By Charmaine Hibbert

After a short flight from Manila to the Panay Islands we find ourselves hopping on a boat to take the short 5-minute journey over to Boracay Island. It’s a busy little port and as the bright azure sea laps onto the white sandy beach I know we were in for a wonderful time.

After an interesting 25-minute journey we arrive at Discovery Shores Boracay, the hotel shuttle drops us off underneath the hotel and we are taken up to reception, the hotel looks modern, clean and the staff are very friendly, but at this moment in time nothing too special that you wouldn’t expect at a luxury hotel. As I open the door to my room my face breaks into a big smile, yes the room is beautifully designed and well appointed, but the smile is reserved for the giant sized teddy bear that has taken up residence in one of the chairs.

I will come back to the room later as I need to hit the beach as the sun is about to set. As I make my way past the pool to the bar area my eyes light up, the sun is setting in all its orange magnificence, the pure white sandy beach goes on for miles in each direction as the sun slowly sinks below the crystal-clear waters of the Sulu Sea reflecting its amazing light show as it dips below the horizon.



Just after the sun takes its final bow I turn to go back to my room and am hit by how well the architect of this hotel has done to position the bar and restaurant/breakfast area to take full advantage of those views, which brings me back to the design of my room.

Clean crisp lines, under bed lighting which was fantastic during the night when you want to get to the bathroom, which has a frosted door, the walk-in shower has a nice large rainfall shower head. Strangely the vanity was placed outside of the shower room, but the dark wood, cream walls and frosted glass all work well together and gave the room a very classy modern finish.

Spa and gym

Now as many of you know I am not really a gym person, lounging round the pool or face down in a spa treatment room is more my thing. James seemed to be more than happy with the gym facilities, his description of compact but with all the equipment you need to keep your fitness regime on track seemed to keep him occupied.

Unfortunately for me during this visit the spa is going through an updating programme, the good news is a foot massage was available in my room, which I decided to take full advantage of. Emmelue arrived at my room, we move the giant teddy to the bed and I replaced him in the chair where a wooden bowl was awaiting me while Emmelue was filling the jug with warm water, her skilful hands then work in a scrub, which she then rinses off and then uses a moisturiser to finish. The whole process takes about 15-minutes but I am finding it so relaxing I catch myself falling asleep a few times.

Indigo and Sands Restaurants

These two restaurants flow into each other and are both used for breakfast. We didn’t have the opportunity to eat there in the evening but I have to say there are not too many better views to eat breakfast. You have a choice of sitting inside or out so you are right on the beach and as you can imagine we sat outside on both occasions. How can you not take full advantage of that pure white crystal beach as it glitters in the morning sun, some of our group have gone for early morning runs and other are soaking up the rays where the water laps the shore.

It’s a buffet style breakfast with plenty of fresh fruit, Filipino and International options and of course the egg station with the waitresses bringing juices and coffee, in fact everything you need to set you up for a busy day or just laying back in the sun, why not it certainly beats Carmarthen in winter!

Discovery Shores Boracay
Station 1 Barangay Balabag
Boracay Island
Malay, 5608 Aklan
Philippines


W: discoveryshoresboracay.com
T: +63 2 7720 8888