The Jarvii Boracay is best known for their gorgeous white sand beaches and the crystal clear water. But it’s a little known fact that there’s a green algae bloom from March into May (although some are saying it’s happening for longer with climate change). It’s nothing to cause concern; you see a lot of little fish swimming and during low tide the water is shallow past the bloom on the shore. But my kids weren’t all that thrilled.
To remedy the situation and kind of stick it to the man we took a pump boat tour from White Sand Beach around the island to Puka Beach. Our captain pointed out tourist attractions and famous people’s homes during our boat journey. At one point we encountered rough waters and the kids thought it was a fun ride getting splashed on.
Our captain took us to Puka Beach, which is on the north part of the island. It too has gorgeous crystal clear water with white powdery sand, except it lacks the algae and huge crowds you find at Stations 1-3 of White Beach. Perfect! The kids loved swimming (although the water was much colder than Lakawon) and collecting shells. We enjoyed freshly made lunch. And then we were off on the boat back to our hotel.
Puka Beach is different from the rest of the island because it is protected by the government from developers. Instead this part of the island belongs to the indegenious people who were forced off their land to build their sprawling resorts. When my parents visited 8 years ago (and it wasn’t as touristy or developed like it is today), there were a lot of displaced locals who were begging on the beach. Though not the ideal solution, the government gave them Puka Beach and some money to attract their own tourists. Along the shore you see bamboo beach huts with thatched roofs, which is typical in any provincial beach setting. They are free to use if you buy a drink or lunch from the proprietor. They do not have lodging here, or at least I wasn’t made aware of such accommodations. If you visit, it is certainly a day trip. Anyhoo, it made me feel better about supporting local, even though having a hot shower is the best about westernized hotels.
The rest of our afternoon we laid out on the beach in front of our hotel so the kids could play in the sand. We then hit up both pools of our hotel, with the outdoor infinity pool being the clear winner by the family. Overall a good day 1.
