Our Last Vacation...Until School Ends:-)

Last weekend we visited the island of Boracay, which contains one of the most visited beaches in the Philippines. The small, dog-bone shaped island has a total land area of approximately 10.32 square kilometers. There are many small beaches on this popular tourist destination, and we stayed on the most well-known and longest white sand beach. This particular beach stretched for about 4 kilometers long and was completely lined with resorts, hotels, restaurants, and other tourism-related shopping.




Living next to the Clark Air Base is definitely convenient because we were able to fly straight from Clark to an airport near Boracay. Since we flew from a small airport, our plane was extremely small! It held only 18 passengers and had only 3 seats per row. Since there were no flight attendants on board, the pilot and co-pilot just turned around in their seats to welcome us and briefly give us an overview of the flight instead of talking over the intercom.:-) Our total flight only lasted for a little over an hour.

After arriving at an airport near Boracay, we wished that we had brought more change for tip money—or at least less baggage because more baggage requires more help.:-) From the airport to our hotel, several people carried our luggage in hopes of getting a tip.

It was actually quite humorous how many people expected a tip at each stop:
- The people at the airport who helped bring our baggage to the first van
- The people who brought our luggage from the van to the boat
- The people who put brought our luggage from the boat to the second van (these people actually came right up and said to Dad, “There are four of us, sir.” They were hinting something like, “You need to tip us four.” ;->)
- The hotel guy who carried our luggage from the van to the hotel room
- And the hotel representative who escorted us all the way from the airport to the hotel

Since it is one of the top ten beaches in the world, Boracay was flocked with many people (most of whom were Europeans and Koreans) and filled with hotels, restaurants, vendors, and souvenir shops along the beachfront. At one massage spa, all the workers daily sat out front and chimed in unison, “Hi ma’am, sir, massage?” to everyone who passed by.:-)

We also lost count of how many times we said “no thank-you” to the numerous vendors (who stood almost every ten feet) trying to sell hats, sunglasses, pearls, watches, wooden carvings, and services such as massaging and hair braiding. Some of them were very persistent!

During our stay at Boracay we did a few activities, but most of the time we just enjoyed relaxing on the beach.:-) We lounged on the beach chairs, swam in the ocean, built a sandcastle, strolled the long beach, and tried not to get sun burned (although some of us came home with some pretty red burns!).

One morning, we all went parasailing.:-) It was a new and fun experience for us to glide above the ocean while strapped to a harness that hung from the parachute. We all enjoyed the view as we could see all the way on the other side of Boracay and other surrounding islands.

Another day we had the wonderful opportunity to go snorkeling. We all agreed that this snorkeling experience in Boracay was the best we had ever experienced, even compared to Subic! We snorkeled in clear water (only 7-9 feet deep), which made it easy to closely observe all the coral reefs and varieties of fish. Most of the fish were fairly small (about the size of our palm), but each one of them was fascinating as they had unique patterns and colors to show off.


Surprisingly the fish were not even afraid of us. They swam in schools so close that we could even reach out to touch them—if we were fast enough! In fact, while some of us tried to touch the fish, some of us even tried to shoo AWAY the fish because they were too close for us to swim comfortably! Haha! (the picture really does not do it all justice:-( But this was the best we could do with our water camera.)

One time when Meagan was looking under the water at the fish, she spotted an odd shaped fish swimming just below the surface. A few seconds later she realized that is was a tiny jellyfish. Since the water current was carrying it straight towards Sarah, Meagan told Sarah to move over to avoid the little creature. Sarah was so funny, because as soon as she heard the word “jellyfish” she swam straight at Meagan and TOWARDS the location of the jellyfish, instead of moving over to the side! Haha! Much to her relief, Sarah did not make any contact with that little creature. :-)

On our snorkeling excursion, we also saw several vivid turquoise starfish resting amongst the coral reefs (We're sorry we did not get pictures of them.:-( Our water camera quit working.) They were gorgeous! We almost felt like we were swimming in a gigantic aquarium during our time in the water.:-)

The snorkeling experience was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Boracay. We look forward to possibly visiting other nearby snorkeling sites here in the Philippines (since we live so close to them), which we are sure to be just as beautiful as Boracay...or perhaps better.:-) It was amazing to view God’s creation under the sea!




"All Thy works in joy surround Thee,
Earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee,
Center of unbroken praise.

Field and forest, vale and mountain,
Flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Chanting bird and flowing fountain.
Call us to rejoice in Thee."
- Hymn "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee"