My motorcycle riding group, the Team YBR CDO, Inc. was among the very lucky organizations chosen by Yamaha Motor Philippines, Inc. to participate in an all expenses paid motorcycle touring adventure from February 24, 2010 to March 2, 2010, dubbed as "The 3rd Yamaha Touring Adventure, Boracay Leg in the Visayas". Five delegates from our group were chosen. Me as president of our club, our vice-president, the assistant treasurer in behalf of our treasurer who is not available, and two board members in place of the other two officers, the secretary and the auditor, who backed out from the tour earlier. The destination...the Boracay Island in Caticlan, Panay in the Visayas Region of the Philippine Archipelago. We boarded the ship, St. Peter of the Apostles together with our Yamaha YBR 125 g motorcycles before midnight of February 24, but the ship started its voyage at 7:00 A.M. of the following day, February 25, from Cagayan de Oro City, Northern Mindanao to Iloilo City in the Visayas Region for 15 long hours.
After 5 hours of our voyage, we passed by Dakak, a well known tourist beach in Dipolog City, where some of the passsenger disembarked. At 4:30 in the afternoon, our voyage continue for another 10 long hours until we reached the Port of San Pedro in Iloilo City at exactly 2:30 in the morning, February 26, Friday. After disembarking and paying the necessary fees in the Iloilo Port, we then proceeded to the heart of Iloilo City on board our motorcycles to Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center where we are already booked courtesy of our sponsor, the Yamaha Motor Phils., Inc. We were the first delegates who arrived, followed by the 5 delegates from Manila. Then 14 other riders from Bacolod City arrrived with a lady rider among them. The rest came from the towns of Antique, Caticlan and of course Iloilo City. We are 47 riders all in all with paramedics and an ambulance, emergency pick-up and two SUV back up vehicles. We spent one night in Sarabia Hotel and the following day the 260 kms ride to Carticlan begun. It was a five hour tour with two stop-overs in two different towns of Antique.
After 5 hours of our voyage, we passed by Dakak, a well known tourist beach in Dipolog City, where some of the passsenger disembarked. At 4:30 in the afternoon, our voyage continue for another 10 long hours until we reached the Port of San Pedro in Iloilo City at exactly 2:30 in the morning, February 26, Friday. After disembarking and paying the necessary fees in the Iloilo Port, we then proceeded to the heart of Iloilo City on board our motorcycles to Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center where we are already booked courtesy of our sponsor, the Yamaha Motor Phils., Inc. We were the first delegates who arrived, followed by the 5 delegates from Manila. Then 14 other riders from Bacolod City arrrived with a lady rider among them. The rest came from the towns of Antique, Caticlan and of course Iloilo City. We are 47 riders all in all with paramedics and an ambulance, emergency pick-up and two SUV back up vehicles. We spent one night in Sarabia Hotel and the following day the 260 kms ride to Carticlan begun. It was a five hour tour with two stop-overs in two different towns of Antique.
One rider from Bacolod overshoot a curve and ended up in a ditch. While his motorcyle is no longer usable, he was fortunate to sustained minor injuries only. His motorcycle was boarded on the emergency pick-up he was made to back ride on his co-rider. When we reached the town of Caticlan, we waited for thirty minutes and then boarded our motorcycles in a barge that perried us all to Boracay Island. It only took us thirty minutes to reach this wonderful Island, it's a paradise! Fun and excitements filled the air with the different activities that we had. We also toured the island until we reached it's highest peak on board our motorcycles. We went for a swim during the night before the fellowship night. We managed to hiked for more than one hour on the following morning to give our lungs the chance for a pure and unpolluted air along the longest beach I have ever seen in my entire life. And after our lunch and a short rest we again hit the road for another 260 kms ride going back to Iloilo City.
Another rider from Manila lost control on a curve, sustained minor injuries and still managed to ride his motorcycle again after uninstalling the damaged accessories. We arrived in Iloilo city around 8:00 in the evening. The following day both motorcylces that crushed during the tour were immediately fixed by Yamaha mechanics and all damaged parts and accessories were replaced with brand new ones. While the other riders already left bound for their respective destinations, we stayed in Sarabia Hotel for another day, go out during the night and visited some night spots, and enjoy the hospitality of the people of iloilo city. We finally boarded again on the same ship, the St. Peter of the Apostles homeward bound to Cagayan de Oro City ay 10:00 P.M. on March 2, Tuesday for another 15 hours long voyage. We arrived in Cagayan de Oro City the following day. It was a very exciting and unforgetable moment that I'm sure will linger on my mind for long, long time. And I said to myself...I shall return to Boracay Island..one day soon.
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