Boracay in Frames: From One Beach to Another

One of the best things about traveling with your older brother and his family is that you get to travel for free: your own separate hotel room, no-hassle private tours, all the cute souvenirs you want, breakfast, lunch, dinner—anything. Craving something cold? Coco Mama is right there. Feeling thirsty? Jonah’s fruit shake is just a few steps away. You can literally leave your wallet at home and still have a great time.

Worst thing about traveling with your brother? You’re traveling with your brother.

For the entire week we were in Boracay, I never once got to party or stay out late. I wanted to go out on my own and have some fun a few nights, but without fail, my brother would always—always—come to my room after dinner and hang out until midnight. In the mornings, around 7 am, he’d be knocking on my door like clockwork to check on me before we headed down for breakfast. It didn’t help that our rooms were also literally next to each other. I mean, I could have probably managed to sneak out a few nights and come back before 6 am, I’m no stranger to partying until sunrise, but the thing is, I’ve never done that alone. When you’ve partied enough, you know the crowd before midnight and the crowd after are on completely different wavelengths. I had neither the energy nor the desire to engage in the post-midnight craziness of the Philippines’ most notorious party island.

We didn’t exactly have a strict itinerary. Other than the island-hopping tour that ultimately left us feeling exhausted and painfully sunburnt, we did whatever we pleased. Island hopping in Boracay isn’t like in Palawan and Siargao, where you get to relax and enjoy the picturesque beachside scenery—it feels very transactional. And honestly, after a while, all the beaches just started looking the same. So on most days, we basically just swam at the beach in front of our hotel, walked by the shores of Stations 1, 2, and 3, and ate god-knows-how-much seafood.

The thing that we absolutely loved, though, was the sunset paraw sailing. All the travel fatigue from the past few days was simply washed away by absolute stillness. As we were floating in the middle of the sea, watching the famous Boracay sunset paint the blue sky with a warm, golden radiance, I thought it would be fun to give the paraw a little action—it was becoming too chill. So, I asked kuya, who was navigating the sails, to allow me to take control for a few minutes. After some parkour-like movements and a few moments of almost falling, I finally reached his seat in the bangka. By this time, the sun was already slowly fading away into the horizon and the temperature was dropping by the minute. It was getting cold and dark—the perfect way to end the day.

This wasn’t my first time in Boracay. The last time I was there, it was the peak of typhoon season, so the place was practically empty—which I absolutely loved. So, this time around, I decided to leave my hefty Canon 6D and its heavy all-metal 24-70mm f/2.8 lens behind in favor of a light, plastic Olympus Mju I film camera.

Here are some of my photos.