Boracay Island Resort in Phillipines

I was captivated by several respected travel magazines claiming that Boracay island resort in the Philippines has one of the best beaches in the world, I wasted no time in traveling to this island resort to experience what many claimed is a tropical island paradise.

Boracay is a lush tropical tourist resort island about 200 miles south of Philippine’s capital Manila and is about slightly more than a mile off the northwest of Panay in the West Visayas province. Because of its acclaimed publicity of being home to some of the best beaches in the world, Boracay island resort is naturally one of the Philippine’s most popular tourist attraction.

The island is made up by the barangays of Manoc-Manoc, Balabag, and Yapak and is under the administration of the Philippine Tourism Authority. A barangay is also known by its former name, the barrio and is the smallest local government unit in Philippines. The word is a Tagalog term for a village or constituency.

Boracay island was originally the home of the Ati tribe before it became a major tourist attraction. Not surprisingly, the word Boracay is derived from words Bora which means ‘bubble’ and Bukay means ‘white sand’. However, the sand on the main island is not as white as I have expected due to too many tourists and pollutions. Then again, if you visit some of the nearby islands and you will be fascinated by how white the sands on the beaches can be.

Boracay is part of Aklan Province and it was only in the 1970s that tourism industry started to develop. The main tourism beaches on the island are the White Beach and the Bulabog Beach both of which are located on diametrically opposite sides of the island’s central area with the White Beach facing towards the west and Bulabog Beach facing east. Of course, Boracay also have several other beaches as well.

White Beach is well known for its white powdery sand and hence its name. The beach is slightly over 4 km long (2 miles) and is populated with numerous beach resorts, hotels, restaurants and shops catering to the needs of tourists staying in the area.

Incidentally, Borocay has more than 300 beach resorts with more than 2,000 rooms ranging from stylish five-star hotels and resorts to budget accommodations for backpackers. Golfers will be delighted to know that Boracay is home to a world-class 18-hole par 72 golf course.

Bulabog Beach, across the island from White Beach is a secondary tourism beach. This beach is a favorite location for windsurfing and kiteboarding because of its seasonal strong winds for these activities.

When is the best time to visit Boracay? Well, you can visit Boracay anytime, however some visitors may wish to visit the island resort for different purposes.

Catch the spectacular world-famous Kalibo Ati-Atihan Festival in January. This festival is Philippine’s version of the Mardi Gras which is celebrated on the third week of every January.

If you just want to enjoy the beaches and the sea, then visit Boracay during the ‘Amihan’ season. This is during northeast monsoon season in the months of March to May when trade wind is at its strongest which is very suitable for activities like sailing, big game fishing, scuba diving, wind surfing and kite-boarding.

The months of June to September are considered off-peak season, however budget conscious tourists and backpackers consider this as the best time to visit Boracay as prices for everything are at its lowest and there are few competition for that precious white sand beach turf to plonk yourself on to enjoy the sun.

October marks the beginning of another peak season. As from October to December, the weather is cool and major sports events are usually held at this time of the year.

If you are thinking of taking a vacation holiday in the Philippines, do head for the tropical paradise island of Boracay.

Scuba Diving In Boracay Islands

Boracay is a beautiful tropical island located at 200 miles (315km) south of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. This island resort is one of Philippines’ most popular tourist destinations because it is consistently voted by popular scuba diving and travel magazines as one of the best scuba diving destinations in the world.

There are many dive centers and operators in Boracay offering diving trips to top rated but hard to reach dive sites such as those in the Sibuyan Sea, Tablas, Romblon and Semirara. Close to Boracay are also excellent dive sites catering to divers of varying diving skills. Non diver will find snorkeling in Boracay an enriching experience because of its rich and diverse marine life near the beaches.

Friday’s Rock is a nearby rocky outcrop in Boracay’s western shore. Expect to see a variety of brilliant colored soft and hard corals, flittering butterfly fish, curious wrasses, darting damsels, playful blue tangs, ominous stingrays and snappers when diving around Friday’s rock. Hidden under the rocks, crevices and corals are big scorpion fishes and lion fishes.

There are two great dive sites near the main island of Boracay, known as Punta1 and Punta2. Punta 1 is a shallower dive of the two spots and is a drop off of about 24m (80ft) and Punta 2 starts at 30m (100ft) and goes way down to about 50m (170ft). These two dive spots are home to various species of garoupas, trigger fish, angel fish, sweet-lips, tuna, barracuda and the occasional reef shark.

At the southeast coast of Boracay is Crocodile Island (the island is named as such because of its shape). The island a very popular dive location and is a wall dive to about 25m (80ft) in depth. This dive site is also very rich in marine life so much so that many species of fish and corals make this location their permanent home.

Crocodile Island is also home to some poisonous banded sea snakes some of which are long as two meters (6.5ft) in length. Scuba divers need to be very careful of sea snakes because all sea snakes are poisonous and their bites lead to fatality.

Another great dive location near the main island is the Laurel Island. This dive site is for the more experienced and advanced divers because the undercurrent here can be very strong and because of this, drift diving is the main scuba diving activity here. Furthermore, the strong undercurrent encourages corals to open up their brightly colored yellow and orange polyps to feed on passing planktons. Divers can also find big colorful sponges and huge waving gorgonian sea fans here.

At northern tip of Boracay is a dive site known asYapak. This is a deep wall diving location starting at about 30m(95ft) and descending into the depth of 60m (190 ft). Once again, the undercurrent here can get pretty strong. Scuba divers will encounter larger pelagic fishes here, such as barracudas and various species of sharks.

Hammerhead sharks and giant manta rays are the main attractions when diving in Yapak. Other excellent dive sites around Boracay are Carabao (buffalo), Cathedral Cave, Buruanga, Black Rock and Dog Drift. Is it any wonder why Boracay is consistently rated as one of the best scuba diving site in the world?