Tips and Great Trips

Potipot Island across Isla Vista

We headed to Potipot Island at around 10am. We didn’t look much further and just settled at a good enough site and decided to make our own ambiance by picking up scattered leaves around. The boys made their way into building the fire for the grill. Good thing Khandice assisted them or else we would probably be eating by 4pm.

Lunch was great! We had grilled pork, grilled squid, crabs, and ripe mangoes! I think everybody was sooo full. We had fun eating with our hands (and cleaning them at the beach! hehe!)

Making our own “ambiance”

Ice drop break

Building fire!

A hearty lunch

The water was clean, though it was a bit rocky in our part of the beach. Some just decided to play with the waves near the shore. Some went snorkeling a bit farther to avoid the rocky part.

We decided to play villager. It was my first time to play this game unlike some of them. I had a lot of fun, though I wish I’d stayed longer in the game and not killed or voted out early on.

We had another hearty meal when we got back to Isla Vista. We had grilled pork, grilled hotdog, grilled tuna, and freshly picked green mangoes! Yum yum!!! We even had bonfire afterwards, courtesy of the manongs from Isla Vista.

Permex Villagers

Bonfire

The next day we still played a couple of villagers game. People were getting better and better at it! Even when we had lunch at the floating restaurant we were still playing the game!

All was well and it was time for us to head back home. Unfortunately for us, it took us almost twice the expected time going back! Oh well. It may not be a perfect outing, but we definitely had a lot of fun! I think we all agree that it was waaaaay much better than our Jed’s Island Outing! =)

Picture taking by the road

Floating restaurant

Our boracay trip was really superb! We had an island hopping trip planned out in the morning. Our boat fetched us at Panoly’s beach front which was really convenient. Since we slept really late, it was hard getting up so we ended up eating our breakfast on the boat, which was actually fun anyways. We took note of not finishing up all the bread so we’ll still have some for snorkeling.

The waves were a bit rough that day but we didn’t let it spoil our fun. First stop was Crysal Cove which was really nice since there weren’t too much people. There were a couple of caves that you can visit there. You’ll also get a pretty nice view at the top.

Next stop was crocodile island where we snorkeled for a bit. We didn’t stay long since the waves were not really cooperating. We just decided to go to Puka Beach. Going there was really scary because of the waves. A couple of times, the waves would splash inside our boat. I was really scared that our boat would turn over. Good thing we were able to arrive at Puka Beach safely.

We ate at Puka Beach and had a short swim and of course some photo ops. We really had a lot of fun!

After checking out our room and fixing our stuff and having a late lunch and quick shower, we decided to get our welcome drinks at the Voodoo bar. It had a really nice ambiance since it’s right infront of the beach. One can watch the beautiful sunset while sipping your cocktails.

a nice refreshing welcome drink

The waiter was actually very friendly and even referred to us to Junjun the son of the caretaker of the Panoly who can tour us around the island with his boat. In just a few minutes, Junjun approached us and discussed with us the details of our tour and how much it would cost us. It was just great that he’d fetch us right at the Panoly’s beachfront (meaning we won’t have to go up the rough road to go to station 3).

Junjun drawing a map of our island tour

We then just strolled by the beach and enjoyed the whiteness of Boracay’s white sand. It was really amazing. It was so white and so fine…like flour…actually, it reminds me of polvoron.

Lying on the whitest and finest sand I’ve ever seen!

Well, unfortunately the one right infront of Panoly has rocks with lumot which is a bit icky to swim in. You can either go to the right, the one in front of the Shangri-la being constructed or to the left after the rock where the water is much clearer and conducive for swimming. We also went around the Panonly Resort to check out the other facilities. We were really happy to find a swimming pool and even a jacuzzi. There was even a mini bar at the pool wherein you can sit with your legs dipped into the pool.

After a few minutes, we experience our first boracay sunset. It was really nice and breathtaking.

It was a clear day when we left manila. Our flight was delayed by 9 minutes (does cebu pacific still fly on time?). Unfortunately, it was raining when we got to Kalibo. We were praying really hard that it stops since we don’t want to arrive to a soggy boracay.

We road a van going to Caticlan which costs Php275 per person since our boat ride will be paid by the Panoly since we had an initial pick-up arrangement from Caticlan to the hotel. It took us around an hour to reach the port. We got really excited when we were about to board the boat since the sun started to shining. Just in time! There were some Panoly guys waiting for us at the port who carried our stuff and loaded in their shuttle. The Panoly is relatively far since it’s farther than Stations 1,2, and 3. The reviews weren’t joking that the road going down the Panoly was rough. It was actually an understatement. The rain prior made the road even worse. We were really dreading passing by that road in case we need to go to the white beach. It’s either we walk there or rent the shuttle which is Php400.00 one-way!

