Chasing Summer –

September 28-30

Boracay Island is located in the Philippines’ southern region. If you are not arriving from a cruise ship, you would need to fly to the larger island near it and then take a ferry across. As we arrived on a ship, we were able to tender from our ship straight to the island’s jetty.

The jetty ride was approximately 10 minutes, and on day one was very smooth as the seas were quite calm. We were welcomed with a band playing instruments and dancing, as well as a Tour Company and the Coast Guard.

Boracay is not a large island. You can rent E-bikes or tricycles (tuk-tuks) to get around, take a small hop-on hop-off bus, or just walk. The hop-on hop-off costs 100 Filipino pesos for one trip, two hundred fifty pesos for a day multipass, or 500 pesos for a two-day pass. Catching a tuk-tuk or scooter ride is about 100 to the beaches.

There is not much to do here except relax on the beach, get a massage or tattoo (a surprisingly large number of both shops here), or enjoy a water sport like parasailing. There is some snorkeling and diving, but with two recent typhoons, the sea was pretty churned up, and I don’t think it would have been a great experience.

Scott and I headed off to the white sand beach. The white sand beach takes up the majority of the West coast of the Island and is divided into three sections. Section 1 is the furthest from our jetty and where many of the resorts are located. Section 2 features many shops and restaurants. Section 3 was closest to us and is the section that has the fewest shops, and most families would go there.

Section 3: It’s about a 14-minute walk from the jetty to the start of the beach, and continues for about another 15-20 minutes walking north. This is where Scott and I decided to base ourselves this morning. There are plenty of palm trees creating shade in the morning, so we set ourselves out enjoying the nice breeze and refreshing waters.

Our lunches on the ship have, tragically, not been that great the past week, so we decided to eat before we went back to the boat in the afternoon. There was a restaurant directly behind us, a Japanese one actually, that had been allowing me to use their toilet, so we decided to just eat there.

I had some homemade goyas (Japanese dumplings), tofu, and apple beer.

After lunch, we lay back down on the beach for a couple more hours, but by the afternoon, the sun was moving in such a way that we had very little shade.

Once we lost our shade, we decided to head back towards the ship.

On the second day, the weather was not quite as sunshiny. I decided to make my way to a further section on the white sand beach and went to section two. Because I was by myself, I put everything in a dry bag so that I could bring it into the water with me. Best decision ever. This way, I was able to walk in the water with all of my belongings.

There were tons of restaurants and shops. It was fun to wander through them and look at some of the souvenirs. I also ended up buying a dry waist pouch for those days when I just want to bring my money and phone into the water with me, rather than all of my belongings.

I also visited the Hobbit Tavern and tried a couple of local craft beers, and another restaurant to try out the Filipino version of Mexican food. They were met with mixed success. All morning long, it kept raining on and off, and I decided to head back to the Odyssey.

Add the jetty, the band was back playing a goodbye. A little tip later, and I was back on the tender, back to the boat.

Now I love the guys who work on the boat; they work hard, and I’m sure it’s not for a lot of money. But… they really need to practice jockeying the tender against the ship. Both trips, we were bumping into the ship hard and almost snapping lines. We have wrecked the tenders before, and I think we’re gonna do it again.

The cofounders of Villa Vie, Kathy and Mike, got on board in Boracay. September 30 is the official date when residents were able to board this ship to stay. Now the boat didn’t actually leave Belfast for several more days, so its actual birthday is under debate. But they’ve chosen the 30th.

On September 30th, merchandise with the Villa Vie logo is 60% off on board. We also have a get-together at 10:00 AM to watch a video about Villa Vie and a short trivia portion for Mike and Kathy.

Later on that afternoon, we will have a cocktail hour for just the people who were in Belfast at 4:00 and then a whole boat cocktail hour for everyone at 5. Today’s dinner is only available at the Thistle. Which fills me with dread.

Update: I sat at a table for 4 in the center, so we were in and out reasonably fast. Dinner was not the steak advertised, but still a pretty good slice of beef. I did not go to either cocktails- lol. I’m so anti-social.

One of the consistent problems that we have experienced on this ship is extremely slow service in the Thistle. If we are all eating there, I do fear this meal might take several hours to get through. I can only hope for the best.

After dinner, there will be a party, for lack of a better word, upon the 8th deck by the pool.. I can hardly wait!