Boracay in April

I came to Boracay seeking sun so I could get a tan, so I was more than a little peeved that my first step onto the island was greeted with a torrential rainshower. The sun only peeked out long enough for us to get out onto the beach. The rest of the afternoon we were pelted by a light drizzle.

Still all smiles. After all, we’re in Boracay!

Our day was pretty laid back capped off by dinner at this steakhouse in D*Mall called Valhalla. If there were an award for the most misspelled menu, it would go hands down to Valhalla’s, which seems never to have seen the light of spellcheck.

Even the name of the menu was misspelled.

At least the food was good.

Because this time around I’d committed to doing things I’ve never done in Boracay, I woke up really early the next day so I could take a long walk down to the end of Station Three. As I walked along the shoreline, the feel of the beachfront establishments changed from urbanized to rustic; I’ve been told that Station Three preserves a little more of the old Boracay, where things are more laidback.

As the sun rose, it turned into an overcast morning. Going into the water was also an ordeal due to heavy algal growth on the beach. And due to some seawall newly built on another part of the island, the currents on White Beach have been crashing more heavily into Station One’s shores, eating away at the beach. Not really a good state of affairs when development starts to destroy what is part of the charm of a place.

We’re the pretty sight.

I was introduced to zipping on our first day, and it challenged me so much that I went out and bought a pair for myself. No, I’m not about to start my own firedancing career (a la Rachel Lobangco), but it’s a pretty fun way to burn some calories. Now if only I could figure out how not to hit myself on the head so much. I also tried riding a flying fish and got thrown off on the last round. It was a pretty high-impact day.

It’s so much fun!

On our last full day in Boracay, the sun came out bright and strong. We started the day right at Real Coffee.

Yum yum yum!

There we bumped into Neil, Peter, and Yamil from Scuba World, a dive shop on Station One. They offered us a great deal on kayaks, so after spending an hour or so just swimming we decided to take some kayaks up to Friday’s Resort on the northern tip of White Beach.

I’m paddling, I’m paddling!

We landed on the shore of Friday’s and rolled around on the powder-fine sand. Boracay’s sand all along White Beach may be the best in the world, but at Friday’s the sand is extra special.

Noelle on the beach.

We spent the rest of the day just on the beach. The sky was cloudless, and we realized this would be the first and last sunset we’d see on this particular trip to Boracay.

sitting in the sunset at The Tides