For those of you who has never traveled to Boracay and wants to pay a visit to the famous tourist island of Philippines, here's a little tip on how to travel into Boracay.

It can be a little confusing for most first time visitors as unlike most popular island destinations around the world, getting to Boracay island isn't a straight forward affair.

To begin with, there are two airports that can bring you to Boracay:

Caticlan Airport - caters to the more luxurious airlines such as Air Philippines and Cebu Pacific Air; the airport is smaller and is the closest airport to Boracay island itself.

Kalibo Airport - the more common choice among travelers servicing larger aircraft such as Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, has more routes and also services more airlines including budget airline such as ZestAir which sometimes throws promotion to get you from Manila Airport to Boracay in under USD10 (before tax). The airport is also 90 minutes away from the island, which means you lose half a day on the road and getting in to the island.


Getting from Caticlan Airport to Boracay: 
Both airports are located outside of Boracay Island. From Caticlan, you would need to hire a local tricycle just outside the airport to get to the Caticlan Jetty Port few minutes away. Then queue to buy your ferry ticket (Php 25-30) as well as paying for the environmental fee (P100) AND terminal fee (P100), present your ID if you're a student or senior citizen to get a discount. Make sure you pay and collect all your tickets and receipts before entering the terminal or you will be booted out.
Once getting to Boracay island, you still need to pay for another tricycle (around P100-200) to get to your hotel on the White Beach, categorized by Station 1, Station 2 and Station 3.

It is recommend to stay at either Station 1 and 2 if you want to be close to all the actions and tourist hotspots.

Getting from Kalibo Airport to Boracay:
It's pretty much the same as getting from Caticlan Airport but from a much farther location. It's said to be 90 minutes away from the Caticlan Jetty but depending on your arrival time, getting into the rush hour jam will stretch your travel time to 2 hours or more. By the time you check into your hotel, chances are you will arrive at your hotel during dusk or at night.

When you get into the airport, you will see a lot of booths at the luggage collection area selling bus/minivan ticket with/without ferry tickets from P250-350. The minivan leaves when it has 10 passengers or more so beware of peak season when you may need to wait longer for an available ride.



Verdict:
So which is better? Well arriving at Caticlan Airport can cost twice as much (P8-10,000) on regular fare compared to arriving via Kalibo Airport (P4000) and sometimes up to 10 times more when you have a seat sale on a budget airline. Unless time is a bigger concern over budget, most visitors will fly into Kalibo.

My suggestion is book a decent hotel and have the hotel arrange transportation to pick you up at Kalibo airport. You will have people escorting you onto a bus upon your arrival, as well as people escorting you in to the terminal without the fuss of queuing to pay for all the fees and queuing to get into the terminal. If you have big luggages, there will be assistance so less hassle for you. When arriving at Boracay, a private hotel van or car will be waiting for you at the jetty to drive you to the front of the hotel. Each way transfer fee will set you back P1700 but it is well worth the hassle and you don't have to worry about ferry or bus schedule on either side as the hotel will do the worrying for you.




Enjoy your trip! (if you're going)

After being really blonde, I went through another bleaching session again and this time came out an ash blonde. Still a lot more work to go but it was getting there.

The Straight

This hairstyle requires so much blow-drying it's only worth it when you visit the salon and get people to do it for you.

Necklace and teardrop pendant from Ollie Jewellery




Dress: Miss Selfridge
Watch: Guess


The Curly

Under certain light it looked ash blonde, but when exposed to sunlight it looked bright orange blonde.
The curl I was playing with here was inspired by the long bob lots of Japanese girls have in Tokyo. In fact, it was what inspired me to cut my hair in the first place.




Kitty Top: got it travelling (can't remember where)
Peplum skirt: Zara
Shoes: Aldo
Bangles 1 & 2: Aldo


The In-Between

My poor attempt to blow-dry my hair straight. I wasn't very determined at it. So it came out not so curly, not so straight.


Tank top: Mango / MNG
Dip-back skirt: Asos
See-through jacket: Shilin Night Market in Taipei, Taiwan


Bonus ootd: The Unwashed

 Two days of raining, which was what curly hair turned into on my head.
Chilling in Starbucks on a rainy cold day.

