BORACAY: HISTORY, LEGENDS, BORACAY RESORTS, HOTELS BORACAY and CHEAPEST HOTELS IN BORACAY

          History may be defined as the collections of all past events of a certain things, place, subject of inquiry or object for the purpose, but it could be more practically defined only in the bounds to the known earlier events. Among the fields of serious study and literary effort, history could be considered as one of the hardest to define accurately, because the effort to reveal past events and prepare an understandable story of them necessarily include the use and authority of many ancillary branch of learning, legendary or literary forms.

          Just like a particular place of BORACAY ISLAND, this place has many various rumored origins or legends of its name.  One of which, the Negritos or Atis being  (the indigenous people of Boracay Island) the first settlers whose main source of living were through farming and fishing, the name BORACAY derived from the local word “borac” which means cotton that could be compared to the white cotton like color and texture of  BORACAY  SAND. Another legend was that the name came from the local word “bora” defined as bubbles and “bocay” which the local translation of the word white, because the elders of the above settlers were amazed at the resemblance of that white sand to the water bubbles.

          Another dubious legend that spread out around the world was that the name was derived way back to the time of Spaniards who came ashore meeting with the early settlers and picked up shells locally called “Sigay” from the island.  Then, when the Spaniards asked the “Atis” what they were planting, they were told “Boray”, a certain kind of vegetables seed.  From that two words “Boray and Sigay” the name Boracay was then derived.

          Whatever the legends or which among the mentioned origins of the name Boracay was the real or a mere simulated one, all of them speaks or illustrate related to what was the mien of BORACAY to the world.

          Some years ago, Boracay was a well-guarded secret to the world, a Paradise that has never been discovered, serene, unruffled and a very peaceful place occupied by the Negritos or Atis.  This island was then called the “Land of the Atis” having belonged to Panay Island.  Began in the 13th Century, when ten Datus from Borneo, with the hundreds of their kinsmen landed in what is now known as Panay Island.

          Boracaynons, the people of Boracay, during the 1940’s to 1960’s were dependent mainly on fishing, farming and coconut plantations whom they traded their crops to the businessmen from AKLAN, the main land of the Province, in barter for rice, other goods and commodities.

          The island’s guests were mostly local tourist, backpackers and some by chance adventurers who visited the place to spend a peaceful night after enjoying the peaceful, inaudible, serene, beautiful, charming, magnificent blue sea and the white silvery sand beach of Boracay Island.  Same scenery was the status of the island, not until the advent of 1970’s, where it was said that a foreign movie crew accidentally “uncovered” this PARADISE.  Most historians reveal that it was the German traveler, “Jens Peter” book, which included extol reviews of Boracay which changed the island’s image from that of being a secret to eventually be voted as having the best beach in the WORLD.  Gently the status quo of the island ceased to be a mere private traveler’s hangout to eventually become one of the most favorite destinations of tourist and travelers around the archipelago.

          Kalibo, the capital town of the province of Aklan, is the main access point to Boracay Island although there were other alternate routes to come into the PARADISE, like using the Strong Nautical Highway, both an overland route and a series of Roll-on/Roll-off ferries locally know as RO-RO Boracay route or fly directly to the Caticlan Airport from Ninoy International Airport.

          Boracay Island is located in the Western Visayas Islands of the Philippines.  The paradise island is approximately seven kilometers long, dog-bone shaped with the narrowest spot being less than kilometer wide, and has a total land area of 10.32 square kilometers.

          The island comprises of three barangays, in the North, Barangay Yapak, in the middle part of the island where you can find Barangay Balabag and in the South is Barangay Manoc-manoc.  Yapak and Manoc-manoc are in the hilly part of the island and it is 100 meters above sea level, a possible overview of the island can be best seen in this place. It is surrounded by the Coral Reefs where the guests and adventurers may dive to see the beautiful scenery in the sea world of Boracay.

           As time goes by, the total number of visitors of the island grew to over 500,000 in 2005.  The silvery white beach of Boracay has been voted Asia’s best beach on a number of occasions.  The Regional Director of the Department of Tourism in Iloilo City mentioned that last year’s records reveals that it garnered an income amounting to P11 billion spent by some 640,000 tourists and projected to surpass such records this year to around P13 billion about 18% more than the previous year.

          Because of the previous events and dealings that came into this paradise, the inception of tourism changed Boracay absolutely.  Words of its uniqueness and incomparable beauty, tourists began arriving instantaneously on the Island whether they choose to stay in Boracay Resorts, Hotels Boracay, the private resorts, villas or to the Cheapest Hotels in Boracay.  Boracay was then transformed into a major destination on the International Travel Tour around the sphere. Changes in this island may be for the best or for the worse, question remain to us all who are the one enjoying the gift from the Almighty, whether we should do something for its preservation or let this paradise vanish forever, but whatever it was, surely it was a crossroads in the History of Boracay.