitios, so maps of Boracay can only serve as a general guide. Slightly more than half the 5200 population lives in Manoc-Manoc.

There is a beautiful beach on the west coast with very fine white sand, particularly near Balabag. The water is quite shallow, however. For snorkeling the east coast is better but beware of rips. There are scores of little sandy bays scattered around the island; they make an attractive alternative to the ever-popular White Beach.

Boracay is also well known for its now very rare gleaming white puka shells, said to be the best in the world. For years puka shells were dug out of the beach at Yapak and then sold. It's already a fait accompli that large masses of land are soon going to be moved in the north of the island. The most important Philippine property developers, Ayala Land, FiI-Estate and Primetown Property Group have bought up 205 hectares of land. There they intend to build resorts and housing for the better off; construction on the obligatory golf course is already well under way.

Every day seems to be a holiday on Boracay - all you need to do is relax and enjoy yourself. Just get up, make some coffee and decide whether to go sailing, windsurfing or perhaps snorkeling and looking at corals. If you're curious you may get as far as the Caves of the Flying Dogs of Yapak' or Bat Caves (admission P20) on the other side of the island, where there are still fishermen who have nothing to do with tourism, except that they too have to pay higher prices in the stores.

For many people, Boracay is the typical Pacific island paradise. Whether this will change in the foreseeable future depends on how much building development goes on. Which will inevitably change the face of the island Out of all recognition. The new slogan seems to be 'concrete instead of bamboo'. Fortunately, so far most architects have succeeded in designing buildings that do not dominate their environment and fit in with the island around them.


Bar and Restaurants


There are so many restaurants that some have to tempt customers with surprisingly inexpensive, yet quite sumptuous buffets, ranging from P75 to P 120. Others have concentrated on one particular kind of food to attract customers.
In Angol the Starfire can be recommended for its inexpensive menu of the day. Melinda's Garden Restaurant is a pleasant place with excellent Filipino cooking and typical European dishes. The fruit salads and fruit juices are particularly good in the Jolly sailor. Next door in Dada's Restaurant, the fish can be recommended.

The Sundown Restaurant has good German, Austrian and Swiss food, especially its popular dinner buffet (seafood) every Wednesday and Sunday, costing about P200. The Swiss Inn, not surprisingly, offers almost exclusively Swiss food. The Thai dlent food in the Sulu Thu Thai Restaurant is excellent. For about P25 you can eat marvelous Philippine food in the Honey Bee Restraunt and Nene Ball Food's House both in Talipapa Market St.

Manggayad seems to have more European restaurants than anything else. You can eat good German food in pleasant surroundings at the Victory Bar & Restaurant. They also have seafood from the grill and a daily set menu for about P100. Chez De Paris is a place for French food, and the Bamboo Restaurant for Swiss.


The Green Yard features Mongolian barbecue every evening, where you can eat as much as you want for P135, while Nigi Nigi Nu Noos has an excellent four-course meal every evening for P100. The daily set menu at Alice in Wonderland for P95 can also be recommended, as can their fish dishes. If you can find it, the Ati-Atihan Restaurant is good value.


In Balabag, the modest Sea Lovers Restaurant next to the little bridge serves an excellent bulalo, a strong tasting vegetable soup with beef shank, as well as other outstanding Filipino dishes. On the other side of the bridge, the restaurant Zur kleinen Kneipe is popular for good, filling German food, and the daily set menu in the Golden Sun Restaurant is excellent value at P75. Zorbas has Greek and Filipino food, La Reserve serves real French cuisine (wines and cognac too), while the El Toro Restaurant offers Spanish food like paella, plus sangria by the carafe for about P 100.


The ambience is part of what makes True Food popular; they are near the Bazura Bar and offer Indian and vegetarian food. The Red Coconut serves Chinese and European dishes, Jony 's Place has Mexican food (and excellent Margaritas, happy hour is between 5 and 7 pm), while Jonah's is popular for its fruit juices. A superb breakfast can be had at the English Bakery & Tea Room, which also has establishments in Angol and Manggayad.


Imported delicacies and red or white wines are available at the Island Delight and Aloja the Shop.


