Relax and Keep Swimming

Day three in Boracay is all about just lounging by the beachfront, sipping refreshing juice, people watching, and getting soaked by the blazing heat of the sun. This is the good life: waking up late, and doing nothing but relax.

At Aria Cucina Italiana

After all, when I visit a new place, I make it a point to have a moment (or in this case, a day) when I don't have to do anything but just let the place sink in on me.

We just ordered some refreshing shakes, and hearty cheesecake from Aria Cucina Italiana. By lunch time, we headed to the D'Talipapa wet market to buy some fresh seafood. A word of caution though, it is essential that one of you should be good in haggling (and by good, I mean really really good) and or at least knows the usual market selling prices of seafood outside Boracay so that you can compare, and thus, know if you're being ripped off. Second word of advice, someone's gotta be able to tell which seafood are fresh, since some of the vendors would offer you those which are about one, two or a few days old, especially if they figured out that you don't know how to haggle and or how to buy fresh seafood. Usually, not-so-fresh seafood are offered by those vendors who would easily go with your price. Almost all of the vendors would more or less stick to their original price especially when their goods are fresh. We bought shrimp and squid for a total of 590 pesos.

Next off, you have to find a good restaurant where you would pay for their cooking service while you provide all of the key ingredients. We chose Plato D'Boracay. You can tell them how you want your food cooked. We had our shrimp cooked in two ways: 1/2 kilo being cooked with butter and garlic, while the other 1/2 kilo was cooked into shrimp tempura. The squid was stuffed with tomatoes, onion, etc, and then grilled. The meals were served after about 30 minutes, and I gotta say, they were nicely done. At that time, they were having a Christmas Parol (Lantern) Making Contest, so that we were given pieces of paper to rate each of the parols created by their staff divided into groups using only recycled materials. What's really cool about it is that each group was given a key ingredient to use (example: mongo seeds, crab shells, clam shells, etc). It was a yummy and fun dining experience, which was worth 513 pesos.

Paraw Sunset Sailing

After lunch, we went through the souvenir stalls adjacent to the wet market to buy pasalubong. And then we headed to Station 1 in front of Discovery Shores, where we met up with our contact for Paraw Sunset Sailing. The paraw is a different kind of boat that catches the wind by its sails to be able to move around; stronger winds mean faster sailing. There are nets on each side of the boat for you to sit on. The ride is good for 15-30 minutes, depending on the strength of the wind. It's really nice to bask in the warmth of the setting sun; what with the cool breeze fighting off the heat, plus a great view of the sunset on one side and the island of paradise on the other. This is a must do activity in Boracay! We had the boat all to ourselves, and it was worth 600 pesos. It is better to have some food with you so you can eat while you enjoy the sunset.

The Famous Boracay Sunset

Our group then headed to Real Coffee and Tea Cafe to pre-order boxes of the famous Boracay calamansi flavored muffins to take home to our loved ones. We then headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner at Aplaya Beach Bar and Italian Restaurant in Station 1 where we ordered 2 pasta (red sauce and pesto), and a double-flavored pizza. The meal was hearty, but the serving is good for only 2-3 persons, depending on your appetite. So it is better to order more meals if you're feeling hungry. The service is average though, it was really hard to catch the attention of the staff, especially if you're seated by the beach. But the view of the lights, fire dance, and partying is really nice at night, and it's amazing to feel the cool breeze plus hear the soft crash of the waves by the shore.

Tagliatelle Pasta

Basil and Cheese Pizza

Pesto

After dinner, the group went straight to Epic Boracay Bar to have our fill of free cocktails c/o one of our friends. Aside from chatting the night away, people watching is one thing you can do no matter where you are in Boracay, and it's really simple and fun to do. When we've had one too many to drink, we then decided to go back to the hotel and retire for the night.

Ladies Night at Epic Bar

Costs of the day:

- gelato: 90 pesos

- Wet market: 590/4 = 147.50 pesos

- Plato D'Boracay: 513/4 = 119 pesos

- Souvenir magnets: 75 pesos

- Souvenir shirt: 200 pesos

- Calamansi muffin: 480 pesos

- Paraw Sunset Sailing: 150 pesos

- Aplaya: 361 pesos

- Cocktails: free

Total = 1622.5 pesos