Boracay Bonding with Family Day 2 - Helmet Diving & Paraw Sailing

We woke up early for our second day. Just in front of La Carmela Resort are people offering activities. You really have to have an idea how much activities are otherwise they'll offer it for a higher price.

I haggled down to the following prices:
Paraw Sailing - P1000/group for 6 adults+2 kids+free registration
Reef Walking - P400/pax
Island hopping - P 1500/group (3-4 hours)
(Paraw sailing and Island hopping have registration fees, make sure to include this in your discussion. Ask that this is already free).

We went swimming first on the beach where we also met my parents.

dad

Janet, my sister-in-law

hubby meditating

me and SIL

Reef Walking

This is also called Helmet Diving. It's best to do this in the morning, starting at 8am, because water is clearer and waves are better unlike in the afternoon. We are allowed to stay under water for 30 minutes. Pictures and videos are included in the CD which we can get in the afternoon.

where we availed reef walking. located in station 3.

take note, no refund!

after we registered our names and paid the fee, we hopped in this boat that took us to the location.

hubby, janet, jeff and moi!

the platform

We were given a short briefing on how to equalize pressure while merging under water. First is to swallow, second is to move the jaw and last to carefully put your hand inside the helmet, hold your nose and blow it.We were also taught hand signals as a way to communicate. The helmet weighs 30 kilos but under water it only weighs 2 kilos. Cable is 20 meters long. Air is supplied through an oxygen tank and not a compressor. They can allow as young as 5 years old to do this depending on the height.

We felt excited and scared at the same time. No quitting, sayang ang bayad!!!

water is 12 ft deep

it was fun seeing fish tiny eyes staring at us while hiding in this coral

We followed a ladder that leads to the bottom.While going under, I immediately felt the pressure. And the more I sunk, pressure was strongly felt that I had to continuously swallow and stop myself. It felt scary at first but once you get used to it, it felt amazing. Two divers accompanied us; the photographer and the assistant. After picture and video taking, we were hand signaled to go up, meaning time is up. :)

I am not satisfied with the quality of our photos and video based on other photos and videos I saw online. I do not recommend A Laurel Aqua Sports.

Paraw Sailing

That afternoon, we tried Paraw Sailing. We were given 2 slots to choose, 4pm-5pm or 5pm-6pm. Thinking that paraw sailing is for sunset viewing and thought sunset happens at around past 5pm, we chose the 5pm-6pm slot. It turned out to be a bad choice. It was already 5:30 when the boat fetch us. It was getting dark so fast that we only sailed for 20 minutes. We had to go back at 6pm because no paraw boat is allowed to stay. The boatman explained that its really best to do paraw sailing at 4pm-5pm to maximize the 1 hour. Oh well, that's fine. We had fun naman in that 20 minutes.