Boats from Batangas to Mindoro, Caticlan/Boracay

Early last month, I travelled by RORO (roll on, roll off boats) from Manila to Iloilo then Negros. Plane fare Manila-Bacolod one way that weekend was something like P4,300 cheapest. I estimated that via RORO and multiple transfer would take about 26 hours but the cost would be only around P2,000 or less.

So I just took an air-con bus at Buendia-Taft in Makati going to Batangas and from there, would decide what boat to take going to Calapan, Or. Mindoro, or straight to Caticlan, Aklan.

Here are the boats from Batangas port to Calapan (Or. Mindoro), Abra de Ilog (Occ. Mindoro), other destinations in Mindoro island. During the vacation season, I think some shipping lines field more boats or they make their boats take extra trip per day whenever possible.

The RORO boats that ferry both people and vehicles, Batangas to Mindoro, Romblon, Panay (Aklan, Capiz, Antique), other island-destinations.

 I took the Batangas-Caticlan boat of 2GO, 9pm and arrive Caticlan around 7am with stopover at Odiongan, Romblon (perhaps around 3am). Tourist class aircon, P1,150 per head one way.

Passengers form two lines, one each for males and females, their bags and luggages beside them. This is for security inspection. Instead of making passengers go through an X-ray inspection, a bomb-sniffing dog just checks all bags, then passengers get their bags and go inside the boat.

So if one wants to go to Boracay from Manila, the fastest route of course is to take the plane (direct to Caticlan or via Kalibo, Aklan, then bus to Caticlan, 2 to 2 1/2 hours trip), then short boat ride to Boracay.

Another option is to take any bus from Manila/Makati/QC, etc. to Batangas, take 2GO's boat to Caticlan, 10 hours ride, just sleep and wake up at Caticlan port.
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See also:

Oriental Mindoro to Caticlan, Aklan, December 31, 2014

Caticlan to Boracay boats, December 12, 2016

Astoria Boracay

These photos I took two years ago, December 2014, when my family went to Boracay on a RORO trip from Manila going to Iloilo. One night stays at Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, then Boracay, Aklan, before heading to Iloilo City.

No, we didn't stay there, we stayed in another beach front hotel in Boracay. While walking around the beach, I received a "free buffet lunch but attend the promo lecture" invite at Astoria, I said Ok. The hotel is owned by the family of a friend who was a schoolmate at UPSE, he's two years younger than me at the school, ka-batch nya si VP Leni.

The hotel restaurant, for buffet breakfast, lunch, dinner. Nice designs.

It's a beach front hotel and it also has a swimming pool.

While I and my wife were listening to the promo lecture, this lady staff was baby-sitting Elle Marie and Bien Mary, 8 and 4 years old then.

They were drawing, telling stories, etc. They were also served some cold drinks, thanks.

 This photo is from their website, http://web.astoria-boracay.com/

Did we get any of their promos? Yes, the cheapest one, hehe. We got a package for their new hotel in Astoria Palawan. Will blog about it later.

Philippines' Biggest Hotel in Aklan Soon

I got this story from one of the facebook walls of my friends. Originally from the fb page of "Province of Aklan". This is good news, reposting, below.

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Once the Boracay Airport complex spanning Caticlan and Nabas in Aklan becomes fully operational over the next few years, some of its structures will set Philippine records for sheer size. And for environmental friendliness.

The most imposing structure in this $300 million airport complex will be its mammoth 5,000 room budget-hotel. When completed, this hotel will be the largest budget hotel in the Philippines. It will also be the largest hotel in the country, and probably in all of Southeast Asia.
In comparison, the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, considered the largest Philippine hotel, has only 562 rooms, or an eighth of the number in the soon-to-be-built budget hotel at the Boracay Airport complex.

Room rates at the budget-hotel are expected to range from P1,000 to P2,000 per night. The rates compare favorably to budget room rates on Boracay and are, therefore, clearly affordable for inbound tourists. The budget-hotel is intended to help decongest Boracay, which will be flooded with about a million tourists this year and probably up to three million in the next few years.

The budget-hotel will be developed by San Miguel Properties, Inc., a San Miguel Corporation subsidiary. It will be run by local businessmen since the company expects more budget conscious tourists to visit Boracay once plane fares are slashed.

The planned dome-shaped convention center will be able to seat up to 25,000 persons, or 10,000 more persons that the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City in Metro Manila. It will become both the country’s largest convention center and its biggest indoor arena.
The new terminal building will be the “greenest” terminal building in the Philippines. Its large windows will allow the free flow of fresh air throughout the building thereby reducing the need for massive air conditioning.

It will derive part of its electricity from solar panels; will install a rainwater collection system and will have its own wastewater treatment plant.

And, of course, the new Boracay Airport will set records of its own. Once fully operational, it will be able to accommodate some three million Boracay-bound tourists annually or 10 times the capacity of the old airport.

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The last time I went to Boracay was more than four years ago, sometime in mid 2008 I think. The airport in Caticlan was indeed small, only small planes could land and take off. The bigger planes have to land in Kalibo, the provincial capital of Aklan, and it is nearly two hours away from Caticlan by car. 

With this projected big volume of tourists in the coming years, one problem will be the disposal of solid wastes. A good alternative would be to use the compacted, dried wastes for land expansion and reclamation on the Antique side of Aklan. Using previously solid wastes as filling materials for a land reclamation project by the sea was successfully done in Tondo, Manila, using mountains of wastes from the previous "Smokey Mountain".

Anyway, modern technology keeps improving and "big problems" today would be easily addressed tomorrow.

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See also:

Going to Boracay, January 16, 2008

Manila-Mindoro-Iloilo, 2003, November 20, 2005