Asia > Philippines > Visayas > Boracay > Beach > Articles > Asia’s Finest Beach

I am lying on a deck chair on Boracay’s White Sand Beach, holding a cold pina colada – and not my first drink of the day, either. Hundreds of fruit bats fly high above the beach, framed by an orange-and-crimson sunset, and the ocean has deepened into luminous new shades of purple and blue. Venus has emerged, and will soon become a laser-point of light that will smile upon the sweet tropical night. If this isn’t paradise on earth, then what is?

Fifteen years ago, on my first trip to Boracay, the view from this chair was exactly the same: the blazing orange sunset, the bats, the purple sea, and the planet Venus. And my opinion was exactly the same: this must be paradise. But just behind my deck chair, on the strip that parallels White Sand Beach, everything has changed. Gone are the rustic nipa huts of old, and gone are the plywood restaurants with plastic tables and sandy floors. The penniless westerners, the bronzed and happy wind-surfers, and the weekend vacationers from Hong Kong and Singapore have likewise vanished from the beautiful beaches of Boracay.

Replacing the nipa huts are cozy little air-conditioned hotels with swimming pools, friendly pubs, and decent restaurants. There is now an open-air shopping mall and an air-conditioned disco. Banks and ATMs offer ready cash, travel agencies and airline offices stand by to book flights, and Internet cafes dot the sandy landscape. Further afield, the new Boracay boasts an 18-hole golf course, a stunning new hotel built into the steep side of a limestone cliff, and a luxurious new spa resort. Much has changed in 15 years.

Rapid changes in once-pristine vacation spots always cause controversy, and the argument is fierce when development occurs on a precious gem like Boracay. On one side is the Paradise Lost crowd, who romanticize about The Way Things Were. They wax poetic about simple settings, low prices, and empty beaches. There’s always a touch of selfishness to this argument: when they first came it was great, and now subsequent arrivals have ruined it. This is nonsense, of course, because those early arrivals were the ones who fuelled the changes in the first place.

On the other side are the realists. They like their rooms cold, their showers hot, and their swimming pools warm. They want in-room safes and room service and Internet. After 18 holes of golf, or a day of sailing and snorkeling, they want braised clam appetizers garnished with black bean, chili and basil. After dinner, they might want a cinnamon crepe, or a 90-minute deep-tissue massage, complete with Sandalwood oil and rose-petal water. The new Boracay offers all these and more, so for the realists, the changes are a definite improvement.

And, it must be said, that I agree with them. By and large, the transformation of Boracay is fine with me. I wish one or two things were different - a couple of the new hotels are ugly, and prices are much higher - but generally I love the new Boracay, and everything it offers.

It helps to remember what Boracay was like 15 years ago, stripped of romantic sentiment. The nipa huts were stifling hot, and they leaked during rainstorms and did not keep out mosquitoes. And the food back then was pretty awful. Except for fresh fish, the food shacks served egg sandwiches on white bread, oily chicken with coarse rice, bad pizza, and indifferent hamburgers, always with a few grits of sand. Yet despite its lack of creature comforts, the old Boracay was a heck of a lot of fun, and it was very, very cheap.

Fast forward to Boracay 2006. The best things about the island are unchanged: the white sand, the lovely clear water, the warm reliable sun, the fresh rum-and-pineapple cocktails, and the endless water sports. It still has that laid back, take-a-swim, read-a-book, swing-on-a-hammock atmosphere. Boracay has been eclipsed by noisier, better-promoted resorts in Phuket, Pattaya, and Bali, but it is still the finest beach in Asia, by far. Nothing else even comes close.

The first thing repeat visitors will notice is the new flight schedule. Aviation was deregulated in the Philippines in 1994, and Caticlan is now served by South East Asian Air, with 10 daily flights, and Asian Spirit, with eight. Fifteen years ago, these airlines didn’t exist. Philippine Airlines (PAL) held a monopoly, and it allowed just two flights per day to Caticlan, on a tiny plane. Everyone else was forced to fly PAL to Kalibo, and then endure a two-hour bus trip to Caticlan, followed by the 20-minute banca ride from Caticlan to Boracay Island.

Some things don’t change, of course: it is still almost impossible to get a metered taxi from Manila’s NAIA international airport. I managed by taking an escalator to the departure area, exiting, and hailing a grateful cabbie who had just delivered a passenger. The domestic airport is two kilometers away and once there, I picked up my ticket and was soon aboard an Asian Spirit DeHavilland Dash 7. Forty five minutes later, paradise appeared out the port window. The round-trip ticket was US$100.

