Picture shows Boracay’s White Beach at sunset April 9th, super crowded with tourists during Holy Week 2009 .

Every year on Boracay Island Holy Week  is packed with thousands of tourists .

When people ask me whats Holy Week (Easter) like on Boracay , I tell them the White Beach of Boracay looks like a crowded sidewalk from New York City during rush hour . This year was no exception and in fact was bigger than ever with massive crowds coming to enjoy Boracay’s beauty . Approximately 5000 tourist arrivals each day during the four days of Holy Week.That’s a lot of visitors (20,000)and you can see in the photo above , how crowded White Beach becomes at sunset , and after dark the restaurants and bars fill up and pump til sunrise .Tons of fun and action to be had on Boracay but honestly it’s to crowded at Holy Week and a better time to visit is any other weekend during summer .

The huge crowds are able to come because it’s easy to get to Boracay these days . Every airline in the country flies to Caticlan Airport (in total 60 flights a day during Holy Week), and if you can’t afford the plane fare ,you can catch a bus and take the ship on the RORO (nautical highway) direct to Caticlan, or drive your car direct if you live on Panay Island or Negros Island .The transport infrastructure to Boracay has improved 1000 percent over the last few years which is helping Boracay’s local economy boom . More airlines , more ships , means more tourists on Boracay.

The next big weekend for Boracay tourism will be labor day weekend this coming Friday May, 1 , which is a national holiday and i expect the island to get crazy busy again with major events up and down White Beach Definitely worth a visit .The three biggest weekends in Boracay for tourism are Holy Week , New Years , and Labor Day Weekend . Come join the fun.
Yours Truly,

John Munro

A Family photo with background showing the set up of the Philip Morris Dance Party , Holy Week 09, Boracay

Boracay Island , located in the Vasayan (central) region of the Philippines ,is Asia’s best party island during the hot summer months of April and May(But don’t get me wrong , there’s still lots of quiet moments and areas for those not wanting to party) . Schools out in late March , so the summer months in Boracay rock with thousands of hard core party people .Holy week is by far the craziest party week of the year with many huge events up and down the beach that go until sunrise and which cost millions of peso’s to set up . This years best holy week beach party was the Marlboro Dance party with the infamous Pete Tong spinning(I heard 5 million peso was the cost of set up for that one night event).Fantastic lighting ,a 100 foot long led screen , free booze, and free entry made the Marlboro event super successful .Check it out on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P54vrJDAo5I , you’ll be impressed.

On any given weekend during summer, Boracay comes alive , and you’ll find many multinational and local  companies promoting their products with live music and dance parties .On top of all these huge beach party events , the infamous bars of Boracay which line the beach trail are also pumping til the wee hours .

Here’s a good night out .Start your evening at the south end of White Beach at the new Jungle Bar , than hit the quaint Red Pirates , and keep moving north ,to Calypso Sports Bar , than Charles Bar(live music) , Juice Bar(house music), Summer Place(hip hop/house),Hey Jude Bar(house music)Hobbit House Bar (live music with hobbits as waiters and waitresses), Pat’s Bar(live music),Bom Bom Bar(live music),and Exit Bar. After Exit Bar it’s a bit of a walk past station one to Balabag where you can continue your pub crawl at Chill Out Bar (live music), Club Paraw(hip hop/house) , Guilly’s Bar(hip hop/house) , and finally hit Boracay’s oldest party bar , Cocomangas Shooter Bar, est.1987 (hip hop/house) .

After all those bars and drinks you’ll be ready to dance the night away at Cocomangas Shooter Bar , undoubtly the most energized dance floor on Boracay .I doubt you’ll be in the mood for 15 shooters . You might be hungry though so i recommend the x-large Boracay Classic pizza . Delicious.

Bar hopping  that above list of famous Boracay bars would be one fun night out and you might feel the same way as me , Boracay is Asia’s best party island .Don’t delay ,summer is halfway over ,  book now your  holiday to the paradise island of Boracay and get ready to party, and meet friendly people from around the world.

Yours truly,

John Munro

View your name plate at Cocomangas.com ’s 15 shot page .

Cocomangas Shooter Bar, est. 1987, is located on the paradise island of Boracay , in the beautiful country of the Philippines , and is famous for its 15 shot challenge, “Still Standing After 15…”.After drinking the 15 shooters with names like the B-52, Screaming Orgasm , Test Tube Baby, and you’re still standing , you receive a free t-shirt , one number for your country , and lastly but most importantly , you get your name engraved on a brass plaque which will hang on the walls of Cocomangas forever. Every night I watch returning customers go to that wall of fame to locate their names to show off to friends or to just feel the pride in having done the “Still standing after 15…” .