Rough road

The Panoly itself is really nice. We even got an upgraded room for free since there weren’t much guests since it’s off-peak season. It has a little kitchen and we have our own veranda. We were pretty hungry when we got to our room. It was around 3pm already and we haven’t had our lunch yet. Good thing we bought Andok’s just before boarding the boat at Caticlan.

I’m back from boracay! That was such a fun trip! A little bitin actually. Taking a vacation there should atleast be a week! I hope to go back soon for a longer stay.  Boracay sand is unbelievably soooo fine! Boracay sunset is also such a magnificent sight!

I’m still organizing the pictures and brewing up my post so please bear with me. For now, I’ll leave you with some boracay sunset pictures. Enjoy!

I was initially planning on making a different travel route. Originally I was thinking of traveling ALONE to dumaguete-siquijor-bohol on October. That was when I was on my soul searching phase. But now that I’m a bit enlightened already, I don’t feel like like doing that trip alone. Well, since my hubby can’t take a long leave of absence from work, we just decided to take a shorter trip. At least we’re together! That’s so much more fun than traveling alone, right? So after a couple of discussions and pondering, we decided to just go to Boracay since we both haven’t been there. We’ve already booked our tickets but we haven’t really finalized our accommodation plans. Hopefully we get to make reservations this week already. I’m just sooo excited! This is really something to look forward to.

I just wanna share some sunset pictures I took from our Potipot Island Adventure (Candelaria, Zambales). I just really love sunsets! I try to make it a point to capture the view of the sunset in every new place I travel to. I have yet to study more about photography using digital camera. I hope to capture more beautiful photos next time.

 Potipot Island across Isla Vista

We headed to Potipot Island at around 10am.  We didn’t look much further and just settled at a good enough site and decided to make our own ambiance by picking up scattered leaves around.  The boys made their way into building the fire for the grill.  Good thing Khandice assisted them or else we would probably be eating by 4pm.

Lunch was great! We had grilled pork, grilled squid, crabs, and ripe mangoes!  I think everybody was sooo full.  We had fun eating with our hands (and cleaning them at the beach! hehe!)

 Making our own “ambiance”

 Ice drop break

 Building fire!

 A hearty lunch

The water was clean, though it was a bit rocky in our part of the beach.  Some just decided to play with the waves near the shore.  Some went snorkeling  a bit farther to avoid the rocky part.

We decided to play villager.  It was my first time to play this game unlike some of them.  I had a lot of fun, though I wish I’d stayed longer in the game and not killed or voted out early on.

We had another hearty meal when we got back to Isla Vista.  We had grilled pork, grilled hotdog, grilled tuna, and freshly picked green mangoes! Yum yum!!!  We even had bonfire afterwards, courtesy of the manongs from Isla Vista.

 Permex Villagers

Bonfire

The next day we still played a couple of villagers game.  People were getting better and better at it!  Even when we had lunch at the floating restaurant we were still playing the game!

All was well and it was time for us to head back home.  Unfortunately for us, it took us almost twice the expected time going back!  Oh well.  It may not be a perfect outing, but we definitely had a lot of fun!  I think we all agree that it was waaaaay much better than our Jed’s Island Outing! =)

Picture taking by the road

Floating restaurant

It was a great way to end the summer season: Our Potipot Island Adventure!

My hubby’s friends decided to have an outing, one that would let us forget the misadventures that we had from the previous summer (Jed’s Island (Mis)adventure!).

Meeting time was set at 10pm at the Victory Liner terminal. The bus was supposed to leave at 11pm. Unluckily, there were some mistakes in giving out tickets such that when we got to our seats, other people were seating on them already! There were a lot of talks going on. Of course we will not agree to have our trip rescheduled to the next trip. We’ve reserved those tickets a week prior so they have no right to cancel it. Some heads were already steaming. Edu even blocked the path of the bus so it won’t be able to go until we have a bus of our own. All was well when they gave us a bus of our own. Lucky for Lloyd who was able to catch up and lucky for the chance passengers as well.

I dunno if luck wasn’t really at our side that night since the conductor didn’t know the resort that we were going to as well as the driver since he is originally assigned to the cagayan route. Oh well. Gotta keep our eyes open so we won’t miss the landmark. Good thing we found it!

But our misadventure didn’t stop there. When we got down the bus we had to walk around 200 meters to get to the resort. There were some tricky turns that we missed, thus getting lost in the middle of darkness. It was only around 4:30 then. Good thing that we have a contact number of the resort and they were able to lead us to the right directions.

Finding the Isla Vista at 4:30 am

We didn’t want those misadventures to spoil our outing. We still made the best out of it.

Pump it! Louder!

Drinking session at 9: 30 am

It is because of these pictures that I am more determined to learn more about photography. I feel very blessed to have been able to capture these beautiful pictures, despite the point-and-shoot style. Hopefully I’ll be able to hone my skills and be able to optimize the manual settings of my digicam so I could capture better pictures. Because of these pictures I am also more determined to be able to travel to other beautiful places in our country and out.

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