Exploring Boracay’s other beaches

A tricycle took us all the way north to Puka, named after the abundant puka shells on the beach. The sea was rough but beautiful with every tone of blue shining in the sun. Some young lads played on skim boards and we enjoyed the breeze walking along the shores. It was too rough for…

Backpacking in Boracay

Plans can change last minute while travelling and we’d hoped to travel around Mindoro island, check out some of the loin-cloth wearing locals at the markets, visit Apo Reef and then get a ferry to Palawan. But upon calling the company we were told the ferry wasn’t running for another month or two. So, we…

Snorkelling in Puerto Galera, The Philippines

Puerto Galera is said to be one of the top dive sites in the Philippines so we decided to test out the waters with a snorkel. It was much cheaper for us to join a dive boat heading out and just snorkel around the shallow areas of the sites than hire a private Bangka. The…

Parasailing and beach life in Puerto Galera

Our first boat across to a tropical island wasn’t exactly the boat we’d expected. Instead of a sizeable ferry it was a brightly painted Bangka, basically a large wooden boat with bamboo stabilisers on each side tied together with fishing line. We were heading across to Puerto Galera on Mindoro Island and were so excited…

Taal volcanic island, the Philippines

Two long days of transport, a stop in a hotel with a swimming pool which was empty on our visit and hours spent sitting in gridlock traffic through Manila but we finally made it to Tagaytay. The town sprawls along a ridge line 600m above Lake Taal crater lake.       We met a French…