It was nine in the evening and while getting ready for our girls’ night out in Boracay, my friends and I were all engaged in video calls with our respective kids. It was such a beautiful and powerful scene that I took a moment to be thankful for the great friendships I have—the kind of friendship that doesn’t need explanation or validation but is accepting and supportive. When it comes to friends, I may have less, but I have the best—my favorite friendship mantra.
It was my first time to be away for a long time from my husband and three-year-old son. I didn’t ask permission from my husband, but rather, it was more of consulting him if four days are enough for this trip. It’s the same story with my two other friends, their husbands, and kids were all happy about it.
It’s worth mentioning that the three of us don’t see each other in the metro. Like we never go out nor do we have an active group chat. But every five years since 2012, we go to Boracay to unwind and catch up. And when you see us together, it seems like we’re next-door neighbors because of our non-stop chitchat.
Six months prior to this trip, my family and I stayed in Boracay for three weeks, and our story was even featured in an online lifestyle magazine (PhilStar Life Boracay Trip Story). That trip somehow prepared me for the ins and outs of the island after the pandemic’s strict lockdowns.
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It was a Friday afternoon when we arrived on the island. We didn’t avail of any airport-to-hotel transfers ‘coz I calculated that it would be cheaper if we do it on our own or, as they say, DIY transfer to the island.
From Caticlan Airport, we went outside and walked to where the tricycle terminal was, and from there we were brought to the port where we were welcomed with numerous fees to get into the island. When we arrived at Boracay Island itself, we hailed an e-tricycle that brought us to our hotel.
Here’s a breakdown of fees from Caticlan Airport to Boracay Island (as of February 2023)
₱150 – for the entire tricycle from Caticlan Airport to Caticlan Port
₱150 – each for Boracay’s environmental fee
₱150 – each for Caticlan Port’s terminal fee
₱50 – each for the boat fare
₱150 – for the entire e-tricycle from Boracay Port to the hotel
We had to fill out an information sheet and were asked for a DOT-Accredited Hotel booking confirmation. The QR Code for the Health Pass that we had during our Boracay 2022 trip wasn’t required anymore.
I dunno why but as the fees go higher, the service at the ports seems to get worse. It’s always a mad dash once you get inside the terminal that it feels like they just want you to leave the premises right away after paying the fees. I always feel robbed when passing through the terminals. I know that there’s an efficient way of queuing, paying, and filling out forms but it seems like they are not doing it. End of rant.
Our decision to have lunch first at a fast food right outside Caticlan port made it all bearable. But once we got to our hotel, all of our bad energies were completely gone.
We were welcomed by our friends from Ferra Hotel and Garden Suites with a bang! Without us knowing that they were monitoring our arrival, we were greeted with a huge banner by the staff as we got off from the e-trike. The three of us has already stayed at Ferra Hotel Premier on our last Boracay trip so we knew that they would do something like this.
Checking in was swift and we were given some cucumber lemonade for drinks. It sure did invigorate us. Check out my full Ferra Hotel and Garden Suites review.
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We planned on going out right away so Sheena handed us a huge bottle of sunscreen, she’s sweet like that. She’s our bunso or the youngest in the group. She wouldn’t mind if we ask her to get this or that when we eat at restaurants and she’s this bubbly never-boring person that always fills the room with laughter.
Lovela, on the other hand, is the ate or big sister in the trio. She always brings extra things she has, like conditioner or food. She also likes to treat us—just because. She’s the type of person whom people would consider as strong or a snob, but when you get to know her deeper then you’d understand that she’s just being protective of you.
So yeah, now that you know the characters of the story, we did what we did on our very first day back in 2012, we boozed up in the afternoon after checking in.
It was three in the afternoon when we went to Sur Resort at Station 1 and settled on their beachfront restaurant and bar. With a great view of White Beach, it was the perfect start to our four-day adventure.
The weather forecast specified that it will rain all throughout the weekend but the only time it drizzled was during our last night so we’re overjoyed.
We’ve already done the Boracay island hopping and helmet diving stuff during our first trip, and we had henna tattoos and buffet dinners during our second trip. For this particular trip, we wanted it to be just laidback and stress-free.
Bulabog Beach and Puka Beach were our rendezvous on the second day. We looked for the perfect spot to chill and laid our beach mats on the sand. For hours, we did nothing but swim, chitchat, snack on chips, and do quick naps.
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We went out that night to look for a place where we could party and celebrate, well, life. But the bars and clubs along White Beach now have door charges. So we settled at Coco Bar where there’s no fee to enter and where people seemed friendlier. We had some pizza and a few bottles of beer while playing Jenga. We had fun that night.
We went to Diniwid Beach on our third day. It was the hottest day during the trip and we were bronzed right away after spending an hour on the beach. We, once again, found a nice spot where we laid our beach mats on the sand and went ahead with our chill routine.
Afterwards, Sheena and I went to one of my favorite beachfront bars, Cocoloco Bar in Station 3—‘coz it’s happy hour—while Lovela went back to the hotel to rest. We boozed up a bit and headed to the beach just in time for the sunset.
We woke up earlier than usual on our last day and went to White Beach. At eight in the morning, there were a number of beachgoers enjoying the morning sun. We then went to The House of Calamansi Muffin ‘coz they wanna buy some to take home with them. They also bought some butterscotch and ref magnets for their friends. As for me, I bought my son a cute little crab shirt that says Boracay ‘coz he seems to really love crabs lately.
An afternoon swim at the rooftop pool of Ferra Hotel and Garden Suites was our final activity of the day before we went to the airport. We had the pool all to ourselves and we had pretty intense and intimate conversations that you could only share with your best buddies.
We left the island a little after lunch and headed straight to the airport. Here’s a breakdown of fees for Boracay Island going to Caticlan Airport (February 2023)
₱25 – each from for e-tricycle from D’Mall to Caticlan Port
₱150 – each for Caticlan Port’s terminal fee
₱50 – each for boat fare
₱150 – for the entire tricycle from Caticlan Port to Caticlan Airport
I can rant, again, with how stressful it is to pass through the ports in Boracay and Caticlan but it would just ruin everything. I’ll just hope that on my next visit to the island, the terminal fees that we pay is commensurate to the service that they give to guests.
Growing up with only two brothers, I never knew how to act around with women, in general. I didn’t have someone whom I can share my stuff with or even speak about girly stuff. Now at my age, my constant buddies are men. I only have a handful of female friends whom I only see once in a while, but we do share a lot of lovely moments when we’re together.
They say that it’s better to talk to a stranger about your deepest darkest secrets because they will not judge you based on what they know about you. But you know what, I’m so blessed to have a partner in life and friends who will always be there to listen and to take a bullet for me if they needed to. And two of them are Lovela and Sheena. I’m manifesting that in 2028, our trip will be in Bali, Indonesia!
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