Nightmare before Christmas Skeleton Jumper: Hong Kong Disneyland

It was a point in time when my hair was going through a bleaching process that would take several months before it would reach the color I desire, which was somewhere between ash, ash blonde and platinum blonde.

So for a period of time I had to be a blonde, which I didn't really like because it was difficult for me to pull off elegance and sophistication in a bright orange blonde hair.

But not for wanting to try. So these are my OOTDs in those times.

Sequin Crop Top

Sequin top and full circle skirt from Topshop.


The Cute Ponytail

Cropped cover-up jacket: Zara
Top: Mango / MNG
Skirt: Miss Selfridge
Shoes: Aldo


earrings and necklace set: gifts from Oman


Pretty in Pink

Top: Taiwan
Floral print skirt: Miss Selfridge
Head band: Shibuya 109 Tokyo, Japan
Necklace: Bangkok, Thailand


The Try-Out Piece

Not so much an ootd. I tried this dress out in Jaspal and thought it's worth a blog feature. I didn't buy it because I was punishing myself after spending too much money; still, it's such a lovely dress.


Black Lace Seduction

Dress from Asos. 

I managed to witness the first light of dawn in Coron on the day of my departure.

Dragging my luggage down the steps after waking up too early, I arrived at the jetty in complete darkness. It was hard to make out my surroundings save for the gentle waves beneath the planks.

As I settled down on a wooden chair and table, I felt about for the hot water bottle left overnight to make myself a poor excuse for a tea. And wait.



There was not more than 10 people within 500 square meters around us (there's a small fishing village in the island across). I've never experienced such complete silence with the break of dawn, and eeriness. No fish leaping around, nor birds chirping, nor distant boat zooming by. The dark violet sky lightened with each passing minute and I knew my time here was coming to an end.

By the time we hauled our luggage onto the boat with the help of the boatmen and zoomed out and away from the island, the sky has turned a bright pale bronze. The rays shot warming sensation on my face despite the ocean breeze. I'd told myself I'd come back here, next year, same month. But rarely do we remember our own words, and rarely do we return. It would be a great many years before I see the waters here again, if I were lucky.

It's a comforting thought, nonetheless, to convince myself I won't be away for too long so leaving won't be as difficult. For a dreamer, wistful thinking was the preferable choice over heavy goodbyes.



From Coron, Palawan, I will always have fond memories of diving into sunken World War 2 ships, descending through a thermocline in a volcanic lake, swam in the most beautiful fresh water lake, and watched a rainbow color sunset over South China Sea.

It was the last of our diving days in Coron before our departure back to Manila and then off to Boracay.
I decided it was time to have some photos taken with the beautiful sea here before heading off the next day. Alas, upon returning from our morning dives, it started to rain.


shot with Casio ZR700 at high speed mode
It's amazing what digital camera can do these days with current technology. Each droplet was captured amidst falling.

I love rain by the beach on an island, especially when you have shelter right above the water. The smell is intoxicating. I could read a book or drink a cuppa hot cocoa and watch the sun set.

If there was any perfect moment to a holiday, it had to be this.







Top: Massimo Dutti
Shorts: Bershka
Flat pumps: Voir
Anklet: Thailand
Fish necklace: whitesoot

I used contact lens by vivifashion.blogdrive.com. Grey lens.

These days I don't like lenses that are too enlarging, I change the colors of my lens according to my outfit and hair color of the day. Most of the time I try to opt for a more natural look (though what's natural about grey eyes and blonde hair on an Asian?).

I find it irritating when people dye their hair blonde but never bother with their brows. It looks so wrong.
If one decides to remove pigment from one's hair, might as well go all the way and applies the same to the brows and eyes.

There were many firsts on this dive.

It was my first lake dive, a.k.a. fresh water dive.

My first dive without my wet-suit.

First dive without needing to wash my equipment afterwards.

First volcanic lake dive (we're talking REAL hot temperature here).

