It was a gloomy morning so I have no sunrise photo of Boracay.  But we were hopeful that the weather would cooperate for our island hopping this day.

the beautiful Puka Island

It’s time consuming if we will eat our breakfast in a restaurant. To save time, we cooked noodles while our teens brought hot pandesal in a nearby bakery. We were so thankful to Grace (our contact person in the resort) for providing us a thermal pot full of hot water and cups for our coffee and milo session.  With cheez whiz as our filling, everyone was satisfied and off we went to our exciting island hopping.

ready now for island hopping

Julius is our contact person in our activity. Boat rate – P1,500. Our first activity was helmet diving (also called reef walking). It was offered to us for P1,000 but we haggled it to P350 with picture and video (burned in a CD). We were transported to the diving spot through a speed boat. We stayed in the floating cottage where the head suits and compressors were now being prepared by the crew.  Mama and Shen got scared so they chose to stay and took care of our little Rion.

the equipment for helmet diving

An instructor briefed us shortly, telling not to worry wearing the 37-kilo head suit for it will weigh one kilo once dip in the water. He gave us the hand signs and things to do in our water activity. He accompanied us one by one in going down through the ladder until we reached the sea floor. The pressure was painful in the ears. As per instruction, we moved our jaws and pinched our nose to fight the pain.

kneeling on the sea floor

It was so amazing walking on the sea floor and watched the amazing perspective of the under the sea world. The visibility was so clear.  We fed the colorful fish with bread. I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting that I could see lots of fish around us.  But it was only few.  Maybe five to ten years ago the abundance of marine life here was so wonderful. Who’s to blame anyway?

Island hopping

Our first stop was in CRYSTAL COVE ISLAND.  Entrance fee applies only to the cave with rate of P200. We didn’t go inside instead we immersed ourselves to the water and had a refreshing swim for less than an hour. Sand wasn’t that fine compared to White Beach and had crushed corals everywhere but the water was crystal clear and clean. There was no store in the area so it’s best to bring food and water. The resort is ideal for picnic. This is indeed a a stress-free day.

entrance to Crystal Cave Island Resort

water was clear but there were crushed corals everywhere

Next stop, at CROCODILE ISLAND. It’s time for snorkeling. My hubby and I were used to this activity. But every island has its own charm and wonder, it’s a must to explore and see the wonderful marine life. We were so excited just like the rest of our buddies and so we hastily jumped into the water. Corals were beautiful and so the zebra fish and the famous and lovable clown fish, nemo.

approaching Crocodile Island

our little girl joined us in snorkeling activity as she was guided by his daddy

I can’t help not to compare the abundance of marine life in Coron and Puerto Galera in this island, but those playful nemos caught much our attention. But because we were too busy catching them we didn’t noticed we were sailed away far from our boat in less than ten minutes. Gi and I were puzzled and we tried to go back to the boat, but we didn’t come close even a bit. A helpful boatman with a small boat came near us and gave us a rope. He advised us not to go far because there was a strong current in the area. We all went back through the rope and snorkel again just beside the boat.

there are lots of nemos under the water

Last Stop. At PUKA ISLAND. The sand wasn’t that fine but what I like in here was the serenity of the island. The green rocky mountains added a scenic view. There were few people here, so you can really feel the nature is within you. We swam, we explored, and we walked in the long stretch. Getting tired, we sat on the sand and marveled at the vast expanse of the aqua blue water.  So refreshing!

Puka Island has very clear and clean water

There were eateries on the island. We chose to eat our lunch at Sea Shore Grill and Restaurant which was owned by a fellow Pinoy. It’s all our first time to eat a white snapper fish which costs P700. Half of it was grilled and half was boiled (sinigang with vegetables). Somewhat pricey, but everyone loved eating it. We also ordered grilled squid, fried chicken, adobong chicken, adobong kangkong and chopsuey. Our meal costs P2,665 for the ten of us.

fulfilled and satisfied

our yummy lunch at Sea Shore Grill and Restaurant

From Puka Island to White Beach, we had a revealing ride. Take a look at these pictures.

one of the beautiful hotels that we passed by in our way back to White Beach

the controversial rest house of Manny Pacquiao

the beautiful and unique Paraw of Boracay

And this ended our island hopping. We gave Julius P300 as tip for his good accommodation.

We took an hour of rest then we headed to D’Talipapa where items are sold at cheaper price. It was located at the back of Sands Hotel, in Station 2.  We bought these items: 8 key chains (fixed P100), bracelets with name tag Boracay (P10), canvas bag with I love Boracay (P130), 8 magnetic fish (fixed P100), big wooden table fish (P130) and nemo hanging wooden fish (P180).  White t-shirts depending on sizes (P90 to P150) and good quality colored t-shirts (P300 to P400). I was expecting that these items were expensive here at Bora. But to our surprise, it was much cheaper compared to other places that we’ve been.

this is where we bought souvenir items, t-shirts and bags in affordable prices

We waited for the sunset at the beachfront. The long stretch was more crowded by this time and just like me; most of the people were holding their cameras/slr waiting for the spectacular sunset photo. I got too excited as the sun slowly goes down. The golden hue was wonderful. The paraws were indeed a good backdrop. I was thankful to the good weather; I had now my very good shot of one of Boracay’s pride, the SUNSET.

the breathtaking sunset of Boracay… I love this shot, so impressive

wacky time after the sunset

We ate our dinner in Andok’s restaurant which was few minutes away from our hotel. We had a long table in the beachfront. It was a fiesta crowd everywhere. After our dinner we watched again poi dancing in a nearby restaurant.  A ballad singer followed next.

It was Sunday and is not peak season yet so there were few activities in the beachfront.

Since it was our last night in this beautiful island, we walked around and mingled with the crowd. The day was exhausting, but everyone, I say, everyone really had fun!

Good night Bora!