Fantastic Boracay day trip to Ariel's Point

Conde Nast Traveler has rated Boracay the best island in the world; Boracay lies 2 km off the coast of the much larger Panay Island in the Western Visayas region

Oh so cute!; I didn't even realize that Ariel's Point had monkeys until we were leaving since they hung out near the food and I didn't

Ariel's Point features 3 diving boards from 3m to 15m high; I didn't care about jumping so I went for a long snorkel along the base of the cliffs

Puka shells are very popular here; this gorgeous shell was still occupied and I warned the critter that he needs to be careful to avoid becoming someone's necklace

Snowflake Moray Eel; Ariel's Point had just 36 guests when I was there but I don't know if they limit attendance to just one bangka daily

Juvenile red coris wrasse; I'd never seen one of these before; adults look completely different with a dark orange-brown/blue body with blue dots near their yellow tail

There were often many more fish hanging around the wall drop-off than in the shallows; the fish enjoy staying where its hard for me to photograph them

Clouded Moral Eel; the excursion to Ariel's Point was about $50 but infinitely better than the ubiquitous island hopping tours

Christmas wrasse; the trikes on the island are being phased out for electric golf carts/Cushmans

There were literally 1000s of these blue sea stars around Ariel's Point; some were very small and crammed in holes while others were huge and out in the open

Brain coral; the excursion often sells out so I bought my ticket online ahead of time; the hardest part was finding the meeting point to join the group

It was typical to see 20+ people parasailing at any given time; Boracay is trying to remake itself as more of a green destination with the dozens of wind turbines on Panay as a start

This looked like a type of coral and was more than a foot across but I can't figure out what it could be; the vibrant lime green color really made it stand out

Boxfish hiding in barrel sponge; visitors to Boracay skew younger as it seems to be a big party island among Asian millennials

Black-banded sea krait; the boat ride from Boracay to Ariel's Point was about 40 minutes; there were plenty of games (including Jenga) at Ariel's Point that were quite popular

In April 2018 the Philippine Government decreed a 6-month closure of the island (for tourists) to undertake major renovation works, especially of the sewage system, which had become obsolete and insufficient

I just loved this little cabin built on a small rock/island along the Panay coast; granted it doesn't have its own beach but there are miles of sand just a few steps away

Shoal of squid; the trip to Ariel's Point featured unlimited drinks and the Korean kids took full advantage with rum chugging contests (several of the girls were passed out before we even started back to Boracay)

Mixed marriage; does everyone else get lots of spam from Silver Singles?

Maze brain coral; there are strict regulations on Boracay beaches - no smoking, no pets, no hawkers, no loud music, etc.- that are strictly enforced

Clown triggerfish; my hotel in Boracay had great wifi which was such an improvement over the non-existent/dial-up wifi elsewhere in the country

Lined surgeonfish; there are many 7-11s on Boracay (some even with Big Gulps) but they tend to be quite small with very limited selections

Pink linkia sea star; the vast majority of the linkia sea stars were blue but every now and then I'd see a pink one