When our time was up in El Nido we got up early and left the Playa Encantada Resort. We were greeted at 3:30 am by the wonderful staff. They insisted on getting up with us to help get our luggage to our car.
They are such good people and we had a wonderful time getting to know them and use their wonderful services while we were there. Edwin is the father of the family and he was in charge of keeping the grounds and beach clean. The next is his wife Caro, she was the wonderful cook for the resort. Lastly, is Vanessa who cleaned our room for us each day. Anytime we needed anything these wonderful people were there to help. The night before we left we sat around the table on our porch and talked to them about the Book of Mormon. They gladly took one to read. We also left one with the proprietor, Rochelle:). We had taken with us 2 copies of the Book of Mormon in Tagalog to give to someone on our trip.
The trip back into El Nido was one of the quickest since it was so early and there were not many people on the roads. We were about there first to the airport. We turned in our car and then waited for an hour and a half to board our plane. We had an hour and a half flight to get to Cebu City.
When we arrived to Cebu we rented a car for the few hours we were there. Our purpose in getting to Cebu was to get to the temple. Rick and I were able to attend an endowment session while we were there. The session was FULL of people! We wondered if we would have to wear headphones, but gratefully the audio was in English and the subtitles were in Tagalog. We enjoyed our time there.
The temple was beautiful inside and out.
After the temple we ate at Puso Restaurant in the Quest Hotel. There was so much food and we enjoyed perusing the buffet. There were a lot of different Asian foods but also a lot of other variety. We ate to our hearts’ content.
Afterwards we were hoping to get to the Magellan's Cross in the old town area, but we ran out of time.
We had to get our car turned in and catch our flight.
We were on Cebu Pacific this flight.
We flew 1 1/2 hours to the city of Caticlan on Pasay Island. They put us in a van and took us to the port on the coast.
We then got on a fast boat which took us on a five minute ride over to Boracay.
We arrived at night so all was dark.
We then hopped in another van that took us about twenty minutes to our hotel.
We stayed at the Four Points Sheraton.
The hotel staff left us this nice note and goodies.
For some reason our air conditioning was causing condensation to get on everything. It was even making the floor wet and slippery. We thought that might be a hazard so the staff changed our room. The clerk said that if we waited until the next day we could get into a room adjoining the pool. They said we could leave all of our stuff in the first room and transferred us to another room right down the hall for the night.
It worked out well.
We got up the next morning and changed rooms.
The room was a little smaller than the suite we had, but here is the fun pool just outside our room.
It was worth the smaller space!
Rick set up an afternoon scuba diving session while I was very happy to stay back and relax at the hotel.
Rick loved seeing the beautiful, big mounds of coral in the clear water.
He even got to see a SEA SNAKE! Not my cup of tea but he loved it.
I was able to stay back, read my book and even get a massage.
The lady came right to my room and did the service there.
Since it was on the bed, there was no place to put my face laying down so that was uncomfortable but we made it work.
After Rick returned we took an E Trike to ‘Smooth’ Restaurant.
It had been suggested as a nice place by the hotel staff.
As we walked into the open air restaurant we had a beautiful view of the water which worked out great since we arrived just before sunset. We ordered our food then slipped out to get some pictures.
It was breathtaking with the sun going down and all of the Paraw boats out on the water.
Just dreamy!
I love this picture of us!😍
Here is our little spot at the restaurant with our food.
I had the lemon chicken with vegetables, and it was SO GOOD!
Rick had the chicken cordon bleu and it was also very good.
While we were eating we had a tenor saxist playing smooth love songs form the 70's and 80's.
It was so romantic!
Not to be left out was this amazing dessert.
Cinnamon waffles with a cream cheese topping served with ice cream.
I mean, WOW!
We haven't had much sugar since Christmastime and this kinda made us fall off the wagon.😳
After dinner we took a walk down the beach and found this cool sand castle! It was loaded with lights for a nighttime picture. The builder was there and accepted a little donation to take a picture by it. He comes to the beach each day to make a new one.
I think it's so cool!
The next day we enjoyed some time in the pool and relaxing in the room.
For lunch we just ate in the hotel restaurant, and… holy cow there was a lot of food!
I'm not sure why we haven't caught on just yet, but the portions are huge.
We ordered an appetizer of chicken rolls thinking that we would get some small egg rolls.
They brought out a whole chicken roll up. Anyway, we had those plus pizza, plus HUGE shrimp and rice, plus penne pasta. To top it off Rick ordered mango sticky rice.
Like I said TOO MUCH FOOD!
After lunch we headed out to do some excursions.
First we parasailed. We got on a boat which took us to another boat platform and then we boarded another boat for the parasailing. Crazy hoop jumping, it felt like, but we were able to get up in the air and it was fun:)
Rick brought his camera and we got a few shots from the air!
We had planned to do some wave running after the parasail, but the area we had to waverun in was too small and not worth the price, so we turned that one down.
We ended up grabbing an E-trike to take us to the D Mall.
We found a massage parlor and stopped in for a couples’ massage. The massages here are really cheap. Like $10 cheap, but their therapists are not therapists. They use A LOT of oil and do a lot of rubbing. It is relaxing but I wouldn't call it tense muscle helping. Anyway...not complaining 'cause we enjoyed it, just saying.
Here is a pic afterwards at the D mall.
Lots of shops and restaurants and stuff. We bought a few snacks for the road.
We had planned a sunset Paraw ride that evening, but after waiting for an hour, our tour guide told us we were not gonna make it. It was the Chinese New Year celebration and there were SO MANY PEOPLE trying to get on these boats. We were a little disappointed but got a few nice pictures anyway.
The tour guide suggested that we take a paraw ride the next morning right close to our hotel, so we did.
After resting throughout the night we knew we had the morning to enjoy a last hurrah so we booked the boat. It was really fun cruising around with just the sails and the wind taking us along the coast. The crew members didn't speak much english, but they were nice. We rode around for a full hour which we wouldn't have gotten on the sunset sail.
After the sail we played in the clear waters for a while until it was time to go back and pack.
Rick wanted to take one last swim in the pool and then decided to have our wet things dried before packing. The concierge (the staff have been so helpful in everything) said he would get our clothes over to the cleaners to get them dry.
While the clothes were drying we went back to the hotel restaurant for lunch before we had to leave.
We both ordered the chicken roll ups, cause they were so good the day before...then ordered a yummy fruit plate. Delicious indeed! Have you ever seen a yellow watermelon? Here's one...
After that we found our way back to thy ferry and back to Caticlan Airport. Our flight was forty five minutes to get back to Manila flying on Philippine Air.
We caught a GRAB to the Marriott Hotel close to the airport.
Our room is the bomb! They upgraded us to a suite and it is super nice with another spa bath!
We got to take a dip in the jacuzzi which was nice and hot then Rick jumped into the pool then tried out the sauna, which he loved. We came back to our room to relax, watched a little tv and then drifted off to sleep. The mattress was not easy on my back and I woke up hurting.👎
Sometimes that's the way it goes.
I woke up early because of my back and hips (which woke up Rick) so we had a couple of hours to kill before church, which was nice.
We got to the Pasay 5th Ward and were greeted by some great people. So many reached out to us to say hello and welcome. The Filipino people are so good and kind.
Across the board that has been what we have found!
It was fast and testimony meeting which was nice. Some were in English and some were in Tagalog (and some were a mixture) but the Spirit was felt and we were able to take the Sacrament and that's what's ,post important! (Rick bore his testimony, too)😀
Here's a fun picture in the hotel elevator.
There were mirrors on the ceiling...not unlike our wedding night! HAHA!
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