The beaches of Boracay are among Asia’s best. Picture: iStock
THAILAND has Phuket. Indonesia has Bali. But in the Philippines it’s all about Boracay, writes Ian Lloyd Neubauer. Here are seven reasons to go there.
1. ROCK-STAR ARRIVAL
Boracay is a small island in the geographical heart of the country made famous by White Beach, a 4km strip of the purest silica sand fronted by neon-blue water and backdropped with resorts, restaurants and bars.
It’s only 315km from Manila but getting there, until now, was easier said than done. Check-in for domestic flights begins three hours before departure. The closest airport, Caticlan, is on the neighbouring island of Panay. From there, passengers transfer on to a bus to the coast followed by a rocky boat ride to Boracay.
Enter Air Juan, a small Filipino airline with two brand new Cessna Grand Caravan seaplanes. Departing from Manila Harbour, Air Juan’s one-hour flight to Boracay coasts over the colossal volcanoes of the mainland and the island-studded waters of the Tablas Strait before making a rock-star arrival directly in front of White Beach. Your pilot, Rod Cooper from northern NSW, will then call a speedboat to whisk you to your resort. “The first time I got into the air, I was stunned by how beautiful this country is,” Cooper says.
See airjuan.com
Air Juan Seaplane landing at Boracay.Source:Supplied
2. THE LIND
On the northern extremity of White Beach sits Boracay’s newest resort, The Lind. Like something out of Mykonos or Miami Beach, this stunning whitewashed palace centred around a courtyard with three restaurants and four sprawling interconnected pools has set a new criteria for accommodation on White Beach. “There are many three and four-star resorts on the strip, but no five-star resorts that reach our standards,” general manager Pierre Henrichs says. Inside The Lind’s 119 rooms are island-inspired patterns, colours and textures plus high-end touches such as sensor lights under your bed that invoke an upbeat form of luxe. Yet the piece de resistance is found on the rooftop, where an infinity-edged pool lined with daybeds and birdcage-style cabanas provide a premium setting to take in Boracay’s drop-dead gorgeous blood-red sunsets.
The Lind.Source:Supplied
3. COASTAL CUISINE
Despite its hundreds of restaurants, Boracay is not known as a culinary destination. One venue way ahead of the bell curve is Indigo, the Miele Guide-listed restaurant of Discovery Shores, a luxury resort neighbouring The Lind. There, executive chef Ian Daynos combines his pedigree in Italian cookery and love of fresh seafood to create a hybrid culinary style he dubs “coastal cuisine”.
“We buy our salmon from Norway, mussels from Chile but the crustaceans and fish come from this very beach,” Daynos says. Standout dishes include the deep-fried lapu-lapu (Filipino for Queensland grouper) served with sawsawan – an irresistible dip made of soy sauce, chillies, sugar and minced onion. The seafood platter combines tiger prawns, tuna steaks, barbecued corn and steamed mud crab served with lemon butter and lobster sauce.
Daynos’s signature dish is the brick-oven mud crab, cooked in a wood-fired oven for a smoky flavour. “You can’t come to Boracay and not try our crabs,” he says.
See discoveryshoresboracay.com
Brick oven crab at Indigo restaurant.Source:Supplied
4. BEACHCOMBING
When you’ve had enough of the crowds on White Beach, walk north past Discovery Shores and The Lind to a walkway that cuts along the base of a limestone cliff to Diniwid Beach.
The vibe on this 200m strip of sand harks back to the Boracay of 20 years ago, with a chilled-out backpacker vibe and low-key beachfront bars where hookah pipes and cheap cocktails abound. To take it down a few notches further yet, head to the main road and hitch a ride on a motorised tricycle to Puka Beach on Boracay’s north coast.
On certain days at dusk, phosphorescent algae suspended in the water and fireflies in the trees coalesce to create a natural light show writ large. Boracay’s best-kept sandy secret is Ilig-Iligan Beach, a secluded and untouched strip of blinding white sand set on the island’s little-seen northeast coast.
White Beach.Source:Supplied
5. KITESURFING
The first thing you’ll notice on approach to Bulabog Beach on Boracay’s quieter east coast are dozens upon dozens of brightly coloured parachutes buzzing around in the air. No, they’re not part of an airborne invasion force; they’re an international posse of kitesurfers who flock to Boracay like mosquitoes to light.
“Bulabog is hands down the best kitesurfing learning destination in Asia because there are consistent winds and quite shallow water, so you don’t worry about staying afloat on top of all the other things needed to master this sport,” says Melvin Good, a British instructor with Ocean Republic, the first International Kiteboarding Association centre in the Philippines.
The Zero2Hero is Ocean Republic’s most popular beginner course. Comprising four three-hour lessons, it will get you airborne in days.
Kitesurfing on Bulabog Beach.Source:Supplied
6. INDIGENOUS CULTURE
The name Boracay combines two indigenous words: bora (bubbles) and bokay (sand), in reference to the bubbly water that washes along the coast. It’s just one of many interesting facts visitors learn at the Bihasin Ati Living Heritage Centre, a small sand-bottomed museum filled with drums, woven baskets and other artefacts set in Boracay’s last remaining indigenous Ati village on Bulabog Beach. “The story of the Ati is very similar to the story of the Aboriginal people in Australia,” says Sister Maria Flor Jalamasco, a Catholic nun who works in the village. “They were displaced from the beachfront and wandered from place to place until the government granted them this land. Now, everyone can come and see what life was like in Boracay before tourism.”
See Boracay Ati Community’s Facebook page.
Ati Living Cultural Centre.Source:Supplied
7. PARAW SAILING
No holiday in Boracay is complete without a cruise on a paraw – a double outrigger sailboat with twin triangular sails that’s native to the Visayas region of the Philippines. For as little as $20 a head, hawkers on White Beach will take you out on a paraw to snorkelling sites and secret little beaches around the island. The most popular time to sail is at sunset, when the sky above Boracay lights up in a fresco of dazzling colours in a scene that brings new meaning to the word “Instagrammable”.
Traditional boat in the sea, Philippines. Picture: iStockSource:Supplied
ESCAPE ROUTE
PHILIPPINES
GETTING THERE
Cebu Pacific flies from Sydney to Manila from $433.
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