Boracay, Philippines: planes, trains, automobiles, buses, boats, and tuk-tuks

Our first day on the beach!

Well that was an adventure, to say the least!  Wow, I had no idea when I looked into Boracay as a nice little beach getaway with my parents before heading to Manila for a wedding  (in which they would be watching Ava in their hotel room) that I was getting into such a debacle! If you look on a map, Boracay Island sits fairly close to Manila, which means not too far of an airplane ride away from KL, so one would think it would be fairly easy to get to. Yea, so not the case here! That being said, what an unbelievably amazing beach island it was & definitely worth the ride….I only wish we had more time there!

Here was our adventure in simply getting there alone…..

Gpa with Ava on the first flight!

On the coach bus from Kalibo to the Caticlan jetty!

Our wooden boat!!

This is how wide the boat was…

Our glamorous ride to the hotel!

A pic of our boat the day we left showing the golf bags being hoisted to the top!

After taking 2 taxis to fit the 5 of us plus 3 golf bags and luggage to KL Sentral from our house, we jetted off to KLIA for a quick 3 hour flight to Manila. The flight was uneventful…the best kind with a baby…and we arrived in Manila ready to go. However, the problem with Manila airport is that its a sh*thole, pardon the expression. We collected all of our bags and schlepped them to the curb to take a taxi to their domestic terminal (so annoying its not connected). After forgetting 2 very important bags at the curb, we rescued them and finally arrived 10 min later back at the scary small domestic terminal for a 1 hour flight to Kalibo (one of 2 airports that service Boracay…since there are no airports on the actual island…yea, its that small!). 2 Side notes: we could have flown into Caticlan, which is closer to Boracay, but it was over triple the price by the time we looked into booking it- ouch & now of course as of April, Air Asia has a direct flight into Kalibo which saves you the headache of time and hassle of transferring in Manila, but this trip was back in March, bad luck of timing for us! Anyway, once we arrived into the very teeny tiny Kalibo airport, we picked up all our bags (remember, with baby and golf bags) and boarded a bus (big like a coach bus) and proceeded to be told it would be a 2 hour bus ride through the mountains to the jetty at Caticlan to board a boat for Boracay- um, I’m sorry what? We were seriously not expecting that long of a ride.  I got car sick due to the windy roads and a sleeping baby in the ergo carrier on my chest, but still the sightseeing from the bus was amazing I must say. Once we arrived at the Caticlan jetty it was dusk and night was falling by the second! By the time we actually boarded the “boat” it was dark. I say “boat” because we had to walk down a wooden plank with baby (lucky for us the strong Philippino men schlepped our bags) to a 6 ft long and 1 ft wide wooden contraption for a 20 min ride across the bay to the secluded island of Boracay. Um yea, no joke. At least there were lifejackets hanging from the ceilings. And don’t worry, all our bags were on the roof of this wooden boat. Wow. Just wow. Once we got to the other side, and thankfully the waters were nice and calm, we schlepped up the gangplank to a motorized tuk-tuk where we rode for another 20 minutes to our hotel at the famous Station 1 beach: The Boracay Beach Club. Holy moly what a ride but let me tell you, 100% worth it! Seriously, from Kuala Lumpur it took us about 13 hours to get to our hotel, door to door! Crazy.

So Boracay Island….

It’s the most gorgeous island and beach I have seen, apart from the Maldive Islands, easily the most amazing in SE Asia thus far for us! The island is literally only about 7km long and 1km wide- that’s it! Amazingly small which is why there is no airport on the island. There is something so romantic and exotic about finding an island that takes forever and a day to get to and is so small not even an airport is on it. Sounds dreamy, secluded, and serene doesn’t it? I mean, don’t get me wrong, they can pack people on that island and there are tons of hotels, shops, and eateries. But still, it felt different. Anyway, since we arrived at dark and oh so tired, we didn’t see the beach at all. They checked us in and we ate dinner at the hotel and promptly passed out.

You could walk to this little “island”…only about knee deep!

Breathtaking!

Simply stunning scenery!

The beach at Station 1

There was a statue of the Virgin Mary on top!

Bought some hats 🙂

Hilarious! Next door to us the Obama Grill! Needless to say with my parents…we did NOT eat there- LOL 🙂

The Boracay Beach Club beachfront area- Ariel’s House

Eating some fresh mango on her go-pod!

Our little beach babe is all set to play!

