Boracay Sept 2015

[Davis Knowlton]

Boat looks really clean and comfortable...even cattle class. Except for that abomination of a cursed videoke machine...which should be chucked overboard.

[katie23]

After the vacay, we hired a trike to bring us to the port.
The driver brought us to a different port, Tambisan port, which is used during low season.


Have a drink at Editha Store before you leave.
It's a typical sari-sari (mix-mix) mom & pop store.

[katie23]

@Davis - yeah, the ship was clean and comfy. Not bad for an O/N trip. 2gotravel is formerly the WGA Superferry (changed owners, I think). I've taken the Superferry previously - O/N trip Iloilo to Manila. I was in tourist class too, so I knew what to expect. The cattle class can get really hot, humid & smelly, so it's advisable to shell out the extra $ for the A/C in tourist class.

LOL on the videoke machine. It's good that nobody is celebrating his/her bday today in my area, so there's no group belting out songs outside. It's a weekend nuisance, but we just grin and bear it.

[katie23]

Some views from Tambisan Port


That's a boat arriving to the island.

[Davis Knowlton]

LOL on the videoke machine. It's good that nobody is celebrating his/her bday today in my area, so there's no group belting out songs outside. It's a weekend nuisance, but we just grin and bear it.

Strangely noise pollution-free here today as well...might be too hot for 'em. 89 degrees here.

[katie23]

This was the pump boat which brought us back to Caticlan port.


Another boat waiting for passengers. The boat leaves every ~15 min, or when it's full.

[katie23]

Inside the boat


Bye-bye Boracay

[katie23]

The boat ride was 5-10 minutes. We were brought to a small port, where there were trikes and L300 vans (minivans) going to Kalibo, Iloilo and other parts. We took a trike to bring us to the Ceres Bus terminal, which is just across the main Caticlan Jetty Terminal.



During my research for the trip, I read about the Ceres buses, so I knew which transport to take. There was a white backpacker couple who were in the same boat with us. They were quite tall (guy was 6 ft+, girl was ~5'8") and they wanted to go to Iloilo. They were debating whether to take the van or the bus. I told them it would be better for them to take the Ceres bus since they're tall and would have more leg room. They were thankful for the help, and I was glad to have helped in a little way. They also rode the same bus with us, which traveled to Iloilo City.

[katie23]

We had initially planned for an O/N stay in Roxas City, Capiz and take the ship from Roxas port. However, our plans changed and we extended our stay in Boracay. But we still had to take the ship from Roxas. So we had to travel from Caticlan to Roxas City, which took ~5.5 hours (including stopovers and change of buses in the town of Sigma in Capiz province). On the net, the estimated time is 4 hours, but in reality it's 5-6 hours because there are stopovers, waiting and change of buses. Lesson learned: always add 1-2 hours travel time to what's posted on the net, esp. if taking public transport! Live and learn.

If I were to do it again, from Caticlan I would take a bus/van to Kalibo (~1.5 hours) and fly from the Kalibo airport to Manila.

Anyway, here are some pics of the Caticlan port.

[katie23]

Porters doing their stuff at Caticlan port.


Seeing those porters made me remember my dad. After high school, he worked as a porter in Lucena port + server at a canteen before he was granted a scholarship at a state college. Thanks, Dad, for your hard work. RIP.

[katie23]

Caticlan Port

[katie23]

Vicinity of Caticlan port

[katie23]

After ~5.5 hours of bus travel + 30 min of tricycle ride, we arrived at Roxas City port ~2pm, just in time for check-in for our 3pm departure. During the bus ride, we were worried that we would miss our ship, but thankfully, we made it in time. This was the ship which brought us from Roxas City back to Batangas port.



It had a bigger front desk & lobby.

[katie23]

Ship from Roxas to Batangas was only ~40% full, so we had lots of space. I had the lower bunk for the trip home.


Cattle class was empty.

[katie23]

Ship pics

[katie23]

This ship was bigger and had a viewing area above the lobby, aside from the outside deck.

[katie23]

After the O/N trip, the ship arrived at Batangas port ~6am.
Outside the port, there are several buses which can take you to Manila or other provinces.


That's it for this Boracay thread. Hope y'all liked. Thanks for watching!

[Davis Knowlton]

Great job!

[Takeovers]

Great job!

Seconded. Can't green you again.

[beerlaodrinker]

I enjoyed that, Thanks for taking the time

[katie23]

Davis & BLD - maraming salamat for the lurv
Takeovers - danke schoen! Ich spreche Deutsch ein bisschen, aber jetzt ist schlecht. Keine uebung.

[danno5]

nice report, thanks Katie!

[biff]

salamat Katie ulat mahusay na paglalakbay

Thanks Katie , great trip reports..

[katie23]

Danno & Biff, thanx for the lurv.
@biff, I'm pretty sure you used an online translator, as the order of the words are a bit off. But I got the message and your effort is appreciated. Cheers!

Btw, warning to anyone travelling to the Manila airports: traffic is very bad now along the airport road because of the construction of the MRT extension. My colleagues went to the airport this week & their travel time was doubled. Please allot ample travel time.

[callippo]

Boat looks really clean and comfortable...even cattle class. Except for that abomination of a cursed videoke machine...which should be chucked overboard.

I like it when Filipino ferries have videoke machines on board. In fact once I was in a taxi in Cebu and trying to find out departure times of a ferry to CDO or somewhere on the phone. I asked them if they had a videoke machine on board, to help while away the 10-12 hour ferry ride. They said no so i hung up and rang another ferry that said that yes, they did have a videoke machine on board. I said great, reserve me the stateroom.

the taxi driver, overhearing, thought that this was totally hilarious.