Monday, April 23, 2007

Sizzling Puerto Galera


It’s been a year since I’ve been to Galera! I never thought I’d be back here. I’m not a beach fanatic. But when our department decided to have our company outing here, I got excited na rin. Lalo na when we planned to include the Banana boat ride in our itinerary. Plus I got JayR to tag along with us for a minimal cost.



This time it was hotter in Galera. Probably due to the heat wave that’s been hitting Pinas lately. It’s still crowded but not as crowded as last year though we went not on holy week as we did last year. We took a 7:30am (which left at 8am) boat ride from Batangas Pier to White Beach. It’s really the only agonizing part of going to and fro Galera. As anticipated, the boat was fully loaded. I survived the boat ride without throwing up. :D Hooray for Bonamine! Perhaps sleeping through it helped me as well. We had little sleep the night before for we are supposed to be on board the bus by 4am. So we took every chance we got to snooze a bit.

We ate the lunch we brought once we’ve settled to a house we rented. The house has a two bedroom inside and 1 bedroom with its own T&B outside. It’s complete with kitchen and all its amenities and a Cable TV. It’s really like a house that the owner left for a while. After some rest and swimming, we went snorkeling!
The boat man took us to 3 snorkeling spot. But to my disappointment, none of them seem to have a live corals. I was amazed before with those corals but after we have seen the beauty of underwater in Bohol, all the corals in Galera seems dead to me. I just tried to look for some fish and enjoyed the sea. On the third snorkeling spot we went to is in just shallow water. JayR and I did not bother to go see it. We went ashore for some walking and picture taking.
On that shore was a floating resto bar which was just a floating raft which sells Halo-Halo last year. It expanded to more than twice its size. I was even surprised to see it on the bay of White Beach later that night. We had a hearty feast at Fernando’s Restaurant. We ordered Sinugba meals to satisfy all our cravings and hunger. Chicken Kebab is my favorite! After dinner, we strolled along the beach to check out what’s going on at night. There’s not much activity that night except for the dance show that 3 gays did to the music of PussyCat Dolls! I’m not sure if it’s at Tipzynakku Bar but a small crowd gathered to watch them dance. Great way to attract customers! Since we can’t do much that night, we decided to get Henna Tattoo! We found Black Inx at the far end of the beach. That’s where I had my glitter tattoo last year. I was happy with my glittered Tarantula then so I thought they’d do better again this time. I had a butterfly glitter tattoo done at my upper left back. The outline was done with Henna while the insides of its wings were red and blue glitters while its body was filled with gold glitters. JayR had a lion face facing sideways done at his left arm. He was so happy with the output that he liked to have another tattoo done at his right arm. If I gave in to his charm he would have done so but I thought one is enough. Had I approved, we might have gone home having his whole body tattooed with Henna. :D We strolled further until we decided to just sit along the beach. Tired myself, I fell asleep in an instant on his lap. I woke up when I felt chill already. We looked for our other companions along the beach but to our dismay all were asleep already. As we headed back to the house, we passed by a hotdog stand. Do we have to surpass this?? Naahh!! We enjoyed the hotdogs on stick as we head back to the house.

The next morning was the day I was anticipating for the whole trip! Banana Boat Ride!!! This is my first time to ride it. I was 2% nervous and 98% excited! I’ve always wanted to do this ride but never got the chance. We were instructed to release our hold of the reins during the drop. I tried to remove the stories I heard of those who broke their arms riding the banana boat off my head. I just thought I have JayR to rescue me if ever.
The ride had surpassed all my expectations. It was all fun to the 100th level! I don’t mind if my ears were filled with water when we were first dropped. I don’t mind if I have to climb the banana with more than one attempt. I tell you this is exhausting. I don’t mind if I was thrown out of the banana boat alone while all the others are still on it! Hahaha! Advise lang, if you’ll ride the banana boat, don’t lather up yourself with lotion. It’s harder to climb when you’re slippery! Hahaha! The most fun here was that we had a photographer ride with the speed boat capturing all the wonderful moments alive! Thanks Sir Malvin for taking the courage to take our photos! We salute you!

After the banana boat ride, we went to shop for souvenirs and prepared to set home. Of course, we can’t pass another chance to grab a hotdog and some fruit shakes! Yummy! Our boat ride to Batangas Pier was scheduled at 12pm. We have little time to shop. We were still shopping when everyone was already boarding the boat. To sum it all up, we had a great time and tan! I never thought that I would enjoy another day at the beach!

3 comments:

Jayr n Anne said...

Kewl! I really had a great time in this galera trip, the banana boat ride, snorkeling, hotdog and fruitshakes, and of course, my very first henna tatoo.. But compared to the colorful spectacle of corals in bohol, underwater scenery in galera is like movies in 50's -- boring, dull, black and white.. Good thing you're there beside me, still the sights are vivid and colorful! :D

Unknown said...

huwow! sa comment ng 'jayr & anne' ako biglang nanlambot ah... hehe.. masyadong umaapaw ng pagmamahal dito! nakakakilig naman...

i'm so happy to see all your pictures from Galera... so sad naman kse di ako kasama.. huhu...inggit din ako...

thanks for the update Anne!

i miss u all! esp u!

take care...

Anne n Jayr said...

hahaha! syempre, pareho kami sweet e! hehe..

sana nga kasama ka namin sa Galera! super miss na kita!! balita ko puro shopping ka daw jan ah.ingat ka lagi ha.

mwah!