Boracay, Philippines

Getting to the Philippines took a bit more effort (and money) than we had thought, but we had to come here after talking with people along our journey. After seeing pictures of beaches like the one above we had to make it work. We had originally wanted to go to three islands, but flying from island to island gets expensive, so we flew to Manila, arriving at 1:00 in the morning, slept, ate and returned to the airport for a flight to Boracay. From the main airport in Kalibo it's another 2 hours to get to Boracay, which involves a van, a ferry and a tricycle. Once you exit the small Kalibo airport, it's easy to access transportation to the Caticlan jetty port. There are a number of vans and taxi's offering you several price points. The cheapest way is by van. For about $5 each we got a combo ticket which included a seat in a van and one on the ferry. Once to the ferry station, about an hour and a half away, or if you get our same driver, about half that time (white knuckles are complimentary) you pay about $3 for terminal and environmental fees. The ferry is a covered, motorized outrigger boat and in bad weather they will not run. From here it's a quick jaunt to the Cagban Jetty Port. Just outside the port there are a number of local tricycle taxis (somewhat similar to a tuktuk) ready to take you wherever you need to go. Tricycle taxis are the most affordable way to get around town as long as you hop in one that has other people in it, it's $.40 for two people. Otherwise it's still affordable as the island is not that big.

One of the women in my yoga teacher course is a dive instructor in the Maldives. One night at dinner we got to talking and told her our fear of scuba diving. She asked what we were scared of (sharks, fish touching us, coming up to fast and our lungs exploding, not being able to pressurize our ears and having permanent hearing loss, getting water in our masks, shitting in a rental wet suit, salt water, all sea life) and then she politely told us we were allowing some ridiculous fears stop us from experiencing something incredible. She advised us on how to shop around and do some research on the dive outfitters and to go with the one we felt most comfortable with. She explained how easy it is to clear a mask underwater and went through some of the hand signals. She encouraged us to go for it. We decided right then and there that we would not back out, we'd go for it, albeit wearing waterproof swim diapers, just in case.

There are a number of dive outfitters along White Beach. We went to three and researched about the same amount online. We definitely agree that you'll know when you are with the right one, it just feels exciting and safe. The morning of the dive I was freaking out. I felt as if I drank five cappuccino and silently wished for a drastic change in weather so that the beach would be closed. I texted some friends just to tell someone I was loosing my shit (I couldn't tell Jason, I had to pretend like I had it together) and possibly as my last love message to them, just incase I was eaten by a whale shark...they swim through these parts at this time of year, FYI. I didn't drink coffee or tea this morning, I ate little and wished for the day to be over.

We were the only two people taking the beginner lesson, I am composing my "that's okay, there's not enough people to justify taking us out today", we'll come back tomorrow" speech in my head when the all smiles staff lead us back to watch the mandatory movie. The movie is quite helpful, not only does it touch upon all the things that can go wrong, but it repeatedly informs us that we are just beginners, so we don't need to worry too much because we're slow and will be eaten first. Not really, but this is what I hear. We are informed that our instructor will teach us all we need to know in the pool, just out back, which is basically how to play dead if anything scary swims by.

We get sized for wet suits, fins and masks and sit in the pool and slowly strap on weight belts and our life force, in a tube. It's heavy, the weights and the tank. Our instructor teaches us all about the tank, what the different knobs and buttons do, which regulator to breath out of, which one is the reserve and how to read the air gauge. We then fit our masks over our eyes and nose, wrap our lips around our regulators and place our faces in the water, breathing deep, forced breaths. I'm panicking. I thought breathing through the regulator would be just like breathing naturally, it's not, it takes effort and some concentration. I'm going to quit, I'm not a total failure, I think to myself, I got in the pool and I haven't yet peed in the wetsuit, so I'm sure I can get my money back. Instead I just concentrate on breathing. We are now sitting in the shallow end, the water only about a foot over my head and I am calming down. I am focused on the sounds each inhale and exhale make and it's cool. It's just like in the movies, you know, in the scuba diving scenes...or Darth Vader. We practice hand signals, clearing our masks and some other important stuff before lolling into the deep end. Fear has turned to excitement and giddiness to get out into the open sea...or a pool with a deeper deep end.

The dive spot is only about 300 meters off shore and our total depth will not go over 36 feet. We flop overboard and slowly begin our descent, gently pressurizing our ears and decreasing the floatiness of our vests, I struggle with one and Jason the other, while I bob back to the surface he points to both ears as if they are ready to explode. The three of us return to the surface and our instructor decides we aren't skilled enough to go down on the straight line but would be better off on the diagonal line. He was right and we both get down with out ears exploding and without bobbing like beer cans.

We made it down 30 feet and about 35 minutes and enjoyed every second of it. I simply don't have the words to describe what this felt like, just trust me, if you have the opportunity to scuba dive, do it!

Boracay is a mix of local eateries and upscale hotels and restaurants, souvenir shops and a higher end shopping mall. We had two memorable meals here, one, a breakfast cooked to order at our villa and the other a local pork dish at a beach front restaurant for an incredibly affordable price. Otherwise the food is a bit overpriced, including at the grocery store, which has a small selection of highly processed foods. We booked a room at a villa and arrived to an upgraded one-bedroom, poolside villa, with a private garden, water cooler, brand new a/c and refrigerator. It was spectacular.

The Philippines are a place we'd love to return to and explore the hundreds of other islands with their own pristine beaches and turquoise waters. We definitely need to return to get more dives under our belts and explore the beautiful wildlife that sits below the surface. The Philippines were never on our original itinerary, but we are thrilled we added it to our list and conquered one of our fears, scuba diving!

White Beach