I’m sitting at a table on Boracay’s White Beach making messy havoc of the crab part of a seafood feast. A bottle of chilled Australian Sauvignon Blanc in an ice bucket, the lull of waves, starlight glinting on the sea…
Boracay is anchored between the Sulu and South China Seas, so I’m unsure which sea I’m gazing at. Tonight, it doesn’t much matter. The air is warm and scented and someone has just sent two giant scarlet lanterns floating away into the darkness. They’re cunningly lit with some device that’s leaving behind the merest pinpoints of gold. Magical.
I’m not usually one for beaches, but Boracay’s is gorgeous. Although the island is only around five miles long, its pure white sands run as far as the eye can see.
Fringed by shallow waters–a clear pale turquoise–the talcum-soft sand stays surprisingly cool underfoot. As the temperature is pushing into the 90s, that seems like magic too. I now understand why Boracay often makes the list of the world’s top five beaches.
The best-known of the Philippines’ vacation islands, Boracay isn’t "undiscovered," but what’s wrong with that? Not all of us want to emulate Robinson Crusoe. To me, an undiscovered beach generally turns out to have one shack-like bar–if you’re lucky. Oh, and no sun loungers or shady brollies.
A towel on the sand? No thanks. I like my comforts…people around me…a good choice of places to eat and drink. And Boracay delivers all of those.
If you get bored on the beach, there’s parasailing, snorkeling, diving, island hopping, and surfing. Westerners (mostly from Europe, Australia and New Zealand) are here to sun worship, but they’re outnumbered by Asian visitors. Not wanting a tan, they mostly only hit the beach and hotel pools after dark or under cloud cover. (They were out of luck on this January day. The sky remained an untroubled blue.)
While you could buy an apartment for your own use year-round (I saw new golf apartments for $105,000), I’d say Boracay is more suited to vacations than as a retirement destination. The electricity can–and does–fail at any time, and there’s little in the way of health services. Anything serious would require a flight out to Cebu or Manila. And that might not happen during typhoon season.
That said, the island is undeniably popular. I wanted to fly here from Cebu, but flights were fully booked. Flights from both Cebu and Manila go into Caticlan on Panay Island, and you then take a 10-minute boat ride to Boracay. We did it the hard way–six hours by bus from Iloilo on the other side of Panay Island.
Steenie Harvey
Roving Travel Writer, International Living
Editor’s Note: Steenie’s full report on the Philippines will be released on Friday–subscribers to the IL Magazine will get it in their May issue. You still have time to join the magazine and get Steenie’s article if you sign up with this link.
