What the day is
Five and a half hours around the coast of Boracay on a traditional outrigger, with four and a half of those hours being the boat hire itself. The route takes in Crystal Cove Island, Magic Island, Puka Beach and Balinghai Beach, with a snorkelling stop and a buffet lunch along the way.
It is a shared boat rather than a private charter, which means you are sailing with other people and following a set route. That keeps it sociable and it means the day runs to a plan rather than to negotiation.
The guide is the thing guests write about. Almost every review names the person who took them out, which across thirty-odd reviews is a consistent enough pattern to mean something. Five and a half hours is also the right length for the heat, ending before the worst of the afternoon sun.
Boracay island hopping tour: the stops
Crystal Cove is the one with the caves, a small private island with two coves and a walkway down into the rock where the sea surges through. It has its own optional entrance.
Magic Island is where the cliff diving platforms are, and it is the stop that appears most often in reviews as the highlight. It also has an optional entrance, so it is a choice rather than an obligation.
Puka Beach and Balinghai are the beach stops. Puka is a long open stretch of coarse white sand named for the shells found there; Balinghai is small, enclosed and reached down steps through the rock.
Boracay hopping tour: the snorkelling
A mask is included and the guide takes the group to the spots worth being in. The tour describes coral around the island and lists what lives in it: colourful wrasses, moray eels and sea snakes.
The snorkel tube and fins are not included and neither, technically, is the snorkelling fee, both of which are stated openly in the exclusions. That is worth knowing before you are floating over a reef wondering why.
One guest notes not being given a respirator tube with the mask, which is the same point from the other direction. If you snorkel regularly, bring your own tube and fins and the problem disappears. The guide points things out rather than leaving you to find them, which on a reef makes a considerable difference.
Island hopping at Boracay: the boat
A traditional Filipino outrigger, a bangka, with bamboo arms out each side and a canopy over rows of seats. It is stable, slow and open to the air, which is exactly right for a coastal day in this climate.
Life vests are provided and worn, which the photographs from the operator show clearly: rows of guests in orange vests under a blue canopy. That is standard practice in the Philippines rather than a sign of rough water.
The outrigger arms are also where people sit when the boat is stopped, which is one of the small pleasures of the format and something no western tour boat offers.
The lunch
A local-style buffet is included and it is praised repeatedly. Photographs show grilled fish, seafood, rice, noodles and vegetable dishes laid out on long tables, eaten under a bamboo roof.
It is a proper meal rather than a snack, and on a five and a half hour tour it is the thing that carries you through the afternoon. Guests describe it as delicious and better than expected more often than they describe anything else about the day.
It is also the moment the group becomes a group. Everybody eats together at one table, which after a morning of separate swimming stops changes the feel of the second half. Filipino buffet food is built for sharing, so it suits a boat load of strangers better than plated meals would.
Best island hopping in Boracay: the optional extras
Three things are listed as optional rather than included: entrance to Magic Island, entrance to Crystal Cove Island, and the snorkelling fee. All three are paid locally on the day.
That structure is normal in the Philippines, where individual islands and coves charge their own entrance rather than being covered by a tour operator. It is stated plainly in the exclusions rather than sprung on anybody.
The practical upshot is to bring cash in local currency. Card payment on a beach on a small island is not something to rely on, and the amounts are small enough to carry easily.
Who it suits
Anybody with a day on Boracay who wants to see more of it than the resort strip. The island is small and its best parts are on the coast, and a boat is how you reach them.
It suits swimmers and people happy in the water, since most of the stops involve getting in. It suits people who like a sociable day, because a shared boat with a buffet lunch is exactly that.
The operator lists it as not suitable for people with pre-existing medical conditions, which is the only stated restriction and worth reading if it might apply to you. Boracay rewards a day on the water more than most small islands, because so much of what is good about it is only reachable that way.
