Boracay Island – Philippines

Boracay Island - is an island of the Philippines located approximately 315km (200 miles) south of Manila and 2km off the northwest tip of the island of Panay in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. In 1990, it was voted by the BMW Tropical Beach Handbook as one of the best beaches in the world and again in 1996 by British publication TV Quick as the world’s number one tropical beach. 

In 2007, Boracay island topped the list of the World’s Most Popular Beach according to Yahoo! Travel. The island comprises the barangays of Manoc-Manoc, Balabag, and Yapak (3 of the 17 barangays which make up the municipality of Malay), and is under the administrative control of the Philippine Tourism Authority in coordination with the Provincial Government of Aklan.

Artificial reef dome deployment in Boracay

With its coral cover assessed to be in alarmingly poor condition, proponents of the Boracay Beach Management Program (BBMP) have undertaken coral reef restoration efforts as part of its coastal resources management program.

In September 2011, the BBMP-Technical Working Group launched their coral reef restoration efforts with activities consisting of the establishment of coral nurseries, transplantation of coral nubbins on degraded reefs, and deployment of reef domes. Monitoring reports by the coastal and marine resources team headed by Mike Labatiao have reported encouraging results.

Malay, Aklan

The Municipality of Malay is a first class municipality in the province of Aklan, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 32,110 people in 4,747 households.

Malay, “Gateway to Paradise”. The Municipality of Malay is where the world – famous Boracay Island is located. Boracay Island is Aklan’s major tourist attraction and is considered as “the best beach in the world”. Caticlan, one of Malay’s 17 barangays is the town’s business center and the jump-off point to Boracay Island.

Malay is situated at the northwestern part of Panay Island. It’s immediate neighbors are the municipalities of Pandan and Libertad ( Antique ), San Jose and Tablas Islands in Romblon. The municipality was named after a tiny specie of fish commonly called “Maeay” or “Malay” to stangers that used to abound in a nearby river.

The resort island Boracay is geographically part of the municipality although administratively independent of it (Boracay is under the administrative control of the Philippine Tourism Authority in coordination with the provincial government of Aklan).

Bonueva Home Boracay Cheap Rooms

It was November 2010 when I booked my flights for Boracay. We just came from our 1-week stay in Dumaguete (which I should also blog about soon!) and I thought, why not finally do this one month island vacation thing I've been planning to do for so long? So I booked my flights and then I started searching for a cheap place to stay. That's when I saw BONUEVA HOME in my search.

Peak Into The History of Boracay

As you probably once visited Boracay to either relax or engage in hedonism, have you ever stopped to think about the rich history of the world-renowned getaway destination? Did you know it had a history of conservation, protection and greening. Perhaps after you read this piece, you will be inspired to re-green your beloved Boracay. 

Malay, Aklan, Philippines

The Republic of the Philippines, to give it its official title, is made up of 7,107 islands, although the majority of its almost 98 million population lives on just 11 of those islands. The country is divided into the three main geographical divisions of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

What to See in Boracay

Boracay is situated in the northern region of Panay province in the Philippines. It attracts visitors from all over the world.

The majority of the hotels in Boracay is extremely luxurious and offer stunning views of the island’s wonderful beaches and pristine waters while attractions traditionally range from forest to mysterious caves. It is considered to be the best place for relaxing for a while. At the same time thrill seekers will find a lot of amuse and entertain them on this island.

Boracay, One of Asia’s Top Vacation Spots – Smart Travel Online Mag

BORACAY – This island paradise was voted as one of the Top 10 Holiday destinations in Asia by Smart Travel Asia travel poll for 2010.

Ranked first in the Best Holiday Destinations 2010 category was the exotic Kerala in southern India while Bali, Indonesia dropped to second place. In 2009, Kerala was voted third in Asia’s best tourist destinations.

SMART Introduces LTE Broadband, Promises 50mbps Speed

Smart Communications recently introduced Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband technology, touted as the fastest in the world today. This technology is also popularly referred to as 4G, or the fourth-generation mobile phone technology.

According to Smart, it’s current LTE is currently delivering download and upload speeds of up to 50Mbps and will be raised up to 100Mbps in the future.

