Posts Tagged ‘swimming’
Posted on February 4, 2010
O Boracay
This little island is quite amazing. The emerald, sea green ocean, the long stretch of white sandy beaches paralleled with an abundance of restaurants of various cuisines …. and of course, buffets with “bottom-less iced teas” that try to under price and out smörgåsbord each other (we found one for as low as PHP 250).
The white sands at Boracay
The view from the Lounge
Best calamari dish at Cyma
One restaurant in particular where we had some of the best Greek dishes was at the Cyma Boracay Restaurant (the calamari and moussaka was awesome). Watch out for anyone who orders the flaming cheese as the staff screams out “Opa” as soon as they light the fire (scared the crap out of me).
Opa! t-shirt at Cyma Greek Restaurant
Lonely Planet's Review of Cyma
We stayed at the Le Soleil de Boracay – a delightful beach-front resort with excellent rooms and services (no complaints here, well except for the included breakfast, I wouldn’t recommend their salads from a can – eat out).
Rooms at Le Soleil de Boracay
Of course, as soon as you step outside your hotel you will be “politely” bombarded with people trying to sell you sailing, ATV, and water sport activities, pearls, sunglasses, and even on-the-beach massages and pedicures (hmm, that sounds like a good idea). For PHP 2,500 (a little over 40 bucks, yeah, I overpaid) I got my own sailing boat tour and crew.
A fishing boat on the beach of Boracay
Tour guide cuya Don-Dong and crew members Jun-Jun, and Eric (yes, Eric has the weird nickname) took me out for a spectacular sail and snorkeling tour around the island. It was indeed a little “hardcore” as the four of us manned a single-driver, dual sail outrigger. Each of us had to periodically balance-out both sides of the boat as we “raced” around the island, jumping over whatever waves that we could find (the crew noticed I was having a pretty good time dangling off the edge).
Crocodile island, one of the sights the tour guides will say you have to see, remarkably looked exactly like a crocodile floating on the sea. Crystal Caves is the other tour highlight but unfortunately I wasn’t able to see them due to the high tide (Cuya Don-dong failed to mention that high tides part). My rented snorkeling gear kind of sucked but I managed and was able to see many tropical fish (even a 2-foot long sea snake). The tour shortly started after 9:30 and I was back just in time for lunch. It was definitely worth it.
If you are interested in a “physical challenge” (for which the BG boys would appreciate) try swimming from one end of the beach to the other (Station 1 to Station 3). I managed to swim from our hotel at station 2 to station 3 and got totally wiped out by the end of it.
The 3 days-two night package offered by Zest Airways was a pretty good deal and the airline has many more options for travel in the Philippines as well as in Singapore and Korea.
Boracay, done!
…scratched that off my tabo list (offline, my own Filipino joke).
Posted on February 23, 2008
Swimming in winter and New Zealand
Outdoor swimming in February…..ahhh I love this province.
Speaking of BC, as my friends and relatives have known over the years, I’ve been sending them “the best place on earth” propaganda videos (BC tourism television commercials) to hopefully get them to leave Ontario and move over to the promise land of expensive-living-but-health-lifestyle-and-nice-view (still working on that…but hey, check out the Vancouver 2010 Olympic bid video). Anyhow, a couple of months ago, a new tourism commercial just came out on television. To my surprise, it wasn’t about BC (the Māori actor gave it away).
New Zealand looks very similar to BC.
Posted on January 26, 2008
The Swim Champ is BACK!
With inspiration and advice on where to get masculine-friendly swim trunks from my buddy Cam, I picked up a pair of TYR jammers, Speedo racing swim goggles, and a black cap (once you tried a cap, you can’t go back….ahhh, so smooth and aerodynamic against the water) from Swimco on 4th.
Anyhow, the Swim Champ is BACK and ready to get back into solid shark form (enough of this chubby dolphin). From now until the big day, the UBC Aquatic Centre will be my pool.
I almost forgot how much I love swimming and the calming, tranquil silence of being underwater.
(hey Blaney, I am swimmin again!)
(to my old swim buddies Ryan, Jeff, and Ian….anytime, bring it on)
(old school nods to my highschool coaches Ms. Martin ,or Marten, can’t remember … Coach Van Hees!!!)
(sorry kebin, your chances of ever trying to beat me in a race now are pretty much slim to none)
(nope, that photo on the right is not me. It is some dude from the UBC swim team)
Love it!
