We have all seen those photos online, where a boat appears to sit on top of crystal clear water, and we try to decide how photoshopped the picture is, or if it is just an optical illusion or something. What with all of the tourism and development that is going on everywhere that once was beautiful in the world, I have often wondered if perfect beaches and crystal clear water still exist. Well, we are pleased to report that such a place exists! Boracay!
As part of our exodus from China to renew our Visa, we took a trip to the Philippines, somewhere that Laleinia has always wanted to visit. I (Alastair) was more than happy to go too!
Neither of us had ever seen such amazing beaches. Santa Monica, Playa
del Ingles, Busua Beach, none of these distant memories even came close
to White Beach in Boracay, Philippines. The water looked like it should
have been drinkable (apart from salt – it was the ocean after all).
We frolicked around in the Ocean for hours and hours. The temperature was perfect, none of the shivering and regret that usually occurs when entering the ocean. The water felt like it should have been at a spa. Just wonderful. We swam around and just had fun. We were in there for hours and hours, and it never got old. I think we would still be there now if we didn’t have to get back to China to teach!
At one point, I swam out really far, past the calm waves and towards the sail boars that dotted the horizon. Looking down, I could see the ocean floor, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not dive deep enough to touch the bottom. Even after climbing aboard one of the sail boats and diving straight down towards the floor that I could see, I could not reach it before running out of breath and heading back towards the surface. Amazing. I don’t even think bottled water is that clear!
We also spent some time at Puka Beach, which was just as beautiful, but very different. Perfect soft sand was replaced here with small rocks, Puka shells, and Coral. We came to Puka Beach for one reason, Snorkeling! We had never been Snorkeling before, and so we weren’t really sure what to expect, but boy were we surprised. Not only was looking at the shells, coral and rocks on the ocean floor beautiful, but we saw tons of fish! And these were not goldfish or trout, these were fish that looked like they were straight from Finding Nemo. Triangular shaped ones, zebra looking ones, colorful ones, so many types.
We spent an hour or so following schools of fish around the ocean floor, watching them hide in the rocks and come out again. It was an awesome experience! Our only regret is that we did not have an underwater camera, but believe me when I tell you that it was very picturesque. We could not have dreamed of how great the Beach and Ocean was going to be in Boracay, and we could not have asked for more!
