Fall Break in Boracay

Well, well, well....it's been awhile.  A whole month without posts!  I guess that's what happens when you break your leg in two places and can't go anywhere to write about.  Have no fear, the drought it over.

Still limping around, I accompanied my family to Boracay Island in the Philippines for the October school fall break.  I was in no way full strength, but I pretended I was, so enough about that. 

The Philippines is an archipelago comprised of 7,107 islands (I know!) and is the 12th most populated country in the world. Nestled among that crazy number of islands is Travel and Leisure Magazine's 2012 pick for the #1 island in the world, Boracay.  Boracay is about 4.5 miles long and just over a half-mile wide at it's narrowest point. Most people think of Boracay as a party beach for the 20-something set (Google "party beach" and you will see!) but trust me, families can have lots of fun here too.

I will be honest. Getting there feels like you're starring in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", except it would be titled "Planes, Boats, Buses, and Taxis".  We left Singapore at 10:30am on a Sunday, flew  to Manila, then connected to Kalibo, another island.  We then hooked up with our transportation tour company, Southwest Tours Boracay, Inc, and they shuffled us and about twenty other tourists to a chartered bus. Including a 15-minute restroom stop (where beer and snacks were also sold - bonus!), the trip was about 1.5 hours. A 10-minute boat ride was next, and we were on the island of Boracay (finally!). One last open air taxi with another lucky couple and we were dropped off in a dark alleyway with our luggage. Price note: the entire round-trip transportation to and from the airport cost our family $75USD total. Crazy cheap!

We were a little apprehensive while walking down the alley to our hotel, but all anxiety went out the window when we came to the entrance.  It was a quaint, stone-lined path with flowers hanging from the roof, with the most friendly staff imaginable awaiting us at the other end.  Our hotel (small resort) was called 7Stones Boracay, and is located on Bulabog Beach.  Bulabog is on the opposite side of White Beach, the most famous Boracay attraction.  Only a five-minute walk from White Beach, Bulabog is known worldwide as a kitesurfing beach due it's breezy nature.  The sea is also not great for swimming there due to the seaweed, but that's where the negatives end.  Trust me, White Beach is great for the day, but when you have a family and need to relax, it is nice to come back to the 7Stones sanctuary!  There was a great pool in the middle of the complex, hammocks and lounge chairs on the beach, a pool bar and a FABULOUS little restaurant. 

We ate breakfast every day at the on-site restaurant, called the 7Note Cafe.  Most days they offered a great brunch, and on less occupied days, they still offered the a la carte menu.  The prices here were very reasonable too, well....anything is reasonable compared to Singapore!  Our friendly bartender, Jovet, suggested we sign up for the "romantic dinner", which while sounding cheesy, was a great deal for a 5-course meal at $95 (all prices quoted are USD), *including* a bottle of wine!  Seriously, I was giddy when I heard this.  So we signed up.  Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, so we had to move it from the beach to (at Jovet's suggestion) an unoccupied room across from ours so we didn't have to eat with the kids!  They had it set up with all lantern light, flowers etc. and Jovet had the kids come over midway through to give me the roses that Jason had thought to buy.  Cheesy - yes.  Totally enjoyable - yes.

The rooms were great here too.  We had a suite, which was a regular room with two double beds connected with a suite with a bedroom, living room, kitchen and veranda.  All for less than $200 a night.  I swear if it wasn't so hard to get here, we'd be back over and over again. 

More important than the rooms or prices, though, the staff was the best part of the resort.  As I said, Jovet was awesome.  Flor, Ed, Jay... we were on a first name basis with almost everyone.  The last night, Flor actually stopped by to say goodbye since she thought she would miss us the next day.  You do not get service like this in the United States.  The last day we also met the owners of the resort, a lovely Canadian couple.  They asked us AND our kids what could be improved, and we helped select new paint colors for the restaurant! 

Okay, enough about the hotel. 

So walking between our hotel and White Beach was interesting...lots of chickens.  And unfortunately, lots of poverty.  This isn't a place where the resorts are separated from the locals.  It's all integrated, which I was thankful for.  It is important to me for the kids to see how most of the world lives, and they definitely got a dose of that here.  The funny part of this is that one day, actually it was Wednesday, the chicken squawking almost stopped.  I think Tuesday night is chicken dinner night.

So most days we wandered over to White Beach.  On the first day we were a little displaced, as we had a stack of hotel towels but nowhere to call home or find shade.  So we holed up at the Red Coconut Beach Hotel, striking a deal with friendly servers Rodele and Rodolfo.  If we ordered food and/or drinks we could use their beachfront lounge chairs.  DEAL!  And this happened every.single.day.  Their bartenders were also obsessed with "Gangnam Style" and had a pretty funny routine down. 

 

 

While at White Beach, we decided to do one activity a day, mostly watersports.  The first day, we did a family banana boat ride.  Holy crap.  I thought I was going to get thrown off, which means I was sure the kids were.  It was fun, but FAST.  And a little scary.  But of course I'd do it again.  The next day we went parasailing.  Cooper was in heaven.  He said "this is the best day of my life", and "I wish we could stay up here all day".  I am pretty sure this was his superhero dreams coming to fruition - he was finally flying!  Sophia loved the parasailing, but isn't a fan of choppy boat rides.  But all in all, a very successful day.  The following day, Jason took a kitesurfing lesson, and then complained about the pain for two weeks. To his credit, it did look really, really hard. 


 

 

Besides White Beach, the other popular beach in Boracay is Puka Shell Beach.  About a 20-minute tricycle ride away (about $4), it is a much less populated beach with some souvenir stalls and a restaurant.  We brought some lunch, a blanket and relaxed until the afternoon rainstorm drove us out.  The kids found a rope swing which of course provided much entertainment. 

 

You may wonder, "what is a tricycle?"  It is pretty much the only mode of transportation on the island.  It is a motorbike with an attached sidecar, and they are EVERYWHERE.  (see pic above)

On Friday, we went cliff jumping at Ariel's Point, but Jason is writing a separate post on that, because it *deserves* it's own post.  That was one crazy day!

Lastly, we did the "Zorb".  It's a huge plastic ball with water in the middle.  You get in and they roll you down a hill.  Yes, it was hilarious.  It was also at the golf course there, which was a gorgeous backdrop. 

Truly the best part of the vacation was the people though.  I think most people in Southeast Asia have been really, really nice, but I admit to a soft spot in my heart for the Filipino people.  One night, Sophia and Cooper were playing outside our hotel and some local kids walked by.  Five minutes later, they were all racing up and down the beach (one boy seriously might be in the Olympics someday...).  It just doesn't get better than that.