Boracay adventures: Fly Fishing, Helmet Diving & Parasailing

We woke up once the generator was turned off around 6:00 AM that morning.  The Mo and I are early risers but it’s very difficult to sleep in a humid environment.  We got out of our mosquito net covered bed and ventured out along the Diniwid Beach.  We enjoyed a beachfront breakfast at a local restaurant along the beach called Wahine Cafe.

I ordered pancit bihon, a traditional Filipino stir fried glass noodles with shrimp and pork.  The Mo ordered a traditional American breakfast.  We sat on the beach and people watched.  There was an MMA training nearby on the beach that made us feel like fat
Americans.

We returned back the Spider house and had planned on spending the day there.  I started reading “The Help” and the Mo played video games as we lay on the bamboo balcony overlooking the ocean.  When we got hot, we went down the ladder and took a dip in the ocean. 

Our new friends Jasmine and Sky invited us to White beach for some activities.  We bargained with a few different vendors and found one that we liked.

We settled on helmet diving, para-sailing and fly fishing.  I've parasailed once in Cancun, Mexico but have never done the other two, I thought, this should be pretty interesting.  The prices were great compared to western standards.

We took a fun short speed boat ride to large raft in the middle of the ocean for helmet diving.  Upon arrival, we signed waivers and were briefed with instructions.  I was a bit apprehensive going down into the ocean with my asthma but I was told to breathe normal.  It was pretty cool.  There were fishes swimming around us and the instructor was doing water ring tricks.  They gave us bread to feed the fishes and they swarm around us.  When I was feeding the fish, I took my hands off my helmet and lost control, I got a little nervous and panted and had a slight panic attack and went back up.  After a couple of minutes, I went back down to join the crew for the remainder of the activity and took underwater pictures with the group.  I thought the activity was worth the money.

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A different speedboat transferred us to another “bamboo” island.  We transferred to a parasailing speedboat that would take us on a 15 minute para-sail ride.  Each couple took turns on the scenic ride hundreds of feet up in the air.  The ride was a bit nauseating and I had to rub some Asian “Tiger balm”-like ointment on my temples.

The best of them all had to be the fly fishing.  I was scared before I even went on, it was like riding a wild horse in the ocean.  I watched in horror as the other tourists took their turns on the thrilling water sport.  We signed our waivers and we were on the floating yellow raft.  I hung on the handle as if my life depended on it. 

Once we got started, I thought, this isn’t so bad.  It was just like riding a boat in the ocean… and then he turned the boat and accelerated the speed.  That was the first indication that the ride was about to get more exciting.  We screamed and laughed at the same time.  This went on a couple more minutes and it got scarier and scarier.  The fly fish felt like it was going to flip over and I still kept holding on with my ass all over the place losing control of my body.  The Mo fell out a couple of times and Jasmine fell out still holding the handle.  We threw the flags and called quits.  It was probably the scariest non-theme park ride that I’ve been on, scarier than rappelling the waterfalls in Costa Rica. 

I needed a drink after all that adrenaline rush.  We went back to the Spider house, showered and change.  The Mo and I went to the Microhotel Beach bar and had happy hour drinks.  It was more juice than booze so we went back to the Spider house and got real drinks, wine and scotch.  We shared vegetarian spring rolls, onion rings and a seared tuna wrap. I had a nice buzz going and it was a great way to end the day.  We went to bed early as tomorrow would be “moving day.”