People said it was beautiful. People said it has the best beach in the whole country. I never thought I will say this, but damn right, Boracay is Amazing. Like so Amazing I want to visit again.
The reason why I said "I never thought" because although I'm a beach bum, I didn't think that I will be travelling so far to visit a place. First, travelling is not very cheap. Second, I don't like long travels. Third, there are many beach resorts in North Luzon, so why Boracay?
Yes.. why Boracay?
Boracay is located in southern Visayas. The travel time from Pangasinan to Manila (Pasay terminal) is 3 hours 30 minutes via TPLEX. So we travelled at 3 am on June 3. My friends have different flight so only Hazel and I travelled first. We reach the terminal at 6:40am and on the Airport (terminal 4) at 7am. Our flight supposedly was 9:45am but since it is like normal in the Philippines to have delayed flights, we took off at 10:45 am. We chose to travel to Kalibo International Airport because it's way, way cheaper than in Caticlan. (By the way, for the people near Urdaneta, we booked our ticket in PACIFIC CRUISE, located at Gualberto Building. Very accommodating staff and affordable trips). We arrived to Kalibo at 11:45am and went outside by 12NN. Straight up we went to see the bus that was waiting for us. So we travelled again for 2 hours to Caticlan. at 2PM we rode a ferry to go to the Island. and from the Island we rode a cab to the resort. We reach the resort at around 4pm. No lunch nor snacks eaten. Exhausting.
A REVIEW OF LA CARMELA DE BORACAY. Reading the reviews on TripAdvisor.com, we were hesitant to book the hotel. Some said the room is dirty, the air condition is not working, the breakfast is bad. We were supposed to book a room in Boracay Regency but when my friends decided to come with us, we chose the cheaper one.
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| this photo is for representation only. |
The room was clean. The beddings are not "white" white, but not dirty though. the bathroom is also clean, functional, the AC is working. The room is enough for both of us. Even bigger. One piece of advise, in agoda.com from standard rooms, there is semi-deluxe which has higher rate, so we booked for the semi-deluxe but when I saw my friends room (which is the standard) it was exactly same! anyways it's only 200 php higher so its ok.
You get what you paid for of course. If you expect a bigger room, a fancy pool or an amazing service, you book another place or book at a 5-star hotel. But again, I still recommend La Carmela because it is way cheaper than the other resorts and it has class. Most of the time you are outside the resort and indulging yourselves on the beach and in activities. you only need the room to sleep with. For the breakfast buffet, it was ok, though some food are bland. but i would rather have a bland food than salty ones.
I also read another comment (tripadvisor) that they are not doing the housekeeping, but it was clearly stated before we checked in that the housekeeping is not automatic, you can inform them to clean your room if you want to and it is free of charge. It's just funny cause for other nationalities, they understand that they get what they paid for and gives good review whereas Filipinos became instant critics, they scrutinized every single things as if they booked a fancy resort. Again, I recommend La Carmela especially for families and groups who have a tight budget like us. it is not so bad as what is written. THE BEACH AND THE NIGHT LIFE
When we arrived after seeing our room, we immediately went out to check the area. The beach was clean and amazing. The long travel was worth it. I expected that there will be weeds on the shore as they said its rainy season already, and I expected cigarette butts or trashes but it was clean. Their was an ordinance from the municipality stating that Smoking on the sea and seashore is not allowed. It was the busiest beach I have seen.
on the same site (Tripadvisor.com), there are list of things and foods you need to experience when you're in boracay. So we searched and tried those things as many as we can. We first searched for the "d talipapa", according to reviews, it is where you can find cheap food and fresh sea food. basically you will buy fresh sea foods, then you will have to give it to the restaurants and they'll cook it for you. We checked the place but we didn't eat there. It is not cheap, I'm telling you. and Then you need to wait for your food to cook, but we are already starving to shop and to wait so we decided to go to Mang Inasal. You will never go wrong with mang inasal (haha). After eating, We headed back to the room and took a short shower, then we searched for the Jona's fruit shake. It is, however, located in Station 1, so we walked for like 30 minutes to reach it. It was normal, Nothing extraordinary so i don't know why it is in the list.
My friends came at around 7pm. After touring them to their room, we went outside to eat dinner. Another good thing in Boracay, the food is not that expensive. Usually people would take advantage of tourist spots that they tend to put higher price, but here in Boracay , you can have buffet meals for as low as 300php.
Most of the bars are located in Station 2. If you want peaceful and quiet place, book hotels in station 1 and 3. We have some beers while the girls treated themselves with massage. We (at least, I) stayed until 12mn and decided to go back to the room as I was very exhausted.
On the second day of our escapade, We were welcomed with a cooling breeze as it was raining, but after we ate breakfast, the rain stopped. It was the perfect time to swim! We were scheduled on an island tour at 9:30am so the first activity we tried was the paddle boarding. It cost 400php for an hour and we could all use it. The original plan only is take picture on it, but they rented it anyways. The funniest thing in that activity is when Geeson, Ronel and I tried to ride the paddle board all at the same time (We did not succeed haha)
We went on the Island tour. (btw, Island tour net price is 600php. Activities are located in Station 3) First stop was in Crocodile Island where we also did snorkeling and fish feeding. Since we failed to snorkel, we remove our headgears and mask and just enjoyed the beach. haha After that we went to take Lunch in one island (I forgot the name lol). It was Filipino buffet. Damn right, it was so satisfying. the lunch is worth 200php but it is already included in the whole package of the tour. Then we go to another island, the crystal cove. It was a private island, so those who wanted to go inside should pay for another 200. We chose not to, but one Korean wanted to go inside so we didn't have a choice but to wait for him. We are not allowed to swim in the area, so we were just near the sea shore. Although we were waiting, we definitely did not bore ourselves as Geeson was really entertaining, like everything that comes from his mouth is funny. after 30 minutes of waiting, finally we went to the PUKA Beach, another island. Funny is that it is supposed to be Island hopping but we did not try to check the island. We loved the beach. We went back to Boracay island at 3:30PM. We started right away on our next activity, The Banana boat. the activity was ok, not extreme. It cost 250 per head. Yet you'll enjoy it if you are with your friends, well I enjoyed it. After that, we did the fly fish which is 350 per head. It was so fun and thrilling. We finished at 5:30pm, went back to our rooms to take shower, then went out again to eat and drink. I stayed up to 12mn only again, because I was so tired.
On the third day we supposed to take the helmet diving but because we lack time, we were not able to. We swim again instead. 9:30 when we started to shower and pack. We checked out at 10:30am.
So Let me Go back to The Question. "Why Boracay?". Well my answer... Why not?
The long travels and expense were worth it. Boracay is a place for beach lovers. This is a place that is worthy visiting again. It is also best enjoyed with good friends. I'm glad that we have to experience Boracay, All for the first time.
