When it comes to white sand, crystal clear waters and great food, Boracay is still a good place to be.
This post is a little over due, but i will share it anyway. Why not?
Late March 2017, the family went to this tropical island. We had a long road trip. We left Bacolod City at 4:30 AM in our humble Chevy Spark, crossing the sea to Dumangas, Iloilo via RoRo ferry. FYI, it's a ferry, that has a big space for vehicles to "roll in and roll off", transporting land vehicles and its passengers to the next province or island.
The image below is just one of the marvelous things you will find along the way.
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We rolled off in Dumangas at 6:30AM, which marked the start of a longer road trip to Caticlan, Malay. Thankfull, my husband, who is a very good driver, got us all safely in Caticlan in 5 hours. Then he left the car near the port at a car park that charges on a per day basis before we all boarded a pump boat to Boracay.
We stayed in that island over the weekend--2 nights in Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center. Our experience in the hotel was great, overall. Read my review here.
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| going to the beach |
The beach is still as beautiful as it was when we were there 5 years ago. Yes, it was my third time to be in Boracay. The first was a 3-day vacation in 2012 with only my husband, then we took the kids there later the same year and lived there for 9 months. Life in the island was simple and wonderful. If you stay there long enough, you will be surprised that not everything is expensive.
Within those last 2 days, I was also able to pay my friend a short visit at Shambala Residences. I will write about that later in another post.
Moving on, the kids enjoyed swimming at the beach on Sunday and we ate great food at a number of great restaurants. Unfortunately, our stay was brief that we were not able to book any island activities. However, the point of that trip was to get away from the city for the weekend to a place that has a beautiful beach.
Moreover, the timing of the trip was not quite right as it was "sea weed season." So the fine sand was tainted by bright green sea weeds at the shore. Thank goodness there were some parts of the shore that were clear of those greens. Nevertheless, the water was crystal clear as it always has been. The greenies will be there for a few months but not the whole year.
I never got the chance to witness sunset. Sunsets are beautiful in Boracay. That is because I already have a two-year old boy who needs nap time through the afternoon. So at sunset, we were still in the hotel. 5 years ago I often went to the white beach to watch the sun go down. I guess I have seen so many sunsets and that seemed enough for now.
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| we should have gone there in January... |
A lot has changed since the last time we were there. So many franchises and commercial establishments have risen. Now, there is City Mall, Jollibee, Tom N Toms, big new hotels like Azalea, Chow King...to name a few. It felt like that small, once a simple island with a very lively night life has transformed into a city. I cannot say anything negative, we did not stay there long enough to see if the changes were a good or a bad thing. Needless to say Boracay island is still beautiful and for me I wish we had stayed longer.
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However, if we were to have another escape from our hometown's hustle and bustle we would rather go to Dumaguete, Bohol or Palawan instead. Next time...
Anyways, I would still go back there given another chance. Leaving the island Monday morning left me and my daughter feeling a little sad. We traveled the same road toward Dumangas from where we again rolled our car into a Bacolod-bound ferry boat.
P.S. when you see this bridge you are somewhere halfway ...(I mean either going to Caticlan or back to Dumangas). And if you ask what this bridge is for...well...erm, I don't have any idea. It was a weird looking structure. :)
