Continuation from https://gettingtoknowtheworld.com/2013/01/10/philippines-pilippines-or-filippines-part-2-manila
Boracay
Mix together a 1/2 cup of Miami, 2/3 cup of Cancun (without the teenagers), and about a 1/3 cup of Jamaica and you have Boracay. Boracay is a beautiful and fun island in the Philippines with long stretches of beach with sand at the door steps of the hotels, mini clubs, restaurants, stores and bars; bamboo structures and farm animals (roosters and goats) sprinkled throughout the island just behind the beach; crystal clear water with tropical fish and boats floating about.
Boracay is a vibrant, energetic, island. There are tons of water sports to do there – we didn’t do any of them but they did look like fun. At night there are tons of restaurants to choose from and there are amazing fire shows given by lady boys and boy dancers all over the place. They really do provide a spectacular show. There are tents set up in front of the main buildings with food, drinks, and music as well. On Friday nights most of the restaurants will have buffets on the beach with a dinner show. The cover band at the restaurant we ate at had an amazing cover band. The lead singer even sang a Whitney Houston song pretty good and the crew (chefs and waiters) danced to Gangman Style.
Getting to Boracay via Kalibo
Getting to Boracay from Kalibo Airport is something that you can do on your own. A lot of tour companies and airlines sell tickets for the service of someone walking you through this process this is completely unnecessary. When you land at Kalibo Airport you will be greeted by a host of van, bus, and car companies that will offer you transportation to Catlican to take a ferry to Boracay. You then take about a 2 hour ride (unless the bus company you choose stops for 20 minutes at their rest stop store) to the Catlican ferry terminal. When you arrive there you will have to pay a terminal fee and an environmental fee although you purchased your ferry ticket through the land transportation provider that you just used. The ferry that everyone calls a ferry is actually a pump boat (there is one ferry there but I’ve never seen or heard of anyone using it). You get on the next available pump-boat and take a 15 minute ride to Boracay. Once you arrive you hire a tricycle to take you to your hotel and that’s it. It sounds like a lot of steps but it is honestly a very simple herd following process.
Tibiao
While looking for activities in Boracay I found out about Tibiao, a place that most people including Filipinos have never heard of. Tibiao is full of options for those with adventure in their hearts. I booked a local guide in advance with Katahum Tours a locally owned and operated company. Using them I had to book my own transportation from Boracay but that provided a huge savings. The options we chose to do were: Waterfalls, Butong River swimming and diving, Kawa Hot Bath, Pottery and Brick Making, and Kayaking.
Once we got to Tibiao Fish Spa we were picked up on motorcycles and headed to Bugtong-Bato a small village where you will pick up a local guide to trek the waterfalls (we did stop to pick up lunch once we arrived but there were just a few options so pack a lunch). So we were riding on the street and then there’s a turn and we are riding a motorcycle up a mountain on an unpaved road WHOA. Nothing happened we are ok but WHOA. After that we went kayaking and had an amazing time – keep rowing! After kayaking we were cooked in the Kawa Hot Bath, which pretty much is just a photo shot; it takes a long time to heat up and you’re sitting in smoke, once it heats up and the tub is cooled down it’s a cool 5-10 minute experience. Since it rained the previous day we were only able to climb the waterfalls, take a Kawa Hot Bath, and go Kayaking. The extra water did make the white water kayaking a bit more fun!
Getting to Tibiao
- Take first (5 am) Ferry to Catlican
- Take Ceres bus (5:30 am) going to Iloilo via San Jose, Antique (3 hours)
- Ask driver to let us off at Tibiao Fish Spa
Getting to Know the World 