Tricia the Explorer! :D Proud to be a Filipina!: Boracay Island, Aklan Province :D

February 6-10 2012

Who doesn't know Boracay??

Starlite Navigator Front Deck

Boracay is well known all over the world and considered as one of the best beaches in the globe!

It is known for its powder white sand, crystal like water and its ever beautiful sunset.

From Antipolo city, we traveled for about 4 hours all the way to Batangas Port (land travel) and board the Ro- Ro Vessel (Roll on- Roll off) specifically the Starlite Navigator and enjoyed the sea travel for 3 hours. The wind is so strong and I'm loving it! :D Cool wind baby!

Hi to sir Erik the guy in blue that pops his head out :D

We stayed at the Upper deck because the lower deck is full and we find it boring to just stay inside the air-conditioned room connected to the canteen.

Just chillin outside :D

This is where we stayed, its an open area where we can chat and play around haha! Just make sure not to disturb other passengers :D

Main Deck

See? the people looks very serious and tired so obviously its boring! :D this is the main deck of the ship and yeah it is air-conditioned :D

YUM YUM YUM!

I bought an ENSAYMADA a local pinoy bread topped with cheese butter and sugar! MY FAVE! :D

I suggest that if you will travel bring with you some snacks because some of the foods available in a Ro- Ro is shockingly expensive for a student like me! :D And the variants is limited :D Remember your on the sea! :D what do you expect? a huge grocery store on a ship? haha :D

Looks like a geothermal plant :D

As far as your eyes can see is water! :D We can see few Islands from far away and its so fantastic :D We roamed around the vessel and bought some snacks from their canteen and went up and down stairs! I don't want to just sit and wait :D

Kids waiting for some alms :(

In no time we reached the Calapan Mindoro Port then while waiting for the go signal to got out from the ship kids ranging from 7 - 12 years old is swimming and diving just beside our vessel asking for some coins.. :( Just to have some food on their table they need to stay at the water more than an hour and wait for the tourist to give them alms.. It's so dangerous for them..

Welcome to MINODORO! :D

Then from Calapan is another land travel for about 3 hours. We ate our dinner inside the bus just outside the Port of Roxas and as far as I remember it is around 10 pm :D

Then we waited for our Departure Time, I think its 12 midnight and as we board the ship we walk as fast as we could to have ourselves a comfortable place and yeah we did it! :D The ship now has double deck beds. But we were not able to sleep because its to cold and the fluorescent light is just above our bed. We are not prepared so we didn't bring any pillows or jackets wah! :D

Boarding the Final Boat :D

At around 4 am we reached the Caticlan port and its stone throw away from Boracay! Excitment really keeps me awake! :D We waited for the 1st boat that will bring us to the Island, 5:30 am!!! yeah and its time to ride this small boat that has 25 person capacity. All our luggage are placed on top of the boat cool! :D Then, we still need to ride a cab that will bring us to our hotel :D

WELCOME TO BORACAY ISLAND!!! :D

after an exhausting overnight travel! 3 hours of seminar! At last! For real I can now play with the 4 km stretch of white sand and crystal waters together with my 1st day buddy Jenny :D Even without sleep we managed to walk from end to end and feel get familiarized with the island :D

Willy's Rock (grotto) Station 1 :D

Willy's Rock is a very famous landmark of the Island. It is composed of huge rocks just nearby the seashore and during low tide you can go up to the grotto without your foot getting wet :D I really make it the point to visit the place

Feel the sun! :D Low tide baby! :D

One of the high class resorts

My fave picture ever! Can you imagine how fine the sand is?

Yeah shadow heart! :D

Tired feet wah! we ride a tricycle to bring us to the station 3 it costs us 10 Php each :D

Tricycle and Pedicabs are the only public transportation available in the island. So make sure to try it! from station 1 to station 3 is about 4 km. We also had the chance to see the other side of the island, We captured some residential areas, schools, hospitals, boutique, and other establishments :D

We spent our whole day roaming around looking for some new stuffs to learned about :D
A tip for you guys! :D Every time you will go a new place make it to the point to try what they have to offer and ask the locals to share to you some facts about the place to make your visit more productive and unforgettable.. Make the most out of every chances :D

At night time we deep at the waters for a about an hour then walk by the sea shore to see what the Night Life of Boracay has to offer! :D We saw about 5 groups of fire dancers from each seashore bar. We also spotted some kapatid stars like Rainier Castillo and Jc De Vera :D And Yes I had a picture with them :D

Yeah the confidence! XD

I'm in Bora so I tried to show off some skin! O.o

Fire Dance at station 1 :D sizzling hot! woah

Us with Jc de Vera :D

Us with my long time crush Rainier Castillo :D

2nd day, We had an awesome team building with the whole SIHM, It really makes my tummy and jaw hurt due to funny incidents! like rolling all over down the shore due to dizziness of turning around 10 times! :D

We had our lunch at Mang Inasal then after that! :D It's time for some fun! :D My 2nd day buddies are Josef(newly found friend haha) and Genie(classmate).

