Summer has just begun and what a way to spend my early summer escapade is to spend it in Boracay with Eman’s family (my Paparts). I’ve never been there and many of my colleagues mentioned that Boracay is such an awesome paradise.

I’ve purchased the tickets two months before the scheduled date and it made me a thrill to feel the ambiance of what I’ve seen over the internet. I admit, my imagination runs wild and my expectations goes higher and higher when I read every review on local traveler forums and blogs (PEX etc).

February 22nd came, the scheduled date for our trip. Around 7:30AM, we boarded the Cebu Pacific going to Iloilo City. Frankly, it was my first time on a turbo propeller plane and it made me nervous seeing such a tiny 40-seater plane from the MCIAA departure lounge.

Thirty-two (32) minutes flying on-air seems endless for me, my feelings were quite mixed. I’m nervous that our plane might have a problem and I am also excited to see my Paparts (the last time I’ve seen him was over a month ago) but I am more excited to see Boracay personally.

We arrived at Sta Barbara Airport at 8:32AM, claimed our baggage and wait another hour for the van we hired going to Caticlan. The trip was quite long, it takes us 4 hours to take a five-minute boat ride from Caticlan to Boracay Island.

Around 3:00PM, we reached our destination, Boracay! The dream made into reality.

The guy in the center of the ring of fire made an exhibition by holding strings with fire at the end. I know, I didn’t do any good in getting a nice shot. I am just a beginner and the lens I bought that time was too complicated for me (just bought it few days ago-lessons learned KNOW YOUR EQUIPMENT ).

Testing. It was the time when Eric (Paparts’ brother) set the right settings for my camera. Hmm.. not bad. But still, I need to manually focus the subject.. grrr…

Day 2. As far as my research is concerned, renting an ATV will get us to the top most of the island. They call it “Mt. Luho”. From there, you can see the spectacular scenery of the whole island.

We’re getting ready to take the road but safety first. The mother (Bing) and child(Yuanne) at the back were too excited to see their buggy car and didn’t ever bother to pose for the camera.

This is our first stop, the Ilig-Iligan Beach. The place is very private and the air is kinda relaxing. We were supposed to trek the more adventurous bat cave but since we have an infant with us, we just skipped it.

We haven’t gone to Mt. Luho, (my second disappointment) instead the guide bring us into a Butterfly Garden that needs another entrance fee to spend. Canceled the butterflies, return the ATV home and pose with the rented ATV for the final click. Oh, before I forgot! Tita Beth (Eman’s mother) jokingly said “Parang artista tayong nagrarampa sa daan, ah!” Hehehe…

The Nanny for 30 minutes. The parents of this adoringly little girl went to our hotel to get some extra clothes for the kid (or maybe they need a little time together… hehehe). Yuanne is a very smart for her age. At 11 months, she already learned how to walk (by herself-promise!) and most of all, she knows how to pose and smile for the camera.

She is really adorable. The above two pictures were grabbed from her friendster profile. See, how smart she is? She made a friendster account at the age of 1 month old. You can view her profile here (http://profiles.friendster.com/78407883)

Assuming Daddy? Look at how he grasp the kid.  “KIWAW KAAYO”. Now I’ve heard Yuanne says “This is not the right way how to brace me, Tito. Just let me walk, ok?!”

And there she is, assisting Eman to walk. Hehehe….

Day 3. After the not-so-heavy breakfast at the Tan’s Guesthouse rooftop (3rd disappointment – I thought it would be a sumptous breakfast but what we get were just bread, butter and coffee but in fairness, the rooms at Namaste Guesthouse annex is quite worth it), the next activity would be island hopping and snorkeling.

The 4th disappoinment comes in, we were ask to pay an addtional Php 200 for the boat station fee (a total of Php1,800 for 4 hours hopping), without no further argue, we gave in . Just before we reached the northern point of the island, waves goes bigger and bigger. The boatman says we couldn’t make it to the Crocodile island where we supposedly snorkeling. What the heck!? Why would anyone warned us that this would happen before we embarked ? Another disappoinment (that would be the 5th). Instead, they bought us in a far side of the pier for the snorkeling and thank god, we managed to find few fish to entertain ourselves.

After the snorkeling, we’ve just find ourselves watching the beautiful scenery on the southern point of the island. Here, is one of the beach resort owned by Manny Pacquiao which was said bought right after the fight with Morales.

Before noon, we reached our hotel to relax and eat one of the Gangoso’s special recipe (Yes, we had our kitchen right infront of our room, so we can cook whatever we loved to eat). The rest of the afternoon were just a simple swimming and picture-taking along the beach. We just cancelled our next two activity which is Banana boat riding and ParaSailing to mend the disappointments we have had.

I rated this trip to 8 as 10 is the highest score. Though, there are some disappoinments occured, I still love the whole place.  It is very relaxing and you can really unwind and forget your whole life in the City for awhile.

Day 4. We woke up early as we need to explore the place before we leave. Did our breakfast and payed out all the bills. The sun was glaringly hot and bright as we rode the boat going to Caticlan warf.

At 11AM, we took off and wave Boracay a final goodbye…

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS TRAVEL:

• Don’t expect too much.
• Know your camera gears.

Signed off
Graz