This is a re-posted blog article.
As soon as I lowered myself into Boracay’s balmy waters, hundreds of fish began swimming in the currents I had created. Just underneath the surface, coral — some of it resembling the heads of cauliflower, others looking more like the human brain — hid even more fish.
Crocodile Island is one of the Philippines’ finest snorkeling spots, featuring a wide variety of marine life and depths that are suitable to explorers of all levels of experience. Located about 200 miles south of Manila, it’s a 20-minute boat ride from the island of Boracay, a fast-growing tourist destination known for its White Beach.
Boracay used to be a near-empty oasis of white sand and pristine waters. Only dedicated beach lovers or those wanting an isolated escape would go. Today, there are two gateways ushering tourists to Boracay.
The first is via the Caticlan airport, about an hour’s flight from Manila. From the airport, you can walk 10 minutes to Caticlan’s Jetty Port, where a 15-minute boat ride will bring you to White Beach. (Most mid-range to high-end hotels will have designated boats waiting to pick you up.)
Boracay, located about 200 miles south of Manila, is a fast-growing tourist destination known for its White Beach. (For images, see the link at the bottom of the page.)
Another option is arriving at the Kalibo International Airport — a 40-minute flight from Manila — which also services flights from South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China. From Kalibo Airport, it’s a 1.5-hour bus ride to Caticlan’s Jetty Port, where you can get on a boat headed for White Beach.
White Beach is now lined with vendors who will try at every moment to sell you a number of excursions, including parasailing, fishing, scuba diving, sail boating and, of course, taking a ride on a banana boat. But the best value for your money is the island-hopping and snorkeling excursion, which most vendors sell for 600 to 700 pesos ($14-$16) a person. We negotiated the price down to 500 pesos per person for a four-hour outing one afternoon.
We hopped onto a mid-sized bangka boat — a wooden double outrigger that provided ample seating for our party of four — and headed out to the famous and most accessible reefs near rugged coasts that, from a distance, seemed to take the form of a sleeping crocodile. We were just a few minutes away from reaching the island when our bangka slowed to a halt. As our wake dissipated, we leaned over the edge of the boat to see brilliant corals in the water.
Local stewards collected an extra 20 pesos from each of us, a fee they said went toward reef preservation, before we started our snorkeling. Holding a chunk of bread, I fixed my goggles tightly to my face, positioned my snorkel, and plunged in.
Starfish and sea cucumbers lay at the bottom of the sea, just about five meters below us, while schools of fish danced in the sunlight. The conspicuous orange and white clownfish and the neon bicolor angelfish seemed to keep an arm’s length away, while the black and yellow butterfly fish came right up and ate out of my hand.
We spent an hour snorkeling off Crocodile Island and then the rest of the three hours riding our bangka along the coast of Boracay, watching the sun set slowly over the horizon. We visited Crystal Cove, a popular stop where visitors can walk along a stone hiking trail and explore scenic caves. The island’s 2.5 hectares include picnic tables, straw huts and even a small coffee shop. And don’t expect crystal formations in the caves — the island was named after the surrounding crystal-clear waters. To enter the island, it’s an extra 200-peso admission fee.
White Beach is 2.5 miles long and offers a range of accommodations, from luxury resorts to cheap rooms for backpackers. It’s best to orient yourself using the names of three boat stations. The most expensive hotels and restaurants can be found at Station 1 at the northern end of the beach, which also has the whitest and finest sand.
Station 3, at the southern end of the beach, offers the most affordable accommodations for those on a budget. Station 2, the stretch of beach in between, is known for its boisterous bar scene, live music and fire dancers.
Boracay is busiest during major holidays in the Philippines, including Christmas, New Year’s, Easter and the Lunar New Year. Visitors from East Asia accounted for more than 44% of the Philippines’ 581,511 visitors in the first four months of 2011, according to the country’s Department of Tourism. Korean tourists were most abundant, followed by visitors from the United States, Japan and China.
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By: Suzanne Ma
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 9, 2011
To view the original article with photos, click here.
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