Boracay Is. Kiteboarding in the Philippines
Boracay Island is regarded as one of the must visit islands for kiteboarders
and tourists alike when visiting the Philippines. With the wind on the light
side, we spent five days and had three good days of kiteboarding.
Kiteboarding is performed mostly off Bulabog beach as in season this faces the
dominant NE winds. When the wind blew the water was quite conjested with
kiteboarders. I would hate to see it in peak period, only just a few weeks
ago. Maybe for Europeans it is seemingly quiet with a higher population than
us in Australia. We see about 1/2 a dozen where we go and even in crowded
places maybe 20 if you are lucky, here there is a lot more. Luckily it was a
long stretch of water and once we got out past the throng of beginners near
the beach front it cleared up. Early morning or late evening is the time to be
free of the crowds, with a big kite (I had my 17m) I could get out and enjoy
some relative solitude.
Being a long thin island, there are effectively two sides for beach related
activities. The windward side is Bulabog beach and where all the wind sports
take place - mostly kiteboarding - and the leeward is White beach for cafes,
resorts hotels etc. It takes about 20 minutes to walk between the two.
What are my impressions ? Quite honestly I was a bit underwhelmed. I have
ticked it off the list, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy myself as did my
buddies. The island was nice, enough with very little litter, the water was
warm, temperature warm and not overly hot. In the social areas there was
plenty of security and people were generally polite and touts though present
for restaurants and massages were not pushy. For my liking White beach was too
crowded especially at night. Popularity is its downfall.
In the morning, the seaweed adorns the beach and there is a battalion of
workers clearing it off by hand (depending on tide times) - it is a battle
that is lost when the tide sweeps back in and so the task is repeated daily.
At high tide the beach is very narrow, making it precarious to launch or land
with palm trees on the ready to catch a wayward kite.
Near our accommodation there was a kiteboarding company called Islakite that
provided a storage service, showers and also assisted launching for a small
daily fee. We thought it was good value and did not hesitate to avail
ourselves of their services.
Our accommodation and Lucky Titos was across the road from Bulabog beach. It
was only a short stroll to get to Islakite where we launched. We chose well as
it was perhaps the best location to be at given the wind direction. The hotel
was recently refurbished, we even had Japanese style toilets with the thrills
of variable rinsing facilities for the posterior and heated seats ! It wasn't
your five star palace, but pretty well appointed for the Philippines and its
price point.
Massages here are legitimate and very good. For the first time I tried the
Hilot, which is the traditional Filipino massage. It is similar to Swedish
massage mixed with Thai or Balinese it is a slow, deep pressure massage with
oil. This style suits me especially after a long day of kiteboarding and hours
of travel in planes and land transport.
Our favourite massage place here was Malipay. It might not suite everyone due
to its popularity and rooms with two beds separated by a curtain, but the
massages were professional and linen reasonably clean. The pricing at 800 peso
for a Hilot massage of 120 minutes was an absolute bargain compared to
Australian prices. Guess what we had for four days !
Filipino food is not as spicy as their Asian counterparts, say Thailand or
Vietnam. It is quite tasty but tends to get a bit samey over a period of
time. Apart from a loose motion or two, none of us got seriously ill for all
the time we stayed. There are options to buy non Filipino meals, but we
opted to stay with the local dishes for the most part. Getting a good coffee
can be a struggle and the prices for an expresso style coffee can be close
to Western prices.
The Filipinos love karaoke and also are good singers on the live music
scene. We found a good wine bar (Sip Happens) with jazz music to listen to.
Away from the crowded White beach offerings it was nice to sit down and
relax and enjoy banter with fellow travellers. It was nice too, to sup on a
wine or beer and not go broke in the process.
Both beaches were a pleasure to walk along, especially near the waters edge
in the early morning or evening and unlike many Asian beaches they were
fairly clear of litter. Litter may be absent though the effluent may not be.
I would not swim on the White beach side due to the presence of algae indicating high levels of bacteria,
though a few did.
Blog Indexes:
- Contents
- Navigate:
- Prev:The Outback
For an interactive map see:
Comments
Post a Comment