Boracay by storm

Boracay usually calls to mind images of sun, sea and good times. There are friends, loved ones, a ton of good food, exotic drinks and crazy escapades.

Not so when it’s June and there’s a typhoon battering most of Luzon and Visayas. In those three days, typhoon Falcon brought rains to most parts of the country, so that there was no sun at all and only a handful of brave souls dared venture out to sea.

What a time, indeed, for Boracay Regency Hotel to fly in a group of mostly lifestyle writers to launch its airconditioned tent—the first of its kind in the island.
Boracay Regency chief operating officer Alfonso Chusuey and hotel manager Dindo Miguel Martin Salazar remained gracious hosts during the seven-course dinner inside the tent with personal butlers and a local acoustic duo, to boot.

Never mind that a strong wind was blowing and the promise, or threat, of rain loomed large in the otherwise picturesque horizon.

Chusuey, whose family owns and manages the Regency as well as its affiliates Boracay Lagoon and Boracay Garden Resort, says he hopes the tent would draw in more visitors to hold events with the sense of being in an enclosed controlled space even as they are fact on the beach front.

And then, just outside the tent is an area equipped with speakers using plane wave technology—state of the art pieces that boom so loud inside the covered area but could hardly be heard outside it.

After all, the beachfront is normally a bustling, noisy strip of sand where so much activity is going on at the same time.

For instance, on that second evening, there was a cultural presentation—a folk dance and a fire dance—as well as a performance by a 90s band that kept us all entertained despite the uncertainty of whether or not we could even go home the following day.

A soothing massage at the Kai Spa as well as the usual souvenir shopping completed our stay in Boracay.

At least there were not as many people, and one is actually able to enjoy some quiet time in the otherwise rambunctious, bustling island resort.