The hotel, The Boracay Beach Club, was rated highly on both Agoda and TripAdvisor and I can see why. It’s only about a 3 1/2, maybe 4 star hotel, but the location is key and the service top notch. The rooms were fine, a bit basic but clean and nice, and the beds just ok. There was a nice restaurant, a pool, and directly across the street form the famed Station 1 beach. We had a 4 night package which included breakfast, drink coupons at happy hour, a boat ride at sunset, parasailing, and poolside massages- nice right?!

Happy Hour at the beach!

Tide is going out….people swarm the beach for a stroll to dinner!

Love my little family.

The fearless fivesome at sunset!! So happy my parents could join us!

It’s setting….

Stunningly vibrant colors!

Almost gone…

peaceful

Love this shot!

Ava photobombed the sunset!

Stormy evening!!

Our first morning we woke and had breakfast and then walked across the street to the beach and to say we were at a loss for words upon arrival is an understatement! We were completely blown away by the majestic beauty of it all (and later realized they serve breakfast ON the beach….what we did the remainder of the trip). I mean seriously, pure white sand, crystal clear water, and miles of walkable beachfront. Simply stunning. That first day we just walked the beach, played in the water, and just enjoyed doing nothing at all.

Ava LOVED the water and the sand….loved it. Couldn’t get her off the beach at the end of every day!

At night its amazing to see the beach transform. There is a wicked tide change (very calm waters though!) from day to night and it goes WAY out and super gradual so we would take our stroller and just walk on the hard sand up to Station 2, where the majority of the island’s shopping & nightlife is, about a 10 minute walk, and pick a restaurant to eat at while enjoying some wine and entertainment- be it singing, dancing, or people watching. There is just something about eating with your toes in the sand, glass of cold white wine in hand, surrounded by your loved ones, isn’t there?! Heavenly.

Coffee & milk with a view!

The crazy threesome at golf!

Ava gave her Gma some awesome lovin’!!

The next day David, my dad, and I went golfing at the only golf course on the island, Fairways & Bluewater Golf Course, while my mom watched Ava. Such a treat for me! It was the first time I was back on the course since having her and of course leaving her with Gma was a no brainer. Although the course was not in good shape (super dry with no rainfall), it had breathtaking vistas and we enjoyed ourselves so much!! I mean, of course I would when I BEAT them both- woohoo!! Not bad for my first time back eh?! They did not have stellar rounds, to be fair ;). But still…yea me! We enjoyed cocktails at Ariel House (the name of our hotel restaurant/bar on the beach) at sunset and once again walked up to Station 2 for dinner….such a great time yet again.

relaxed & happy!

She’s obsessed with sucking her thumb and rubbing on daddy’s left ear…not the right one, the left one only- LOL!

Just one of our yummy meals had over the week!

The following day, our 3rd full day, we just lazed once again at the beach….soaking in the sun, the sand, and the company. What a relaxing day doing nothing at all! And of course with Ava, we really couldn’t do some of the awesome excursions they offered (cliff diving, snorkeling, sailing, etc) but thats ok, it was fun to just people watch and chill out, much needed for us all!

Ava was a celebrity in Boracay! All our waitresses and waiters just adored spending time with her every day and of course she hammed it up every day!

A morning stroll with coffee on our final day!

Our final day we were able to relax until about noon, when we had to make the dreaded trip back to Manila for the wedding we were to attend the following day. You know what that meant: a 20 minute van ride (this time), a 20 min wooden boat ride, a 2 hour coach bus ride, a 1 hour flight, and finally a 15 min taxi to our hotel: The Shangri-la in Makati. Not a bad way to end the day, might I add! We dined in Makati at the Greenbelt and passed out for a big day!

Parents night out!

Breathtaking bride!

Gorgeous flowers & tablescapes!

Simply stunning reception!

My parents were so gracious in watching Ava all day Sunday while we got ready and attended the most extravagant weddings I have ever seen!! Seriously: a 2 hour Catholic ceremony at a gorgeous church followed by about a 2 hour break until the cocktail hour before the reception at the Shangri-la. Ah-ma-zing!! Easily there were over 900 people in attendance and they put on the most amazing dog & pony show I have ever seen. Gorgeous couple, gorgeous food & drink, gorgeous setting, and gorgeous company at our table. What a fun night out for us :).

Completely wiped but loved every second!

Well thats about it folks, what an adventure right? As always, thanks for reading and thanks for your patience as this post is clearly overdue….like over 1 month- whoops!

Until next time, find some white sand to run your toes through….its an instant relaxer~

Kimbra