Saturday, January 26, 2013

day5: helmet diving and parasailing ♥


Day 5. The day activities were back! Remember Kuya Ace? I knew from the start he had hidden agenda. As we were having breakfast {at Andok's again, goodness gracious}, he offered us a helmet diving-parasailing package for a lower price than what our original guide offered us {the one from day 2}. Kuya Norman's rate was P1300. P600 and P700 for parasailing and helmet diving, respectively. Kuya Ace gave it to us for P1200. Good thing we haven't committed to Kuya Norman yet. Kung hindi, prinsipyo o isang daang piso ang labanan. Hehehe. :P

they made me their official secretary. meeh

Kuya Ace was nice enough to offer photo op session before boarding the boat. We ended up rather frustrated as we can't get a good jump shot. Okay na, move on na tayo!


failed jump shots

For some reasons, Kuya Ace suggested that we helmet dive first. So on we went to the helmet diving site. Among all the different operators, kuya chose Shingley. Together with the other groups, we were briefed first of how helmet diving goes, how the experience is like, the rules and most importantly the hand gestures you'll be using in the process - to signal that you are ok, if you want to go up already, or if there's something wrong.

But first things first.. group picture! They will be using this as a cover to your CD so make sure you all look decent. Hehe. By the way, the package includes a CD of your photos taken by your guides underwater. Always be on the look out for their signals so that your underwater shots won't look like stolen shots. :P

cover photo :')

How was the experience like? It was scary at first especially while we were waiting for our turn. I'm a daredevil, given. But I'm always like that. Nervous, but will do it anyway. Remember my mantra, "do shit that scares you". 

So anyway, the helmet is pretty heavy. You have to hold onto it the entire time. It's kind of annoying for me because there's nothing else I can do with my hands. I saw the guys hold it in place using one hand. I cannot do it myself so I ended up just walking underwater the entire 20 minutes. But alas, it's also not easy to walk. I was like tiptoeing the entire time. Hahaha! I felt silly. Nevertheless, it's worth experiencing. 

fish feeding time!

Update 07.29.2013
Here's our video. Don't judge. This was taken when I still haven't gotten the hang of walking at the bottom of the sea. And remember? Water is my Waterloo. Oops! Did I just sound redundant?


After helmet diving, it took a while before we were picked up by our contact for parasaling - Napoleon. While Ruel and Monique were being the water creatures that they are, the rest of us were killing time taking pictures. Thank you so much to our guide.

the best way to kill time :D

In Napoleon, our patience were tested waiting for our turn to parasail. As far as we know, we were the first group who booked for the day. When we arrived there, they said we're the third and that we have to wait for a group of eight and for another group of four to finish.They only have one speed boat and one parachute. So that's 15 minutes per two people for a total of one and a half hour waiting time. Add to that the travel time to the parasailing area and the preparation for each pair to parasail. 

Then our turn came. Wanna know what they said next? That we still have to wait for their speed boat to cool down. One reason came out next, that they run out of crude oil and they have to borrow from other operators first. Wtf, really! Never ever get Napoleon's services. They will suck all the good vibes out of you.

What made it worse is that it was Monique and I who decided that we wait for our turn, after all we're already there. The guys wanted to just leave and return the next day. I only felt a little guilty when Napoleon never runs out of reason and everyone was mad and starving already. We already skipped lunch at that point.

killing time yet again

Then finally, our turn came. For real, this time. Mark and Juvani were the first pair to fly. Their fifteen minutes up there felt forever for us. Monique and I decided that we go together but they did not allow us. So Ken and I went next. As usual, he's being the crazy kid that he is, fooling me that he'll remove the hook of my seat from the parachute. Monique and Ruel went next followed by Dwin.

yaaay! worth the wait

Part of what we paid for is our boat ride back to station 2. But instead we asked them to bring us to station 1. Looking haggard and all, we went to station 1. We spent some time swimming and beach bumming. By dinner time, we went to the carinderia where we ate the previous night. I had rice and binagoongan for P81. I skipped the shake though. After that, we went back to Jona's. For the third time, I chose chocolate peanut. That's how bad I am with anything I really like.

kiddos at heart

We took  a tryc back to La Carmela and immediately gave ourselves our much needed rest. Best day in Boracay, I'd say!

5 comments:

Aiza said...

Sexy mu naman sis! :)

Apple Borbon said...

@miss 'chievous. thanks sis. :')

Anonymous said...

Hello Ms. Apple,

A pleasant day to you.

I will be launching s2kd by the end of April. Primarily it will be a collection of personal stories of travel in the Philippines. The basic idea is for people to share the excitement of going places and at the same time offer useful information to would-be wanderers.

In connection with this I am requesting your permission to allow me to republish in full (text and images) your blog post at

http://atasteofapple.blogspot.com/2013/01/day5-helmet-diving-and-parasailing.html

As usual, full credits along with a link back to your article will accompany the republished content.

A preview of s2kd is available at http://s2kd.blogspot.com/

Hoping for your approval.

Sincerely,
Ronald Alcazar
ronald.alcazar@gmail.com

Diana Jane Cervantes said...

Parasailing is one of my favorite activities in Boracay. I hope you had a good time on the island. I got Boracay packages at www.boracaygo.com and I'm very excited. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Hi Apple,

Thank you for the informations. We will be having a trip this February and plans to do both parasailing and helmet diving.