Tuesday, November 11, 2014

3 days and 2 nights at Boracay Island

Arrived at the airport and there wasn't any need to fret over how to get to the port to Boracay island. There are 5234654312 vendors who will try to get your business. One can opt for bus or a mini van (not much price difference anyway). It's a 2-hour journey to the port (it could be longer if the mini van picks up passengers on the way to the port). Usually, the package includes a ride to the port and boat ride to the island.

Upon reaching the port, we bought our tickets, or rather... paid for the environmental fee and jetty fee. The boat/modified sampan ride was around 15-minutes.

Finally arrived @ Boracay and the first mode of transportation in the island we took was the tuk-tuk! Can you imagine 4 adults fitting and luggages fitting into this small tuk-tuk? Yep... we managed to squeeze our asses in this little transport.
Took the tuk-tuk to our accommodation

 Just in time for sunset!

 Checked into our accommodation: Nigi Nigi Nu Noos. Had a villa each and the room was lovely! :)

 Towels folded into swans. The cleaners will fold a different type of animal each time they clean the room.

 One of the first food that we tried - some grilled sausage from a random stall

 Bought our souvenirs

 J just gotta have his coffee after dinner

ET & I tried their local brew. I still prefer Hacker Pschorr.

 Our villa for the next 2 nights

The next morning after breakfast, we opted for a tour package from the hotel vendor. Selected a package that consists of parasailing, jet skiing, island hopping, snorkelling, ATV ride to the mountain top, zipline and sunset sailing. All for PHP18,000 for 4. It's the low season, so we had the bargaining power.

 Beautiful... just beautiful ;)

 Hello from above!

 Island hopping

 One of the islands that we stopped by so the guys can show macho - cliff jumping. Fun fact tho, for almost everything you do @ Boracay, there's always a certain environmental fee that you need to pay.

 Aloha!

 Riding the ATV all the way up to the mountain then climbed up the stairs to the observatory deck for a birds eye view of the island


 Zip line after enjoying the view

 Ready for sunset sailing!

While sunset sailing... breathtaking view!

We were lucky that even though it was the monsoon season, the daytime weather was superb! Sunny all the way until the end - after dinner where it rained heavily. 

Got burnt and got a tan. Tanned and happy :)

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Capri Island

We went to the Italian island of Capri in August 2011. We stopped over at Naples for a night before taking the ferry to Capri. It was about a 40 minute journey. We stayed in Capri for 3 nights. The weather was amazingly sunny and hot. 

The island is divided into two towns - Capri and Anacapri. Anacapri is a different side of the island - no sea views, but there are several other things to see (cathedrals, museums). We spent a couple of hours at Anacapri and the rest of 4 days at Capri. 

We stayed at Hotel Excelsior Parco and was upgraded to two suites. It's one of the best hotels we've stayed throughout our entire Italy trip. The service upon check in to our stay and checkout was excellent, breakfast was good and the best part of all - free shuttle from the port to hotel and also to and fro the city and hotel.

 Il Funiculare from Marina Grande to Capri

 Luxury shopping street at Capri

Top of August's Garden

At the top of Marina Piccola overlooking the bay

View from Piazzetta in Capri city centre


Villas on Capri

Fancy some limoncello, anyone?

August's Garden


Marina Piccola from August's garden

Marina Piccola

We rented a private boat to bring us around the coast of Capri for €200. Here are some photos taken under the wonderful sun and sea. We visited the Blue Grotto as well (entry here).

Ahoy there!

Our boat

  Grotta Meravigliosa

 Faraglione

Capri is a wonderful place to visit over the summer despite it being one of the expensive islands to go in summer. Good seafood, wine, limoncello, sun, sea and boat.

Blue Grotto

While at Capri, we went to the famous Blue Grotto - also known as Grotta Azzurra in Italian. It's a sea cave located at the coast of Capri island. It's a blue reflection that illuminates the cavern when sunlight passes through the underwater cavity.


We rented a private boat that brought us around Capri's coast. The Blue Grotto was one of the stops we made.


To get to the cave, there are a lot of other smaller row boats which people have to take to get into the cave. It costs around €12.50 per person.

Here are some photos taken inside the Blue Grotto (photos are not of the best quality, but rather just focus on how blue the cave is):






Brilliant blue!