Well , we at Cocomangas are making it easier for our clients to locate their names from anywhere in the world . Online at Cocomangas.com .Here’s how .Go to Cocomangas.com ,click on the 15 shots on the red bar at the top.Once at the 15 shots page , scroll down a little until you see the sentence , click here to view the wall of fame , which is in red letters.That will bring you to the search button by name or date . Type in your name as most name plates have been uploaded by name and click search . Your name plate should appear . If it does not appear , try to search by the date, and if it still does not appear than it has not yet been uploaded.

We at Cocomangas are still uploading name plate photos everyday and this project will take at least six months before all name plates have been uploaded.Roughly 15,000 names hang on the walls at Cocomangas Shooter Bar. We started taking name plate photo’s from the year 2009 and are working backwards to 1990 when the first 15 were poured.So far as of today, April 7 2009 , we have completed the uploading for this year 2009 , and are halfway through 2008.

Keep checking back to Cocomangas.com to view your name plate .

Yours truly,

John Munro

One of the most famous brand names in the world, Starbucks, opens for business on Boracay’s White Beach.

International food chain Shakey’s Pizza opens along the White Beach of Boracay.

Andok’s Chicken has 6 outlets on Boracay and 350 nationwide .

Boracay’s only service station with the famous international brand name ,Shell Oil.

Impressive building of Crafts Department Store and Supermaket located along Boracay’s Main Road.

Boracays’s Main Road showing many signs of commercialism .

I remember the day when Boracay was such a simple place to live . Boracay used to be a pure island paradise with zero city influences ; No computers , no telephones , no roads , no electricity , no motorbikes , no cars ,no Starbucks, and no Shakey’s.Of course I’m talking about the 80’s, and 90’s here .I remember back in the 80’s I used to get island fever, craving for city life, and how on my Manila trips I would head straight from the Manila airport into the city, check into a hotel , and the first thing on my to do list was to hit a Starbucks for a coffee frappucino .Funny what we crave when we haven’t had it for a long while.

Twenty years later, city life has come to Boracay .International and local franchises have started opening up along the White Beach of Boracay , and i think this trend is not going to stop until we have all the typical fast-food outlets setting up shop. Nowadays i never have island fever or even think of the city or crave the city life as everything is available here on Boracay island. For instance , I can fill my motorbike with gas at the Shell Service Station ,in order so that i can drive to eat the fantastic buffet lunch at the Shangri-la Hotel , than carry on to have a dessert at the Shakey’s Pizza Resturant ,and after dessert drink my frappucino from the Boracay Starbucks .Wow , how times have changed .

Commercialism is here to stay . Boracay Island being the number one tourist island in the Philippines catering to millions of visitors over the years will continue getting more commercial as more international and local chains open up. I ‘m sure the Big Mac is not far away. That’s a scary thought but inevitable.

Yours Truly,

John Munro

Roy with wife drinking his 15 shots for his record setting 40th time

Roy’s name plate says it all , 40 times and always still standing .

They say you have to earn respect in this world and not ask for it . Well Roy you’ve earned it in my eye’s . In just a nine year span starting in the year 2000,Roy from Norway ,managed to drink the famous Cocomangas 15 shot challenge , “still standing after 15…”, 40 times (that’ s a record i doubt will ever be broken). On Roy’s first visit to Boracay Island in 2000 , he drank the 15 shots at Cocomangas Shooter Bar 9 times in 3 weeks(Another record). But I don’t like to keep records so this is just all unofficial bar talk.But impressive none the less.

Roy has taken the 15 shot challenge 40 times which equals 600 shots and for that i made him a special custom Javas Jersey with a slight change to our slogan on the back of his jersey replacing the number 15 with 600,so it read “Still Standing After 600…” . Today if you party at Cocomangas you can see Roy’s Jersey hanging above the main bar. Congrats to you Roy for helping your homeland, Norway, reach number 14 on the Cocomangas 15 shot scoreboard with a total 222 .You’ve drank almost 20 % of your countries total. Nobody else in the whole world has that claim to fame.Well done old son .

See ya Roy for number 41….

Yours truly,

John Munro