Snowy79

I feel your pain. I was trying to sail from Caticlan to Batangas a few months back and it was a nightmare. No tickets sold online and no one answering the phones. I had to take a 10 min boat ride off Boracay to the jetty port to get a ticket only to be told they don't sell in advance at the port and to come back at midnight for the 1am sailing. I offered to pay excess but the woman refused. I then asked if the trip was confirmed as some cancelled due to covid and she couldn't say. The last boat off Boracay at the time was 7pm so I was going to be waiting 5hrs to start with. I took the 6:30pm boat hoping to find out if the ferry was sailing in time to catch the last boat onto Boracay but yet again she never knew if the trip was on. I said surely she knows if the boat had departed Batangas as it's an 11hr sailing and it will be over halfway here but no answer. I then noticed a Fast Cat to Bulalacao at Midnight so thought I could get that then have a road trip to Puerto Galera but yet again they never knew if the boat was sailing. Midnight came and no sign of the Fast Cat or news on the boat to Batangas. No one would tell me any updates until I spotted a worker in orange overalls carrying a note pad. He told me the boat was docked but I couldn't see it due to the buildings. I went to the ticket office again but they refused to sell me a ticket as the boat wasn't in. I ended up runnig down the beach to look over at the port and sure enough no boat to Batangas. I was getting well pissed off at this stage as there was no sign of any boats and I couldn't even get back to Boracay until the 5am sailing. I thought my luck was in when a guy approached and told me the Fast Cat was just docking, 30 mins late but will board quickly, he had a car ticket for the Fast Cat and could drop me off in Calipan for 2k peso. Happy days as there was me and my partner. I tried once more for the 1am Batangas boat but no sign so gave the guy 2k and we jumped in his car. The Fast Cat ended up boarding at 5am.

A friend in a similar position needed a notarized letter explaining why he overstayed then he got hit with the usual 500 peso fine, 500 peso Express lane an usual visa fees.

Is this an overstay on your initial entry or at the 36 month point? At the 36 month you will need a motion of consideration to extend, mine cost just short of 20k peso and I still had two weeks left. If at the initial entry you will need a notarised letter explaining why you overstayed which costs about 500 peso then your 500 peso fine and extension fees with express lane.

It'll take a couple of days to get the results of your medical. I got mine done which included bloods, urine and xray same day, stool sample a couple of days and the general medical by a doctor the same day. I got mine on Boracay for under 2k all in. Everything done on the Friday and picked the completed paperwork up on the Monday afternoon. No queue, just walked in and out within the hour.

Forget the Underwater River trip. 2hrs to the river then about 5hrs to El Nido.

Slowly we are seeing improvements which is a good thing, a long way to go but hopefully the culture is changing.

Last time I was there the boats were running. If making a holiday of it you could fly to Puerto Princessa, take a van to the Underground River then head up to El Nido. The River is well worth a visit. From El Nido take the boat then fly back from Coron to Manila.

That's Yorkshire men. There's a rumour copper wire was invented by two Yorkshire men fighting over a penny.

I don't think there's any hard and fast rules with getting past immigration once you have the visa, it pretty much depends on who is on duty that day. I took my then partner to Cambodia, she was 29yrs old but looked about 16yrs old, cute and very pretty. I was 54yrs old and looked like I had a paper round in the Himalayas, it was her first time out of country. I skipped through immigration and she was asked who she was travelling with and how long we had known each other then she was also let through. My mate was doing the same trip a few weeks later and is partner also had never been out of the country, being polite she hadn't aged well and looked a similar age as my friend. They got the third degree, pulled out of the queue and took into seperate rooms and their phones gone through to confirm the relationship, took a good hour if I remember correctly before they were both allowed to board.

I have an apartment within a resort on Boracay, they are strict on some things and not strict on others. I'm allowed guests as long as I message the manager and warn the security off, it's usually along the lines of I'd like two guests to visit, get clearance and 8 turn up. I can carry out repairs as long as I put a work order in probably so they know I'm not doing anything dodgy with the electrics and they let me park my motorcycle with the staff parking, if I as much as leave it at the bottom of my apartment for one minute security turn up and ask me to move it then they leave there's in the same spot. They accept parcels for me with no issues. All in I'm happy as the security don't allow people in and out unless known.

Coron and El Nido.

Some great walking on Boracay but all outdoors. The main beach although 4km long only has about 2km shaded by palm trees then there's Mount Luho which has some sheltered spots plus a nice breeze usually. I run a circuit around it sometimes which takes in the hill plus just over 1km of the main beach, total distance just under 7km. Finally there's the walk to the Keyhole at Newcoast, about 5km from the gate to the keyhole and back. The return is pretty much uphill all the way but very open to the sun.

I honestly wouldn't recommend Puerto Galera as a family destination. The area is pretty much split into two destinations, Sabang and White Beach. Sabang is diving and sexpats with lots of hunter girls prowling around and a few girlie bars, it's pretty dirty and seedy. White beach is where the Filipinos hoilday. An average beach at best with lots of hawkers and low quality eating establishments, night time entertainment is lady boys in the bars miming to extremely loud Glori Gaynor and Mariah Carey, made worse by the bars being open fronted and next to each other so they all try to out compete by being louder. It's also the brownout capital of the Philippines. The Filipinos love it as they can get ten to a room and cook their own food but it's an aquired taste. I think there's better destinations along the Batangas coast.

No they were made illegal before covid kicked off. I never minded them even though I was in two that broke down, one with an engine fire but I'm a very strong swimmer. They were initially replaced by fibreglass boats that bobbed like a cork, you got crammed inside then they locked the door, next to zero chance of getting out if they capsised.

I've done a few 12hr ferry sailings with no issues and a few 2hr ones that were scary to say the least. Having lived on Orriental Mindoro the usual escape route is a 30km ferry ride, initially it was bankas which were banned for safety reasons then fibreglass coffins which I hated and now reasonable fastcraft and roro ferries. A good few times of the year all crossings by boat are banned, sometimes with little notice and you can get stranded, not good if you have a flight to catch or wanting to get to a decent hospital.