[BORACAY 2013] Day 3: Boracay Day 1

DAY 3 (1 Mar 2013): Boracay Day 1
- Ariel's Point
- Walk around White Beach
- Dinner & walk around D'Mall along White Beach

This was to be our first full day in Boracay (yay!), so we were a little bit excited. We didn't book any tour trips just yet, since we were told that haggling/negotiating for the tour price in Boracay would be much more rewarding and cheaper rather than booking everything online.

Luck was also on our side in that it wasn't peak season yet for tourists to come, and it was just the end of monsoon season. So there weren't a lot of tourists on the island, and activities weren't too full just yet. Thus, we requested for Tanawin to make a booking for us on the previous day for a one-day trip to Ariel's Point.

If that picture doesn't give you an indication of what's to come, just wait.

Ariel's Point is cited as one of the must-do activities in Boracay - it's a one-day trip to a smaller island off Boracay, and visitors are left to their own visitors once they get there. Lunch is provided for and a major selling point for Ariel's Point is that there's a free flow of drinks throughout our stay there - us being Muslims, the only free-flow we were interested in was the soft drinks and saltwater, ha. Several beach activities are available, such as snorkeling and kayaking, and equipment can be rented at Ariel's Point. But the major point of going to Ariel's Point was this:

CLIFF DIVING!!!

This is the 15m diving plank - DI(V)E AT YOUR OWN RISK. 

Will you take the leap of faith?

I gotta tell you, I wasn't too keen on coming here and only relented due to my friend's persuasion. She really wanted to come here and do all three levels of the cliffs (5m, 8m and 15m) and I was just thinking "God let me survive this trip to enjoy the rest of it" once we got there and saw the height of those cliffs.

But honestly? Once I let myself go at that 5m plank, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, the adrenaline rush was so fun that we all went for several more turns before braving the jump from 8m, lol. Hey, 5 to 8 meters might not sound like much, but imagine yourself falling from a 2-storey to 3-storey builiding. Yeah, I thought so.

Never thought I'd get the chance to do cliff-diving because I thought I'd always chicken out from really doing it. So that's a cross off of my Bucket List!

(Bungee jumping, on the other hand... even I would need some "liquid courage" for that!) (Like metaphorically, not literally. Don't come shouting at me "you're a Muslim!!!" just yet.)

And before you say, "But didn't you just do the whole trapeze thing at over 5m height?" let me just tell you: in trapeze, you had someone to coach you and someone to control the harness balancing your body so that you fall in the right way and don't hurt yourself. In cliff diving? Yeah, not so much. Either you know your form or you don't. Cliff diving tip: keep your arms at your side, and your legs pointed towards the water - don't bend your legs, don't fall on your butt. I tried all these but failed miserably lol, I just couldn't control my body. Forget somersaults in the air, I'd count my lucky stars if I didn't land on my butt! (Which I did. Several times. When I landed my butt in the air from the 8m height plank, my ass was so sore that I had to stop cliff diving. Don't drink and jump, kids.)

If you want to see how NOT to land when doing your cliff diving, you may refer to my 8m height jump here :B Although I'm still proud of myself for jumping even though my form was super bad, lol.

Met a Singaporean there who made her journey to Boracay alone - she's been all over and Boracay was just another stop for her *travel envy*. She, along with a friend and I, were the ones who were really keen on jumping the 5m and 8m planks (well, before I had to retire because of my beaten behind). The rest had to be persuaded really, really convincingly, lol. One of my friends even had to have her hand held by another friend for a small leap from one of the gentler cliffs (~3m I think), but in the end she chickened out and let go of her hand for the other friend to fall down alone, LOL. One of my cherished moments :B She was eventually persuaded to jump 5m once though haha so that's something. Good job, N *clap clap*

Well there was another cherished moment when another one of my friends, S, actually went back and forth on the 5m plank because she couldn't make up her mind whether to jump or not - which just reminded me of that one Mr. Bean episode, except with intact swimming suit, lol. We have a video of it which we used to cheer ourselves up whenever we're bummed about working. Thanks, S! ;)

There were these other French guys who were jumping from these planks - they even managed to go on the 15m plank once! *salutes* By the looks of it, they were skilled divers, as they even did some backflips and somersaults during diving. *diving envy*

Everyone was bummed by the time we had to make our way back to Boracay. All in all, the place is highly recommended. If you do get there, you have to go cliff diving - it's like, one of the unwritten passages of life when you visit Boracay. Otherwise, there are other activities as well (which I've mentioned before), and the place itself is so breathtaking that it's worth a visit to take in the sights. Once you get there, the atmosphere of "JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!" is just so overwhelming that you'd probably go jumping anyway (this is confirmed by science) (that was sarcasm).

When we made our way back, we just walked along the coastline of the White Beach. White Beach has three "stations", where each station would have accommodation and restaurants along the way - the farther you are from Station 1, the cheaper the accommodations will be. But keep in mind that Station 1 will be the station for all your daily activities - most activities would most probably start at Station 1, except for land activities.

Also, highly recommended: Jonah's fruit shakes! This was recommended all over whenever I read blogs about Boracay, and it didn't disappoint. I'm addicted to the mango shake; there's just no equivalent of it here in Malaysia :'(

When you see the little island in the middle of nowhere with that Christian-themed statue on it? That's where Jonah's shake will be.

The local kids here make some amazing sandcastle structures. Wonder what's in the saltwater that makes them this creative?

what

the

shit

SERIOUSLY KIDS LEAVE SOME CREATIVITY FOR THE REST OF US *SOBS*

Saw some decorations being put up for a beach wedding along the way. Um, yeah, future husband, wherever you may be right now? Our wedding will be a destination wedding in Boracay, kthxbai.

It's at night when you truly see Boracay at its best - lots of restaurants pulled out all their decorations to attract more costumers. The nightlife here is apparently "to die for" (which is what I've heard from those who does go to the bar scenes here), and I can kinda see it.

So after all that cliff diving and walking around, we finally made it back to our hotel for a good night's rest before another fun-filled day.

Go to Day 2 (Clark - Kalibo - Boracay) | Go to Day 4 (Boracay Day 2)
Boracay 2013 Masterpost