Finally, first thermocline dive.

A dive where the temperature gets from cold to hot, hotter, too hot as one descends.



On the surface where tourists splashed about, the water temperature was just like every other lake, cooling and nice.

As I climbed and dragged my equipment over my shoulder, the weight of my BCD and oxygen tank sank into my skin without the protection of my wetsuit. Settling into the water, we began to descend into the lake till a water line where the cold met hot.


The thermocline. Above a cooling 26 degree Celcius water, below, hot scorching 39 degree Celcius water.

Swimming through the thermocline was a big blur, literally. It was like having your cornea sliced open and nothing in sight was clear. While the temperature might seem/feel unbearable, you pushed on thinking to yourself: "if my dive guide could do it, I could do it".

Temperature rised mercilessly till you hit bottom of the lake where it's covered in volcanic ash. It did look like a sea bed filled with sand, only there was no living thing in sight.

Then my dive guide proceeded to do a head dive into the ground.




wow!

Here's a video:




Okay, definitely not sand.

Our camera soon died of battery but our experience diving in the Barracuda lake of Coron was definitely one of the most fascinating. We swam into a small but really long cave where lava used to flow through, fit for one person per passage at any given time, testing one's claustrophobia and tolerance for heat. I didn't know if it was my mind or the water got really hot as we ventured deeper into the cave. It was unnerving to think where the cave could lead. To the core of the volcano perhaps. I'm lol-ing at the unlikeliness of it, but it was a scary thought at the time.

And because there was no current, we could take off our fins and play spiderman jumping from one cliff to another underwater without the fear of being dragged away by currents.

Surfacing was another delight as we swam through the thermocline again and experienced chill against our heated skin. If you're never dive through a thermocline before, this will be a highlight dive in Coron; if you're not a fan of heated water, I'd still recommend you to do it for an awesome head-in-ash photo opp.

In case you're wondering why it's called a Barracuda lake was because there was ONE big barracuda living above the thermocline in the lake. Just one. Uno. Ichi. Yea, I didn't know about fresh water barracuda. Must be a lonely fish. 


Read about my article on Wreck Diving in Coron. 

Coron wrecks are, if anything, a legend.

Many people travel to Palawan to witness mother nature's beauty. Two most famous destinations in Palawan are El Nido and Coron; after reading reviews on the battle between the two, Coron seems to stand out a little closer to the crown of nature's pageant.

Though in my personal opinion, the hidden jewel of Coron doesn't lie in God's "little extra effort" on this piece of land but of its man-made result.

Under this ocean lie many metal monsters left behind from World War 2: cargo vessels, battle ships, etc. And of all my years of wreck diving, diving into the water here was like a kid in candy land. Ships, one bigger than the other, darker, longer, deeper penetration and narrow twisted compartments all hidden away beneath the deep ocean bed.



Located between the depths of 12 feet all the way down to 42 feet, the wrecks here aren't for the faint hearted. You need excellent buoyancy control, great maneuvering skills, good conserve oxygen usage so you'd last longer in deep depth and GUTS, lots of it.  Areas of the some of these ships are so narrow, it will require an advanced diver to detach his own BCD (oxygen tank together) to swim through small tight spaces and tunnels; whereas other areas are so vast and deep no amount of torch light is able to penetrate through the darkness.


You want me to squeeze through this?! (that's what my face was saying)

Few notable wrecks here are Irako (being the biggest and deepest), Okikawa Maru, Akitsushima, Olympia Maru, Kogyo Maru, Tangat Gun Boat and Kyokuzan Maru. Though if you have the time and finance, there are enough wrecks here, big and small, to fill a week's worth of dives. Just remember to bring cash as there are no ATMs if you're staying on smaller islands.


Too close for comfort. 


where does it go? nobody knows. 




Do these stairs go up? or down? It's hard to tell underwater. 




Safety stop




chilling by a window


Bye. 
Actually this was how I descended when diving. 


How to get there: Fly in to Manila. Then take local airline (i.e. PAL express) to Busuanga Airport in Coron.


Read about my article on Thermocline Dive in Coron.