Magical Island of Boracay

Six years ago, we visited the Philippines with my family. It was the first time since we left our home country 25 years earlier that we all have been back at the same time. Our first stop was Cebu, if you want to read about our time there, find my blog here. The last few days of our island life was spent in the magical island of Boracay.

On our way to Boracay, we had lunch with my brother’s new in-laws and our family. For some reason, we ordered 6 large bowls of sinigang! I was sinigang’d out! There were 18 of us and we were all getting to know one another. My cousins and aunt came from a different island to be with us. I haven’t seen them since I left the Philippines at age 5. It’s always great to be with family!

The 2nd day of paradise was my birthday. We woke up early, watched the sunrise, ate breakfast at the hotel, and my hubs and sister sang me ‘Happy Birthday’. We went island hopping with my siblings, husband, and new sister-in-law. Our guide, Charlie, told us about each island we were going to and extended our tour by 4 more hours!

We went cliff diving in our first island stop. Magic Island was so much fun. There were multiple heights you can dive from: 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 meters. My eldest sister brought her own life-jacket from “America” because she cannot swim! She was brave enough to jump (maybe she had a little nudge) off the 5 meters. Hubs, my brother, and cousin jumped from the 10 meters and I jumped off the 8. The water was beautiful and the perfect temperature.

The second island was called Crystal Cove. We spent awhile here because there were so many things to do. We hiked to the first cove, and the view from the top was breath-taking. We had to walk down the stairs to enter cove 1 and we swam in a cave-like scene. It was so much fun! We had to crawl under rocks to get to cove 2, but it was worth it. We swam around, and took underwater selfies. We laughed and gained more memories as a family. We relaxed with buko (young coconut) and soaked in the view.

We were unable to go to Puka beach because it was closed due to the APEC conference. Instead, we went snorkeling and fed the fishes. The water is so clear; you can see the bottom of the sea and so many colorful fishes and beautiful coral.

Our last stop was lunch on an island I cannot remember the name! You can pick fish that they caught earlier that day to be grilled.

To end my birthday, we ate dinner at the Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort & Spa restaurant on the tree top. We saw the sunset from above and it was a magical end to a special day. Being able to celebrate my milestone birthday with my family in the country of my birthplace really topped off another year around the sun.

We stayed at a little hotel on the beach. The hotel only had 4 rooms & located on station 2. Station 2 is a convenient, busier area where many shops & restaurants are located. Our hotel was a skip away from Jonah’s snackbar, which I highly recommend. We were able to see the sunset on the white sand beach right on our balcony & feel that ocean breeze. The beach has areas of peace & serenity, but if you walk a little bit further, there were many restaurants on the beach with fire-breathing entertainment.

Boracay is truly a magical island. I look forward to the day we can go back to those pristine beaches with our kids. What’s the longest airplane ride you have traveled with your kids? How old were they? We are taking the kids to a long flight in June & our baby’s first international flight in the fall.