Escaping the Plum Rains: A Mother's Day Weekend in Boracay

My daughter in gorgeous blues

Boracay has been one of those places travelers talked about for years. It's literally been on my list since 2001, when I first went to Palawan. In April 2018 because its popularity literally had trashed paradise, the Philippine government closed Boracay off to tourists. It recently re-opened with construction still ongoing. I didn't have high hopes and actually wasn't even planning on going to Boracay - ever- because such touristy/party destinations aren't really my thing.

Water World Cottages

Yet, I saw Air Asia had crazy cheap direct flights, (7,000NT return for 2pax). It's only a 2 1/2 hour flight. Also, the plum rains had started on the tail end of the winter monsoon and my daughter confessed the rains were getting her down. A change of scene was in order. On the job front, I wasn't teaching any classes Wed- Friday because the students had national testing. It also happened to be Mother's Day weekend, so all arrows were pointing to GO! I didn't need to think twice.

Our cottage #4

Air Asia has direct flights to Kalibo (Z225) which requires a 70-minute bus drive to the ferry dock that takes you to Boracay. There is a much closer airport, but no direct, or cheap flights from Taipei that I found. I arranged airport pickup, which is basically, our resort outsourced to another service. If you do not prearrange, it's still easy to join this bus to the ferry dock. The ferry is only 10 minutes and upon arrival tuk-tucks (auto rickshaws), pedal cabs and electric tuk-tuks are waiting to take you to your final destination.  Our package had an electric tuk-tuk silently zoom us to our resort, it sounded like The Jetsons.

'Resort' sounds like such a posh term, especially for where we were staying. Our accommodation was a 2-star resort (Water World) on the east coast in Manoc Manoc, on a hill, with steps going down to its own dock and views of beaches far in the distance, a bay going out to the sea and local boats. It was just around the corner from the less touristy, more local Tulubhan Beach.

Water World had seen better days, the railing around the pool was starting to rust, but the pool was clean and we swam every day, before breakfast and in the evening, sometimes in-between. The pool was ours until Saturday when a Filipina from Manilla (and her American boyfriend) arrived. They arrived at the night before and were annoying the staff, bossing them around, being loud and obnoxious, " Mam! Mam!" They supposedly went drinking because it was silent and peaceful again. The next morning she was wading in the pool, face chatting her extended family loudly, her phone on a mini tripod by the pool, while she was striking poses all the while. They left while we were out enjoying our morning.

We arrived our first night right after dusk, unfortunately, but I got to see the gorgeous sunset on the speed boat from the mainland to whet my appetite for more. I wasn't expecting the resort to take our accommodation fee from my debit card the day before, as I booked the place because it was "pay upon arrival". I had already withdrawn money, changed it into USD and then into pesos (cheaper than changing from TW into pesos) when my bank notified me of the withdrawal. The women felt bad for the inconvenience and kindly let use for free, the windsurf board as a SUP,  and gave us paddles. There were cool caverns and small private beaches all for ourselves.

Behind the fence was the dock, where the local kids played and we disembarked  on SUP adventures

Closer look at the stairs going down to the dock

We had our first dinner at WWR and the menu was half Filipino food, half Korean. In fact, we saw tons of signs in Korean, loads of Korean tourists, all over the island and even our boat for island hopping "Jun-Jun" was Korean owned, Filipino operated. Needless to say, we had overpriced Korean food for dinner, but it was delicious. Z had the bibimbap, the better choices as it had fresh veggies and I had a kimchi stirfry.



All the thatched cottages were arranged on its own terrace that was carved into the hill, with a front porch, a drying rack for clothes, 2 chairs, and a small table. An adjacent patio on the side yard had a dining table and chairs, all with a view of the water.

Our cottage was behind a flowering hot pink plumeria (frangipani) tree. I was filled with joy every time I sat under or walked by this tree as Taiwan has the white plumeria with yellow centers ("egg yolk flowers"), so it was my first time seeing the pink variety and none of the other cottages had a pink one. For the remaining nights, I drank a beer and watched the sunset over the other side of the island, watching the water dissolve into darkness on my porch besides my new topiary friend.

Our first day we went island hopping at 9am arranged by WWR. It cost 990 pesos each and we had to pay another 40p each to the boatmen to rent the snorkel gear. It included a buffet Filipino lunch at the Crystal Cove, which wasn't that great. We certainly didn't have seconds, the BBQ sauce was slimy and we weren't even sure what kind of meat we were eating. The island hopping just went around the island, stopping at gorgeous Pukka Beach at the north, making a clockwise circle. Pukka Beach was on my list, but it was full of tourists doing the same thing and we were never left alone because someone wanted to sell us something. I bought us fruit shakes and a bracelet each, plus Z had a couple of island braids on the side of her head. She was pretty stoked with her hair after being reassured it wasn't some kind of cultural appropriation.

Pukka Beach

 

Then we went to Ilig-Ilig Beach and then Crocodile island before going to lunch. After lunch, we returned back to station 3, and found Watercolors and made scuba diving arrangments for the next day (each dive 2,000 p including equipment).  We stopped at Budget Mart for snacks and a beer for sunset and for dinner we ate healthier instant ramen we brought from Taiwan.

 

I wasn't sure which dive shop to go for, three were on my radar, I emailed them all and only Watercolors replied the next day. I should of prebooked online, I would have saved 300 pesos because I ended up diving with them anyway. According to Google map, they were located at Station 1, so when I saw their shop at Station 3 at our island hopping drop off point, it seemed like another big arrow "GO"! We were greeted by a French DM (Dive Master) who arranged our dives with Rene a young Dutch/Filipino DM. At first, we went to the other side of Crocodile Island. I wasn't so sure about the quality of the site as the snorkeling there the previous day was just so-so, but we went diving on the other side of the small island and went along a wall. It was relaxing.

