#station 1

Nestled between Station 1 and 2 beachfront, The Sun Villa Resort & Spa was a quiet and homey hotel with its rustic-inspired theme. We were welcomed with refreshing complimentary drinks, a home-brewed iced tea, which exceeded my expectations, and went straight to our room after we checked in. We booked a family room since we were five then which has 2 queen-size beds, a sofa bed, air condition, a cable TV, a clean toilet & bath with hot shower and toiletries, and complimentary water bottles, 3-in-1 coffee and tea.

After we settled ourselves in our room, we headed to Boracay Toilet, probably the quirkiest restaurant you’ll see there, to have dinner. Located in the main road of station 1, you’ll notice the place right away because of the big toilet bowl plastered in front. Colorful toilet covers as part of wall, the place was exemplary designed in line with its name from the interiors -- pipes and plungers in the ceiling, bathtubs and toilet bowls as tables and chairs -- up to their plates, menu, and even the dishes’ names.

Going over the menu, we ordered Inihaw na Liem-POOP, Kal-Diri-ta, Also Slimy Worms But White (Carbonara), and bowls of rice. There’s nothing special with the food but at least we got to taste the creativity of the place and have dinner in a unique way possible with its clever concepts and interiors.

We took a nice night stroll on the beach headed nowhere as we traverse from station 1 to 3 after we ate. Two of my friends got a henna tattoo, looked at some souvenir shops, experienced the vibe of the night life, and indulged the ocean air until our legs got tired and decided to go back to our room.

A cool summer breeze enveloped us the next morning as my friends played volleyball in front of the beach and ate breakfast back in the villa afterwards. They have a lot of choices for the free breakfast -- Filipino, American, Continental, and more, in which I’ve got Beef Tapa with eggs and a coffee while others chose Daing na Bangus and Sausage with eggs.

Energized with our meal, we changed to our swimming clothes and started our water activities for the day - banana boat, island hopping (with lunch), and helmet diving, for only 900 pesos (that’s a pretty good deal huh!). A speedboat brought us to the area where banana boats were settled and found ourselves enjoying the 15-minute ride with the salt water splashing right through our faces (although masakit siya sa mata, mga bes hahaha). Right after we came back from the ride, we went straight to our boat for island hopping.

There were about eleven of us in total since it’s a public tour. We all sat on boat, parallel wise, sitting quietly, and taking the salty air. Off from the shore, we moved towards the center of the sea to do some snorkeling and headed to Tambisaan Beach for lunch, across from which you can see the Crocodile Island. Soon, we boated for around 5 minutes going to Crystal Cove and Magic Island for cliff diving but failed to dock because of the strong waves that time, we didn’t even reach the Puka Beach. We, then, sailed going to Diniwind Beach for our last stop and went back to station 1.

At 3PM, we hopped on a speedboat again towards the helmet diving area, briefed on the basics (there are many signals you need to remember which made us more frightened but whatever, the three of us still pursued while the two stayed on the raft) and waited for like 10 minutes before our turn. It was a good 15-minute deep down, seeing the frenzy of fishes even if I panicked the first time I went down because of the water pressure (mind you that the helmet weighs 50kgs!!!). When the guide gave us bread so as the fishes would come near you, i was overwhelmed to see school of fish up close to my face, like reallyyyyy close. Most of them were tilapias but still there are other fishes like nemo (clownfish) and dory (blue tang). They were lovely and colorful to look at making me happier with the experience (one ticked off my bucket list!).

Tired, we refreshed back at our villa after the activities and rushed back down the shore in time for the sunset. Then, we have our dinner at a restaurant along the beach and walked going to D’ Talipapa to buy some souvenirs and pasalubong. 

The next morning, my friends had no plans but to stay in our room and prepare for our departure. Albeit, I still pushed to do some picture taking on the beach with one of my friends (for instagram, y’know haha). We also picked our CD (pictures and videos of helmet diving) from the supplier’s office and passed by the Willy’s Rock for a bit.

Around 11:30 am, our guide was already there to pick us up for our transfers going back to Kalibo International Airport for our flight. It was a signal for us to bid goodbye from the beach, white sand, salty air, and lively nights but we made sure that we brought along with us the memories that we made within our stay in Boracay.