The pebbly beach and tin-roofed sari-sari stores at Caticlan beach are long gone, replaced by a shiny new ferry terminal. This is where I met Jerry, one of the many touts who prowl Caticlan. Twenty minutes later, our 50-seat banca approached the famous White Sand Beach. This is the essential Boracay moment: taking off the shoes, wading into the blood-warm see-through water, and walking barefoot onto the whitest, finest, best-textured beach in the world. It is a perfect moment of transition.

Naturally, there is a price tag on paradise, and it is higher than it used to be. My handler Jerry has bad news. It’s high season. Rates are up. I want a simple room, with air con, that is safe and secure. Can I find one for US$30? No, he says sadly, shaking his head. How about $50? Jerry looks doubtful. In the end, I pay $80 for a stand-alone concrete bungalow at La Reserve, with two bedrooms, a living room, two TVs, a refrigerator, air conditioners, and an in-room safe.

Without further ado I hit the beach, and walk up and down the four delicious kilometers that comprise White Sand Beach. Some of the sights are familiar: Cocomanga and its lively bar are still here, and so is Fridays Resort, the first upscale hotel on Boracay. My other old haunts have survived - the nipa huts of Casa Pilar and Ban’s - but they have moved upscale, with generators and air-con rooms.

The cheapest air-con room is US$50 - Jerry was right. This is late November, the high season, and fast approaching the Christmas/Chinese New Year peak season. As generally happens when local currencies jackrabbit, the hotels all quote in U.S. dollars. Everyone wants those Uncle Sams.

Continuing my stroll, I see that hotel development has been relatively restrained. The new hotels are low-rise concrete buildings of 30 to 40 rooms, often rust or sand-colored to blend with their surroundings. None are higher than the surrounding palm trees; that’s the rule, and it has been followed.

Next I come to D’Mall D’Boracay, an open air mall that has clothing and shoe stores, travel agencies, coffee shops, and stores selling silver jewelry, Cuban cigars, designer swimwear, and Filipino paintings, some of which sell for more than P5,000. If you forgot a critical piece of clothing, don’t despair: there are still plenty of shops selling hats, t-shirts, flip-flops, and sarongs.

The improvements, and the subsequent higher prices, have attracted a better-heeled clientele to Boracay. Gone are the hippie wannabes of yore, with their corn-row hair and fake tattoos and really, who misses them? Taking their place are families and couples from Asia, mostly Koreans and Filipinos. There are also some Western professionals, who have come to Boracay for the brand-new sport of kite surfing (see sidebar).

In the evening, after a pina colada sundowner, I stroll along the strip, looking for dinner, and settle in at Gasthof Grill for a dinner of grilled tuna (overcooked), and steamed clams (excellent). The food is good, and the prices reasonable. For dessert, I have a honey crepe at La Breizh.

Afterwards, I stroll the strip in search of entertainment. Nightlife in Boracay is distinctly un-seedy. The visitors all sport a healthy suntanned glow; they sip drinks, play pool, and gather in talkative friendly groups. The more ribald nightlife gets off to a very late start, or so I am told - I was never able to stay up late enough. Boracay’s new air-con disco, The Wave, is decidedly tame, populated mostly by vacationing Filipinos out for a dance. Even the licentious old Bazura disco has throttled way down from its ribald heyday a decade ago.

That leaves lounging under the palms and listening to live music, which is a fine option. A night-time stroll along the strip uncovers half a dozen live music venues, with Filipino musicians strumming and singing under the stars. Pick a place where the music suits, and relax. It’s amazing how fast an evening can fly by in such a relaxed state.

The next morning the sun is up, the sea is blue and the sand is sparkling. Boracay has an astonishing variety of water sports: wind surfing and kite sailing, scuba diving and snorkeling, swimming and sailing, motorboating and jet-skiing. This is the toughest moment on Boracay - choosing between options.

In the end I hire a motorized banca, and guide, for some snorkeling. It turns out to be a lengthy negotiation: money for the boat, money for mask and fins, money for lunch, money for bread to feed the fish. In the end, the day’s expenses total about P1,200, for two people. The boat ride is awesome. We head north, anchoring in a series of pristine coves, each more beautiful than the last: private paradises with white sand beaches, blue-green seas, palm and pandanus trees, shady hammocks, and cold beers. I snorkel around in the warm embrace of the effortless sea, gazing at the seahorses, corals, sea urchins, and fluorescent tropical fish.

