Boracay is hardly recognisable since my last visit seven years ago. The only thing that remains is the density of the buildings and the crowds – although around 25% of all buildings have been declared illegal and demolished. Just three months after reopening, Boracay is still nowhere near its previous booking figures.
When Philippine President Duterte visited Boracay in 2018, he called the island a “cesspool”. He wasn’t far wrong. in 2012, we kitesurfed the Bulabog slalom between floating poo and condoms after every medium downpour. Large parts of the island smelled like dung heaps. With the six-month complete closure and general renovation, at least that is now a thing of the past.
In the 70s, Boracay was a small fishing island with a few backpackers and almost no tourists. Then, in the early 80s, some big magazine declared White Beach to be the most beautiful beach in the world – and everyone else agreed. What followed was an incredibly rapid development into one of the world’s most densely populated tourist hotspots.
The main road was far too narrow for the gigantic streams of pilgrims. Tuktuks were never worthwhile during the day: you were always much faster on foot, no matter how far. Today the road is wide. The houses on the sides were simply sawed off in the centre and the road widened. In some places it still bears the tiles of old bathrooms. Steel reinforcements protrude from numerous holes. Coming home drunk in the dark is a real pain.
The general refurbishment is far from complete. Day and night, excavators dig out old channels and put in new ones. Concrete mixers drive along the beach. Hundreds of workers are burying one metre wide sewer pipes made in Germany under the pavements, most of which are still non-existent. That’s why the e-tuktuks are hardly worthwhile during the day. The sewage pipes leading directly into the sea have been blocked.
Numerous old hostels, such as the three-storey Habagat on Bulabog Beach, which was built entirely from bamboo and is truly pirate-like, have been demolished. The charming improvised architecture of the old days has been replaced by gleaming white luxury accommodation. The luxury condos built illegally in the forest on the hills south of Bulabog are also to be demolished. The front half of all the old houses on Bulabog will soon make way for a beach promenade. A few old markets and poor houses of the residents have unfortunately also fallen victim to the renovation. I now understand why an entire military battalion was stationed on Boracay for the general renovation.
As the old electricity pylons disappeared along with the old roads, there are now a few hundred cables hanging between bending posts deep in the pavement. The resulting power cuts are limited to an average of three hours per day. Unless Boracay’s central transformer explodes, as happened on the fourth day. Then there is no power for a whole day, unless you are staying in a luxury resort with its own block generator. Outside, without air conditioning, the night becomes pleasantly damp and mosquito-filled in tropical 85% humidity. There is also not always running water.
Despite the density between the construction sites, Boracay is already worth a visit. The Chinese easily make up 75% of all visitors today. A group in front of McDonald’s is probably being given an extract from Ronald McDonald’s sex offences register by the megaphone guide. At least that’s what I think I can read from their petrified expressions. Afterwards, they flock to Kite Beach, traipse between all the kites being launched over the lines laid out and take highly artistic pictures with Victory signs and us kiters in the background. I feel like an animal. It jumps around in front of the Chinese with chimpanzee screeches. They don’t understand, of course. But the animal is fine.
Wind & kitespot Boracay On the first few days, the Habagat is blowing between 15 and 20 knots, sometimes we kite ourselves really clean in tropical downpours. A maximum of 50 kiters are on the water. On the fifth day, the wind finally freshens up to a standard and laminar 25 knots. I immediately fall in love with the 10m² of my XR4. The hangtime today often exceeds five seconds. I lose my second pair of sunglasses in a crash between about 100 kiters on the 500 by 2000 metres of Bulabog Bay. The density of kiters is acceptable, almost everyone is riding quite considerately and the schools still have few customers.
A few hours around low tide, small kickers build up in the centre of the bay and are quite usable. At high tide, the entire bay is one choppy bathtub, with some shallow water only just before the narrow beach. You no longer have to buy kite flags like you used to, and you can choose your own starting point in front of one of the kite schools. Nobody charges wind usage fees and they offer you the compressor. Give the helpers tips! The people from Isla Kite and Hangin were super helpful and friendly across the board, even if you don’t book one of the really expensive day trips here (e.g. Seco Island, from around €80).
At low tide, you should never go over the fringing reef, as the water is only ten centimetres deep in places. Even after high tide, a few coral blocks protrude from the water in the centre of the reef. The water is only a maximum of 70 cm deep at low tide – but in many places it is nice and shallow for big airs. On some days the wind doesn’t turn to the north-east, then it comes over the hills in the north of the bay and is very patchy. Further south it is usually more constant and somewhat stronger. There are hardly any sea urchins because the water is now clean. I catch what is probably the last one. Neoprene shoes are recommended for beginners because of the individual sharp stones and coral blocks.
My eight days on Boracay were 100%, with at least 16 knots of basic wind every day. One day was very patchy, two days were nice and strong with around 25 knots. The remaining days were mostly between 18 and 22 knots.
ATTENTION! CHINESE! Be careful on the beach not to put your kite in the path of the Chinese. THEY RUN OVER EVERYTHING – including my kite on the last day. Strut burst, tube gone, costly repair and therefore €50 even here. Another €150 loss in value, and of course the idiot who peed on my altar just left. Always wind up your lines!
My accommodation, Lazy Dog, is in a quiet side street just two lines away from the launch site. The food is good and the room prices are in the middle range.
Boracay PRO:
- Best kite infrastructure in the Philippines
- Large standing area
- Good launch assistants
- Massive selection of good restaurants, including international ones
- Plenty of good clubs and bars
Boracay CONTRA:
- Already very dense, despite -25% development
- Crowds at least in the centre, outside ok
- currently some power cuts and water outages
- currently a single 5km construction site, holes in the roads, no pavements
- therefore often traffic jams
- Prices on Boracay are on average at least twice as high as in the rest of the Philippines
- ignorant Chinese in the middle of the start zone, run over everything
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.