We tried the package 1st is the Banana Boat Ride! :D I was so lucky to be at the very 1st sit! The exposure is everywhere haha!

I cant see things clear due to the water hahah! XD see the girl beside me she has her own goggles clever one! :D

Thanks to the speed boat guys who took our pictures! wahaha I think we are about 20 on the banana boat ride :D

They said that when you fell down from it then its a success! so we asked them to do everything to flip the boat but unfortunately. They stopped doing it for the safety of the tourists I remember how we shout LIKO! LIKO! to the left! to the right! :D

The helmets! :D

Helmet Diving! :D

1st we had an orientation on how to adapt to the pressure below. For we will be walking 10 feet below.. :D

It weighs 26 kilos but if underwater, it will only be 2 kilos :D heavy right? to keep the helmet from tilting up to avoid the air to come out from the helmet :D

Josef, Genie and Me Holding blue star fish wah! at 1st we thought its a toy! :D I feel like I'm inside a giant aquarium..fishes swimming around you.. They give us a fish food so that fishes will go near to us :D

We tried to sat down the sea floor to have a nice picture of the corals and it gives me a hard time standing straight again wahaha thanks to their helping hand! :D We stayed under water for about 15 minutes after that, well trained scuba divers helped us to go up. I can feel my ears hurt while going up and down due to pressure.. :D But its normal nothing to worry about :D

Island Hopping :D

Then, The Island Hopping! :D Its about an hour of exploring nearby Islands. We went to Puca Beach a secluded part of the Island, where rich tourists who wants a very peaceful and relaxing vacation chose to stay. It is also where the Most expensive hotel is located, the SHANGRI-LA BORACAY RESORT & SPA

Shangri-la Resort and Spa on the back :D

Puca Beach :D

We stayed their for about 30 min. the waves here is stronger and the water is deeper than on the main island. One should rent a boat just to go the main island :D We picked played with the waves and small crab-lets running all over the place.

Feeling the beach :D

Pacman's Hotel looks like majinboo's house

We went back to the main island, take a refreshing bath and tried, one of the reasons why people kept on going back to Boracay... The Dinner Buffet by the shore that costs us 250 Php :D Fresh sea foods really make me crave for more.

left chef and josef, right genie and me :D

different shell designs XD haha

Me, Chef Erik, Josef and Genie had an awesome full packed dinner together with laughing trips! XD, now I can say that I'm on the beach! :D After that we tried the famous mango shake for 60 Php.. And walk all the way to station 1 and 3 :D while drinking a bit to chill the night :D After few bottles I feel the headache and do some laugh trips haha! :D

Mango Shake Love it! :D

Last Resort of Station 1 :D FRIDAYS! XD

Few Tanduay Ice for the night

At around 3 pm we decided to retire from our full packed day. Genie, Me and Josef decided to sleep together so that at around 5 am we will start to walk and make our last day worthwhile! :D We are the 1st to enter the breakfast room but our eyes are so bulging XD XD

Willy's Rock at the back :D Thanks to the girl who volunteered be our photographer

The Sun make our eyes small! haha

Then here we go! as early as 6 am we were able to capture the sunrise and took lots of beautiful photo's together! Then at around 10 am we went back to our hotel to pack our things and buy some souvenirs from d' talipapa :D

It's time to say goodbye to the Island and go back to our regular life! haha :D 3 days of leisure with no stress at all! :D We will be experiencing an overnight travel once again! but now we are more prepared backed up with foods, jacket and pillows :D

As Josef is sleeping, Genie and I decided to chat with one of the crew and asked him to tour us inside the vessel and yeah we did it! HOORAY! :D More learning for the day! :D I was able to imagine the life of the crew who needs to go far away from their families :D I even went to the main engine its so noisy and hot inside, kitchen of the crews, even to their quarters or personal bedrooms :D I also met the Captain and some other off duty crew's :D