We went to Boracay for our senior management strategic planning - so we would know where our company should be in the next 3 years or so, how to get there and make sure we get there !
We stayed at Club Panoly, a resort nestled in its own paradise. Aside from an outdoor swimming pool and jacuzzi, other water based activities are focused around the resort's sea sports club, which rents out everything from snorkling and diving gear to banana boats. Yup, that was my first (and i think would be my last !) experience of riding a banana boat being drawn by a jetski at a speed of not less than 200 km/hr. It was a daredevil ride ! A banana boat is a giant inflatable banana raft which is pulled behind powerful speedy water jet-craft.
So we donned our cute violet lifevests and had some of our Kodak moments before we embarked on what for me was a thrill of a lifetime! We sat on our respective places (we were six in one boat !), grabbed the boat's handle and held on for dear life !
At first, i was really enjoying the "cruise" as we crashed through the breakers into the warm blue waters of Boracay. But as the jet-ski pilot started to take us skimming over the water at incredible speed, i was thrown out of the water and panicked. I am not a good swimmer - ok, ok , i don't know how to swim ! I forgot that i had a lifevest, so i cried help, help (you should have seen me - even the Baywatch lifeguards would have come swimming to save me :) ... but of course, my friends came running - i mean swimming towards me, told me not to panick and get back to the banana boat. Well that's what we were there for right - a teambuilding program so we could help each other. But wait, did i hear you right ? I am going back to that boat ? You're kidding right ??? .. nope, my boss, our President, doesn't appear to be kidding ... hmm, well the year end assessment is still quite far away so i think i can still back out :) ... but i don't think i should be the one to quit at the first sign of distress .. and so back i go to that yellow boat which seem to be daring me to ride again ... so we had another ride and this time the speed was faster - oh i hate that driver ! ... after two turns, all of us were thrown in the middle of the sea and of course nobody would come to save me - so i just had to save myself :) ... but that's it for me .. no way am i going back to that boat - even if i am fired ! ..uh, uh, no way, not me .... so i just begged them to excuse me otherwise, i may not be able to set foot on a beach again :) .. and so i went riding with the driver on the jet ski while they were still riding on the boat ... a jetski is much more fun :) ... after i went down from the ski, they continued their banana boat ride ... why these people love the risk really beats me :) ...but oh well, even if i haven't heard the end of the teasings of me being the first to give up, Boracay is one place that you should not miss when you visit the Philippines ... and with the banana boat ride - it simply takes your breath away ... literally !