The east coast is better known for its windsurfing, WWR had dozens of boards for it,  but while we were there the west coast had the wind. After our first dive the coast guard wouldn't let any boat return to White Beach, so we docked on the other side at Bulabeg Beach. It was also a white sand beach, fewer tourists (so nice), but full of boats because of the coast guard. We waited for another diver to join us and the local boys on their summer vacation swarmed in and used our boat for their pleasure. They consented to have me film their joy. The water was crazy shallow (I eventually joined in), but they were pros.

The third diver was a young 30-year-old new mother from Estonia, traveling around SE Asia with her husband and baby son. She was well traveled, and educated (MA), young professional, a PADI OW diver. We both agreed on Boracay's White Beach being sorely disappointing in comparison's to El Nido's Nacpan Beach, but oh well. Same went for our dive together. We couldn't go to where our DM originally planned on, off the west coast, so we had to go to another one up the east coast and yes it was just so-so in terms of coral and fish, but very relaxing, still a good dive.

Since the boats were stuck on the east coast, we took a heavy laden tuck-tuck back to Watercolors shop. Z and I shared the front seat, the Estonian lady was on the back, Rene hanging off the side, 2 tanks at our feet and 3 BCDs on the top. The other tanks went back with a different kind of wagon tuck-tucks.

FOOD
Our resort provided breakfast, which is standard in our experience of the Philippines. It was nothing to write home about. Three choices included the American (very oily fried slab of ham and a piece of bacon, trashy white toast, fried egg, piece of fruit), pancakes (carb bomb, my kid's fave) and Filipino (white rice, bony salty fish, piece of fruit.) I started with the American and ended with the Filipino. The coffee was self serve and instant, so disappointing, but after years of backpacker/budget travel, I still drank it. I do regret not treating myself to a decent cup of coffee as I saw plenty of inviting cafes. (See 10 Best Coffee Shops...)

Filipino breakfast

As I said, our island hopping included a buffet with mystery meat BBQ, so it was extremely disappointing, and my daughter puked later that night. The boatmen in El Nido in comparison, cooked up a much tastier fare, with more options, on the back of their boats. I was expecting the same thing.

Most of the restaurants on White Beach were overpriced and I was afraid of being disappointed by the mediocre quality for the money.

However, Nonie's healthy food restaurant (at station X) exceeded our expectations. It was on my itinerary from the beginning actually. When I was researching, planning my trip I noticed it wasn't far from our resort and clicked on the reviews and menu. Everything is organic, with half the menu having vegan options, real food.

Ironically, "Nonie" is the term of endearment all the grandkids call my mom, and she's a health nut freak, so of course, we had to check it out.

At Nonie's we skipped the smoothie bowls and anything tempeh because that's what we regularly make at home. It's exciting to try something new.

Our first lunch there (yes we had to go back), we started out with a jackfruit dip with homemade grain sticks. Then my kid ordered pork stewed for 72 hours on a bed of black rice, while I had a 3 sliders variety on steamed rice buns. We washed it down with cinnamon apple kombucha. We returned on our last day for dinner and had two appetizers, the 72 hour stewed pork and then shitake, buffalo cheese empanadas with a yogurt dressing. Then we shared a fish and prawn coconut curry main on black rice, washed down with vegan lattes. These lattes were special of course, as mine was beetroot and Z's was turmeric cinnamon. We were so full.

basic beef rice bowl and fried chicken

The other memorable lunch, was at a "Night Market" around the corner from Tulubhan Beach, on the way to Station 3, but off the main road. There were several cheap cafes and open-air tables. It was super budget friendly Filipino food. We ordered a  beef rice bowl for 60p, a massive plate of rice noodles, 2 pieces of fried chicken, 2 fruit shakes, a side of fried greens and it was almost 450 pesos. Plus the dining area was quiet, all locals busy running errands to the grocery store across the street, no one but us and a western man working on his laptop drinking coffee. The ground under our feet was littered with yellow petals that were falling off the towering Philipinne mahogany tree like snowflakes (Pterocarpus indicus).

Would I go back? Probably not, there are several other Philippine destinations I'd like to tick off on my list, but I'd recommend it to multi-generational families or honeymooning couples. The places next to WWR, like Monaco Suites or the Kama Beach Club looked like first-rate places for a wedding. The latter has a small private, white sand, empty beach we enjoyed via SUP. 

Still, it was a fabulous weekend filled with new memories with my favorite human, no regrets here.

Budget:

100p =59 NT 500 p = 300 nt 1000 p = 593 nt	100 NT = 170 p 500 NT= 843 p 1000 NT= 1,685 p
Accommodation (12,960 p)	7,605 NT
Airport Transfers	2000 NT
Food (lunch and dinner) 500-1200 pesos per meal for 2people, x2 4 days	4,000NT
Island Hopping 2,000 pesos	1,186 nt
Diving	4,500 NT
SUP  1,000	600 NT
Total	nt

I actually was under budget, as lunch was our biggest meal/splurge, dinner was either instant ramen that we brought or snacks because lunch had filled us up. We also didn't pay for SUP and I supposed we didn't pay as much for food as I thought.  Fortunately, I didn't change my leftover pesos before we checked in for our return flight at Kalibo airport, because as we left, we were hit with a surprise airport fee of 700p each. In total, including activities, food, accommodation, and airfare for 2 pax, 4 nights it was 20,000NT ($638 USD).