Holidays on Boracay

During the passed week, I spent my first ever vacation in the Philippines. I had decided to go to the primary holiday destination: The island Boracay.
I flew with Air PhilExpress in a small Q300 airplane with a delay of about 1hr to Caticlan, a small airport very near from Boracay.

The runway of the airport Caticlan is very short. The plane was litterally coming to a halt on the last meter of the runway. But aside of that, the flight was nice and short (approx. 1 hr). And the new terminal 3 of the NAIA airport is much more convenient than the old terminals 1 & 2. And easier to reach by car.
Funny: While waiting at the terminal in Manila, the public announcements were so loud that they could no way be understood. It was hurting the ears. On the website of the NAIA airport, I found a phone number on which NAIA airport asked to receive suggestions and feedback by text message. So I sent them a message about the volume of the announcements at that gate, and promptly they replied that they have forwarded the note to the officer in charge. Wow.

On Boracay, I stayed 4 nights at the Hotel Red Coconut Beach. It is right in the middle of everything, especially of the mile-long white beach.

Away of any car/motorbike traffic. But this does not mean that it is more quiet! Until midnight or 1 a.m. the music from the beach and from the bar make sure that you don't feel like sleeping. But who comes to Boracay for sleepeing anyways, right...!?

First I had a room straight next to the pool. After the first night (and the loud music at night) I could switch to a more quiet (and larger) room on level 3.
The hotel is a good value for it's price. And the staff is doing a great job. And the location is very good. However, the rooms and the building are getting old and are not that well maintained I find. But clean they were. I can recommend the hotel to fellow travellers. However, you should not expect a four star hotel, despite it being advertised on www.booking.com as a four star.

Along the beach promenade, there are hundreds of bars, restaurants, hotels and stalls.

The water is clean, and has a perfect temperature. Sometimes, there are some green algae which seem to disturb the perfect look of the beach. I read about that. Those algae seem to appear every year right during the peak tourist season. However, I did not find them disturbing. Probably they have already mostly vanished by then.

The first day it was perfect weather. The following three days a strong breeze came up and heavy clouds brought a rain shower from time to time. I had to learn once more that you can get sun-burnt despite the sun not beeing seen.

The second night I met this couple in a bar, Denis from France, Chloe from South Korea. They just had their engagement on the same day. As they saw me sitting there on my own, they asked me to join them. They were already with 4 lively Filipinas which they met earlier. We had such a fantastic night all together!

On the second day I went for a tour with the glass bottom boat. This is a picture I took on the tricycle on the way to the pier.

This was on the glass bottom boat.

At the end of the tour, we even came across a rock which is inhabited by a tribe of monkeys. They seem to be used to be fed by those tours, as they were not too much afraid of the crew member swimming towards them to feed them.

Now I am back at home already.

I hope my membership application at the Makati Sports Club will be admitted, so I can play Tennis there soon.

About 2 weeks ago, I met Daniel in the gym of my condo. I learnt that he is German and used to live in Zurich before coming to the Philippines. He was sent here by Swissport, a Swiss company, too. And he moved in during January, too. That's the first neighbour I am getting to know in my building.