Beautiful Boracay, Philippines - banana boats, jet skis, and parasailing

These are some photos of water sports we enjoyed during a family trip to Boracay in 2008.  I'll write a bit more about Boracay and the experiences we had there in a later post.  The jet skiing is self-explanatory, and was incredibly fun -  in my opinion the most fun and thrilling of all three water sports shown in the photos below, although I did not personally indulge in the parasailing and only watched from the back of the boat.  The icing on the cake was (were) the beautiful views we got of Boracay and the sea... a truly gorgeous place and an equally beautiful day.  All of these were very enjoyable, but unfortunately our daughter was too little to be able to ride on anything with the exception of the speed boat towing the parasailing parachute.

Gorgeous view of parasailing fleet, Boracay, Philippines

Water sports at Boracay

The jet skis were really nice and handled really well, especially when going full throttle - a good, exciting ride that really gives you some good bounce.  I rode with my wife behind me, then let her drive  with me as the backseat passenger (she was actually pretty good).  Finally, I went solo and really opened up and cut loose.  It was a blast, but I felt kind of bad because I forgot all about the time and the guys who managed the place had to send someone out on a jet ski to get me because I went a bit over with my allotted time.  I would have loved to have taken it out all day, and to have gone far beyond the boundaries they permitted me to take it.  Would be neat to rent one, but I doubt that is possible without a guide, because  one would have to have a really intimate knowledge of where all the coral reefs are in a particular place.

Pre-flight dockside check-out, Boracay, Philippines

        

Off we go!

My wife and I coming back to dock on jet ski, Boracay

My wife's turn to drive

My wife at the helm... aye-aye, captain!

The guy who had to remind me that my time was up!

Coming back in to the dock

The banana boat -- not a boat on which bananas are transported, but an inflatable banana-shaped raft towed by a speed boat -- was also fun and can accommodate a pretty decent-sized group of people, but was actually a bit more tame of a ride than I had expected... quite cushy and stable.  I had expected it to be more bouncy and that it would catch more "air" from the waves.   But it was fun, nonetheless, and everyone really enjoyed it... lots of laughs from all of our group.

"Vacation all I ever wanted, vacation had to get away..."

Banana boating in Boracay

Beautiful shoreline scenery of Boracay

Hoppin' and boppin' on the banana boat

Banana boat hitting the wake at Boracay

Finally, parasailing.  My wife and I have done some pretty bold and dangerous things, including white water rafting on a Class IV rapids on the river at Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao.   But since our daughter wanted to come on the boat with us (and since she hadn't had the chance to ride the other rides), we opted out and her two sisters who accompanied us have their chance at cheating death.  Just kidding - in all fairness it seemed safe and the operators appeared to be responsible.  But that parachute sure does get far, far up in the sky and far away from the boat!

My two sisters-in-law parasailing at Boracay

Don't cut the rope, Dong

Parasailing chute

Kicking up a good wake under the cumulus clouds

How's the weather up there?

Can barely see them any more

A few photos from Plantation Bay Resort, Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines

These are a few shots from our day trip to Plantation Bay Resort, on Mactan Island, Cebu, which was in mid-August 2011 (we did not stay overnight since our family lives locally).   My wife and I personally found Plantation Bay to be more  pleasant, relaxing and enjoyable than Imperial Palace Resort.  This was mainly because we found Imperial Palace (while very pleasant) to be more "Westernized" and artificially landscaped with lots of concrete sidewalks and a big concrete hotel, whereas Plantation Bay was more attuned with the natural surroundings, landscaped with a good bit less concrete and fiberglass and much more sand, trees (nicely shaded), bamboo architecture and vegetation.  Rather than a hulking concrete hotel complex, Plantation Bay has charming smaller cottage complexes spread out over its grounds, offering in many cases water's-edge access directly to the various pools and lagoons.   One feature we liked in particular was the saltwater lagoon.  While this lagoon was still artificially engineered and was not connected directly to the sea (probably to keep algae out of it), it was really quite nice because it allowed for all of us as a family to experiment with salt water buoyancy without the waves of the ocean, and do some nice back-floating on perfectly warm and calm waters.  The other thing that was really enjoyable is that they keep the pool open after sundown, so we could float on our backs and watch the stars.

Looking across the saltwater lagoon at water's-edge rooms

Another nice feature was the kayaks, which guests can use to paddle around the saltwater lagoon.   

Kayaks at saltwater lagoon, Plantation Bay

Saltwater lagoon, Plantation Bay

I unfortunately do not have photos of the freshwater swimming pool, but Plantation Bay claims that it is the largest in the entire country.  It incorporates numerous different water features for kids and adults, including slides, fountains, and whirlpool jaccuzi-type spas, all of which are very tastefully subdued or disguised into and around synthetic boulders and grottoes which blend well into the architecural and natural landscaping scheme. The freshwater pool also has a central restaurant which has buffet-style dining pool side in a tasteful building that looks like a 3-tiered octagonal band pavilion, which offered excellent food and friendly service.  

For a unique experience for the family, Plantation Bay offers free calesa (horse-drawn 2-wheeled carriage) trips around the property, which is charming and quite extensive. Plantation Bay is breathtakingly beautiful at night with beautiful lights accenting the landscaping and the wooden and bamboo catwalks, bridges, and piers that cross the pools and interconnect the properties, as can be seen on their website: http://plantationbay.com/

We greatly enjoyed our time at Plantation Bay, and hope to make it back again sometime in the future.