Yes, Boracay has matured into a charming destination, although it did suffer some growing pains. In the mid-1990s the island boomed, and the banging of hammers disturbed many a hammock-dweller. Worse, the headlong development caused untreated sewage to seep into the sea, and foul green algae slimed White Sand Beach. The government has begun to address the problem, building a new plant that treats most of the island’s sewage. The seawater off White Sand Beach has regained its former clarity, although the same can’t be said for Bulabog beach, on the east side of the island. Clearly, there is more work to be done in this regard.

Ultimately, Boracay was saved from over-development by the 1997 Asian financial crash. Plans were scaled back, and some - including a large condo project on the Fairways & Bluewater golf course - were suspended in mid-construction. A casino plan was also abandoned, and a project to expand Caticlan airport never got off the ground. Of the many ambitious projects that were planned prior to the 1997 crash, just three were completed: Fairways & Bluewater golf course, Mandala spa, and Nami cliff hotel. These three projects add enormously to the appeal of the new Boracay.

Come for: Golf
“Wear a collared shirt and socks,” says Bernard Etcheverry, proprietor of La Reserve. Those words, seldom heard on Boracay, can only mean one thing - we’re going golfing. Yes, Boracay now resounds to the delightful swoosh and thwack of the ancient Scottish game of golf: the 6,500-yard Fairways & Bluewater Resort Golf & Country Club opened here in 1997.

So there I stand on the first tee, driver in hand, with 371 yards between my ball and the flag. I smack the ball and we’re off, down the green fairway and onto the well-groomed course. And a beautiful set of links it is, too, with wide views of the restless blue sea, and lined by green palms, flowering plants, and deep dark woods. Number six is one of the choicest holes I’ve ever played: it’s a downhill, 392-yard par 4, featuring coconut palms and flowering Bubong trees. The green is nestled at the foot of a verdant tropical hill, and is surrounded by water.

Overlooking the lovely fairways are 15 decaying concrete villas. These were begun before the 1997 Asian crisis, says Fairways & Bluewater manager Noel Carino. Back then, the club planned to sell 20,000 club memberships, and they wanted to build 24 of the massive 18-room villas. But in the end, just 2,500 memberships were sold. Only 15 villas were begun, and three were completed, but none was ever occupied. There they sit, in various stages of decay, along the first nine holes. “We got hit by the crisis,” says Carino, in a classic understatement.

But the unsightly ruins are only on the front nine – then the money ran out. The Fairways & Bluewater back nine is one of the loveliest courses in Asia. The fairways straddle the rocky spine of Boracay, and golfers are treated to panoramic views of the steep hills and surrounding seas. My personal favorite is number 16, a 143-yard par three set atop a steep hill that is carved into terraces. It’s like teeing off from the top of Banaue.

The Fairways & Bluewater course is challenging, with narrow approaches and shallow bunkers, plus a sprinkling of creeks, ponds, and ditches. I battled the course all day, and in the end came to an honorable draw. It was a perfect day: bright sunshine, great views, friendly caddies, and a relaxing game of golf.

Come for: Kite-surfing
Boracay is the Asian capital of a brand-new sport called kite boarding, or kite surfing. Enthusiasts strap a giant kite to long ropes, jump atop a small board, and sail away, carving the water into foamy slices, and soaring high into the air. The sport was once the exclusive domain of shiny young Americans and blond Europeans, but an increasing number of Japanese and Koreans are now adopting it.

Bulabog beach, on east side of Boracay Island, is just right for kite boarding. It has a strong and reliable onshore wind, and it has a fringing reef with breakers, perfect for launching experts up into the air. Inside the reef, the water is calm and shallow, ideal for beginners. The sport has surged in popularity: it takes less gear than windsurfing, and it is easier to learn.

Or so I’m told by Normette Preglo, proprietor of the best kite boarding outfit on Bulabog beach. Normette’s shop is at the end of Road 1A, while a second shop is just inland. Normette suggests I take a lesson, and minutes later, I am standing in waist-deep water with an instructor, trying to control a wayward kite that is 15 meters in the air, tugging and pulling. Pluk! The kite crashes onto the beach, in front of a startled family of Filipinos. Seconds later it fills with wind, and drags me headfirst across the salty sea.

Nobody takes any notice. Many beginners come Boracay to learn this new sport, and all of them struggle. By the end of the lesson, I can control the kite with increasing confidence. I never did get up on the board, because there wasn’t time for another lesson. A full kite boarding course takes three or four days. Next time, I tell myself. Next time.

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