Leaving Boracay

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Hello Again -

I left Puerto Galera after several great dives; took a 4-hour public commute to Roxas; spent the night. The next day, I traveled by boat to Borocay. The trip was not too exciting and was uneventfull, except for watching the local 10-13 year old boys from Roxas jumping 30 feet off the ferry boat to dive for your spare pasos.

Boracay is quite the Philippino and international destination. The beautiful 4km white sand beach is palm tree lined and full of bars and international restaurants. People sail board on the east side of the island. The beach front and resorts have recovered from the last typhoon. Inland is still somewhat recovering, but unless the tourists rent mountain bikes and cruise around as I did, they are not likely to know, except for the obvious puddles that remain in the lesser used streets.

I booked a flight to Cebu the same day that I arrived since I did not want to get caught up in all the tourist stuff on the island. You could spend days in Boracay shopping at the clothing and trinket stores (some quite expensive jewelry - esp. pearls) and eating at the different restaurants. I did get caught by a dive shop that was going to dive Boracay's best dive site the next day (Yapak II). I managed to convince them of my capabilities without a test dive, and the next moring was swimming with white tipped reef sharks at a depth of 120 feet. Oh, the dive ended up being free since my divemaster told me that I had a coupon in my Philippines travel guide...

I made it to Cebu City by airplane and rushed to the pier for a fast ferry boat to my next dive destination, collectively recommended by the various dive instructors that I interrogated on Boracay. The ferry was to leave as my plane was landing, but since my last ferry ride left 1.5 hours late, I figured that I had time. I was quite wrong. After arriving at the ferry 1.5 hours late and after scamming moped rides back and forth between Piers I and III for any ferry ticket, I resolved that my earliest option for getting to my chosen destination was to leave on a 5.5 hour ferry at midnight on Christmas Eve (3 lost dive days!!!!). A porter saw me sweating in the middle of the street with my backpack and SCUBA gear and told me that I needed to get a taxi elsewhere. I ignored him as I was begining to resolve to the fact that I would be in a major city smelling of smoke, smog, and sewer for the next few days. I saw him smile at me as a moped ignored my gesture/request for a free ride back to Pier I. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him all ferry rides to my destination were booked until after Christmas. He said he could help me get on the next outgoing ship, and before I realized it, he had smuggled me past 2 security checkpoints and onto the right ferry. It took me 15 minutes to move from C to first class as a stow-away to Letye....

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