I cannot wait to experience 100Mbps internet speed on my smartphone! With such speed, you can download a movie in minutes and can view high-definition video without the hiccups.

Bloggers Experience Smart 4G LTE in Boracay

Smart Communications, Inc., one of the country's major telecommunications player is poised to deploy its high speed internet access through its Smart Bro label, in the island of Visayas and Mindanao. The high speed internet access is made possible with the deployment of Long Term Evolution technology.

Smart officials have boasted download speeds of at least 50Mbps and it will be initially available at Davao and to all subscribers of Mindanao by the end of the year. In order to support this new technology, Smart have targeted to install more than 7,000 LTE towers in different locations nationwide in 2 years time.

Testing Smart LTE Broadband in Boracay

Guest Post By FlairCandy

I was testing the Smart LTE dongle indoors and it only gave me 25mbps but I was already WOW-ed by the super fast streaming speed as I was watching HD Videos over the internet. It didn’t take us quite a while to test the broadband because everything happened so fast, I was running out of videos to watch lol.

We were in Boracay only overnight but we were able to do a lot of things like testing the Smart LTE Broadband, Paraw sunset sailing (was so relaxing!), dine at different restaurants in Boracay, had dessert at Lemon Cafe! I was also able to swim at our hotel’s pool, upload a video blog of me, sipping some margarita, sipping some Real Coffee in the morning, buying pasalubong for Vince etc!

Smart LTE Party Launch At Boracay

It’s been almost two weeks since the night that I parted ways with my Smart LTE USB dongle from HUAWEI, the same length of time that I have been at home, rarely online, because my SmartBro connection has been very slow. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore so I called SmartBro’s tech hotline (*1888).

The rep told me that they were doing some system maintenance thing and that they were upgrading their servers. I wasn’t sure if it was just some line on a spiel but I had no other choice but to keep on hoping that like he said, my SmartBro internet connection will be back to normal in 24 hours. I went on with my life and behold! The next day (less than 24 hours), my internet connection got better. Whoopee! This got me to thinking that perhaps this system maintenance thing had something to do in preparation for the ultra fast SMART LTE connection (50 megabits and up). Then I remembered, I still have yet to share with you my experience that night I had to return the Smart LTE dongle that was lent to me.

It happened on April 23 in Boracay. I originally thought that there will just be a dinner thing among the Smart folks where I will have to share my experience about Smart LTE. Well, well, well…. Little did I know that there was going to be some major major party that night featuring not just cool fire dancers but the following as well:

15 to 69Mbps Actual Speed By Smart Evolution (Boracay)

A look into SMART’s prototype LTE Dongle by HUAWEI and my first speed test at Boracay beach.

Greetings from Boracay! I was able to borrow a special LTE USB dongle from HUAWEI. There are only 5 of these in the world made especially for the event and from what I heard HUAWEI really had to rush these to SMART. I have one of the four (oh wait I think Jen Juan also has one). The others are being used in stations around Boracay, shared over WiFi. You may wonder why we’re on the island. It’s because ever since before, Boracay has become a test bed for new technology. I was here in ’07 for their Mobile TV launch and now I’m back for their LTE deployment.

Smart LTE demo in Manila

Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) today fired up the first Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in Metro Manila. The introduction marks the first public demonstration of LTE in the National Capital Region.

“The future of mobile broadband is LTE, and Smart is leading the way” said Smart Chief Wireless Advisor Orlando B. Vea. “We are very happy to bring the fastest 4G technology to the city with the fastest lifestyle.”

Karylle Swimsuit Malfunction

Watch Karylle Swimsuit Malfunction Video, Picture (pics), Photo in Boracay.

In the middle of Anne Curtis swimsuit malfunction scandal, we never knew that Karylle has also its own swimsuit malfunction scandal during ASAP XV in Boracay. Base on this video (YouTube Video) its seems that there is a Karylle swimsuit malfunction scandal.

Samal Island Philippines – Better than Boracay

I visited this place sometime ago to assist in a project for the Department of Tourism. My boss, a “veteran” project Samal Island Philippinest manager of tourism projects told me that he has seen all the famous beaches in the Philippines and by far, Samal has more to offer – minus the cost. Don’t get intimidated by its loooong descriptive name – Island Garden City of Samal