Boracay Island Hopping Tour with Snorkeling and Beach Hopping
About this tour
What to Expect on This Tour
This is the classic Boracay island-hopping experience: a relaxed five-hour cruise on a traditional outrigger (paraw-style) boat that loops around the island's calmest, most colorful waters. After a morning hotel pickup near White Beach, you'll head out toward the southeastern reefs, where the real fun begins. The pace is easygoing, the boat crew handles everything, and there's plenty of time to swim, snorkel, and just soak up the views.
The Snorkeling Stops
Your first proper stop is usually Crocodile Island, a tiny uninhabited rock named for its shape, ringed by some of the clearest water around Boracay. Drop in with your mask and you'll spot clownfish darting through anemones, parrotfish grazing the coral, and angelfish drifting past colorful coral gardens. Coral Garden and Friday's Rock are the other prime snorkeling areas, both shallow and beginner-friendly, with life vests on hand so even non-swimmers can float and watch the show below.
Beach Hopping and Cliff Jumping
Between snorkel sessions you'll cruise past dramatic cliffs to Magic Island, a privately run spot famous for its cliff-jumping platforms ranging from a gentle 10 feet up to a heart-pounding 30 feet (entrance fee applies). Crystal Cove is the all-in-one island stop, with sea caves to explore, short trails, and swimming coves. The grand finale is Puka Shell Beach on Boracay's quiet northern tip, a long stretch of coarse white sand and crushed puka shells where you can relax with a cold drink far from the White Beach crowds.
Lunch and Logistics
A local-style lunch is served on board or on a beach, typically grilled fish, rice, vegetables, and tropical fruit, with vegetarian options available on request. Snorkeling masks, life vests, and bottled water are provided. Bring reef-safe sunscreen, a dry bag for your phone, and a little cash for the optional island entrance fees.
Highlights
- ✓Snorkel the coral gardens around Crocodile Island, home to clownfish, parrotfish, and angelfish
- ✓Cliff-jump from 10 to 30 feet at Magic Island (optional)
- ✓Explore the sea caves and swimming coves of Crystal Cove
- ✓Relax on quiet Puka Shell Beach, far from the White Beach crowds
- ✓All snorkeling gear, life vests, and a local-style lunch included
- ✓Easygoing half-day pace with hotel pickup near White Beach
What's included
- ✓Round-trip hotel pickup and drop-off (White Beach area)
- ✓5-hour group boat tour with crew
- ✓Snorkeling mask and life vest
- ✓Local-style lunch (vegetarian option on request)
- ✓Bottled drinking water
- ✓Environmental and terminal fees for the boat
Not included
- ✗Crystal Cove island entrance fee (approx. PHP 200)
- ✗Magic Island entrance / cliff-jumping fee (approx. PHP 200)
- ✗Boracay Environmental Admission Fee / eco-tax if not pre-paid
- ✗Underwater camera or GoPro rental
- ✗Gratuities for the boat crew and guide
- ✗Hotel pickup outside the White Beach / Station 1-3 zone (surcharge may apply)
📋 Good to know
📍 Meeting point
Hotel pickup in the White Beach area (Stations 1-3), Boracay; specific time confirmed after booking
About the area
About Boracay
Boracay is a small dumbbell-shaped island in Aklan province, in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, just off the northwest tip of Panay. Barely 7 kilometers long, it has become one of Asia's most celebrated beach destinations, anchored by the famous 4-kilometer crescent of fine white sand known as White Beach. The island's powdery sand is so distinctive that the name itself is said to come from the Inati words "bora" (bubbles) and "bocay" (white), though others trace it to the Aklanon "borac," meaning white cotton.
History and the Ati People
Long before resorts arrived, Boracay was home to the Ati, an Indigenous Negrito people who lived on the island for centuries, cultivating rice and raising goats. Spanish-era records refer to the island as "Buracay." For generations Boracay was a quiet fishing and farming community, almost unknown to outsiders until backpackers and a handful of European travelers discovered its beaches in the 1970s and 1980s. The Ati community's long struggle for ancestral land rights on their own island remains an important part of Boracay's story.
The 2018 Closure and Comeback
By the 2010s, runaway tourism had taken a heavy toll. Once called "the poster child for overtourism," the island suffered from untreated sewage being discharged into the sea. In April 2018 the Philippine government took the dramatic step of closing Boracay to tourists for six months for a full environmental rehabilitation. The island reopened in October 2018 with strict new rules: a 30-meter buffer zone from the waterline, no beachfront bonfires or vendors, capped visitor numbers, and upgraded drainage. The result is a cleaner, better-managed Boracay, and the surrounding reefs and quiet beaches you visit on this tour are part of what that rehabilitation worked to protect.
Frequently asked questions
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