Getting there


By plane


The quickest (and most expensive) connection between Manila and Boracay via Caticlan is by Air Ads, Asian Spirit and Pacific Airways; the one-way fare is P1700.
Asian Spirit and Air Ads bookings can be made at the Red Coconut, Balabag.
Pacific Airways bookings can be made at the Dublin Rest house in Angol, the Red Coconut in Balabag and at the Boracay Tourist Center.
The little PAL office is next to the Sea Resort in Angol. Apart from taking care of changes in itinerary and flight confirmations PAL also sells tickets for P150 for the air-con bus from Caticlan to Kalibo, which includes the boat trip from Boracay to Caticlan. The office is open from 8:30am to noon and 2 to 4pm. PAL flights also can be booked at the Boracay Tourist Center and at Pantelco, above the Pa-am Minimart near the Mistral Resort.
PAL flies from Manila to Kalibo on Panay and Tugdan on Tablas Island, in Romblon Province. The connection from Kalibo to Boracay via Caticlan is better than the one from Tugdan to Boracay via Santa Fe. After the aircraft arrives, there are air-con buses from Kalibo to Caticlan. PAL also flies from Cebu City to Kalibo.
The trip with a bus belonging to the companies Southwest Tours or 7107 Boracay Shuttle cost P150. Southwest Tours sells tickets at the domestic airport in Manila. The price includes the boat transfer from Caticlan to Boracay.


By Road and Ferry


Many boats cruise along White Beach heading for Caticlan; just wait at one of the boat stations if you want to go there. The first boat comes along at about 6 am. There are three so-called boat stations on White Beach for boats to and from Caticlan 15; 30 minutes): Boat Station I at the Mila's Boracay Beach Resort, Boat Station 2 the tourist office and Boat Station 3 at the Sulu Bar. From June to November, during the south-west monsoons, the sea on the west side of Boracay can grow too rough for outrigger boats. They then have to leave from Tabon (to the east of Caticlan) instead of from Caticlan itself, and drop anchor on east coast in the bay near the Dead Forest, or near Bulabog.

The easiest way of arranging this is to book a van in Manila by contacting private operators such as Angel Star (02 783-0886 c/o Abner) and Gope (02 732-6891 c/o Cesar). This will enable you to book a straight trip from Manila to Caticlan at the cost of P1200, more or less. Their group operates several passenger vans which can load 10-14 or 15-18 persons. You book the trip exclusively or share with fellow travellers. The Van leaves at 9PM daily from Manila, travelling through Batangas-Calapan-Roxas (arrives Roxas at 5AM or 6AM) to catch the 8AM or 10AM ferry/boat to Caticlan, where you are expected to arrive between noon to 2PM. Before proceeding to Boracay Island though, be sure to get your return ticket (Roxas-Manila) at the Caticlan Ferry Terminal (inquire about the updated schedule from the staff of the van operators). Take an early dinner before boarding the van and bring water and something to eat while on travel. Riding a van gives you a more relaxed pace to Caticlan because you wouldn't have to stop in many sub-destinations which lengthen your trip and therefore can be truly tiresome.

The more challenging (but slightly cheaper) do-it-yourself version goes as follows:

The easiest way would be to book a straight trip that allows you to purchase just one ticket from Cubao terminal to Caticlan Port. The cost is between 1000-1200 pesos.

But if you really want to save money, you can also commute from Cubao bus terminal station (near Alimall). There is really no difference except for the fact that you need to purchase ticket/s in every stop.

Cubao-Batangas Best leave between 7pm-8pm so you arrive in Batangas Port before 10pm.

Batangas-Calapan the trip takes 2 hours via cargo ship or an hour to one hour and a half via supercat. Do not purchase tickets for the Calapan to Roxas Van as this can either be a scam or you end up squeezed in one van along with several other passengers with tickets.

Calapan-Roxas Takes about 4 hours. Make sure you leave early so you arrive before 4am. In the morning, the ship to Caticlan usually leaves at 2am and 4am and the next trip wont be until 10am. The 10am trip usually leaves late.

This is the best time to leave travel via Cubao to Roxas. You arrive in Caticlan at 8am and you are left to enjoy the rest of your day in Boracay.

You can also start your journey with Philtranco, Alps, Dimple, Ceres, Rodastco coaches which leave at regular intervals throughout the day from Cubao, serving the Manila-Caticlan route for P1,200.00. Rodastco also offers a door-to-door service with pick ups anywhere in Metro Manila. The contact numbers for trip booking are +63 2-7326891 or +63 917-3820426, or +63 919-3820426.