Boracay

Late Afternoon Ocean Float

Floater’s Blog: Ocean Float Date, March 6th, 2026

If you are familiar with the title song from the 1952 classic film Singin’ In The Rain starring Gene Kelly, where he dances around with an umbrella during a downpour, then sing along with me albeit with slightly altered lyrics…

I'm floating on the sea
Just floating on the sea
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy at peace

I'm laughin' at gulls
So white up above
The sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for beer

Well, I’m sure you get the idea.

I was out in some gentle waves this afternoon and for no reason I can fathom, that song popped into my head and because I am who I am, I sang it my way.

Beerfloat is about ‘relaxed happiness’, it’s about ‘feeling good’ and, man, I felt great!

When most people think of inflatable tubes for use on a body of water they think of children’s toys or starter safety flotation devices to get a young one in the water so I think you will understand when I state I am very familiar with the strange looks I get from the other beach goers around me when they see me inflating my adult float. Once I have my beer in hand and I am looking back to the shore I’m pretty sure some of those looks go from amusement to jealousy.

But they shouldn’t be jealous; they should just get on board.

How can anyone be jealous when we are all enjoying a beautiful warm sunny day on the sugary sands of four kilometer long White Beach on the west coast of the little island of Boracay and the comfortable emerald waters of the Philippine Sea? The water is actually very clear and famous for diving and snorkelling the reefs. Along the shore it is a little green due to a small algae bloom but nothing to get your knickers in a twist about.

We are on the leeward side of the island so the water is quite calm, unlike the much windier east coast and the open water between islands as I experienced earlier in the day on a short boat tour which included a visit to Coral Cove on an adjacent island.

My travel companion and I have become recent regulars at Coco Loco, a beach front restaurant & bar at the quieter south end of what is known as the Station 3 section of White Beach. We usually sit in the bamboo slouch chairs on the verge of the sand sidewalk which passes in front of most of the beachfront establishments and is an ideal spot for people watching as life’s activities happen by.

They also have reclined loungers on the beach under the palm trees and sea grape leaves which we took to today. I think it may have been some Bob Marley playing that drew us in for our first visit and the musical variety over the next few days has never disappointed. Bottled beer is sold at the bar but down here on the sand one of our newly befriended waitresses whisks a paper cup beer down to my lounger upon our arrival.

Well, a paper cup and sea water just don’t make a harmonious relationship during a beer float and I really don’t like breaking my own rules about bottles while floating so before entering the ocean I had to go to a slight inconvenience store for my can of San Miguel Pilsen. After slipping it into my well traveled ‘Canada’ koozie I was ready to paddle out to take in the sights and sounds of this floating paradise.

Moored a bit further off shore are plenty of water craft including the odd single hull sailboat, a few party boats with water slides and a fleet of parasail powerboats but mostly visible are a variety of sizes of trimaran or more correctly double outriggers. Some have sails, some only motors and others have both. A few are used as fishing vessels but the majority are for the large and expanding tourist industry, whether that is for sunset sails, island cruises or snorkel and scuba tours.

I also share the water with an occasional paddle boarder or a vacationer being taken out in a clear plastic kayak. Much further out from the coast I see freighters carry cargo around the archipelago, while coming out of the port of the nearby much larger island of Panay, a cruise ship sets off in the late afternoon.

Also departing Panay, at the Caticlan airport which is in my destiny the following day, I see a Philippine Airlines flight take off, likely headed to Manila.

Closer to me in the water, a few swimmers cool themselves off while young couples splash each other playfully. Along the shore a parent and child dig in the sand, some teens kick around a ball and the usual variety of tourists run or walk the length or at least this particular stretch of sand.

In addition to all this expected beach activity I also witness the ‘new normal’, a selfie influencer, as I referred to in my Poses and Posers post. In this case it is a woman probably in her thirties who is recording herself walking along the beach via a small flying craft she has just launched from her hand. Drone Lady, as I will call her, has obviously been at this a while because her performance is flawless. When she rose from where she sat alone on a beachfront seat she removed the wrap she has been wearing over her shoulders revealing her well shaped ample self in a bikini. She takes a short walk in one direction down the beach with the craft following above and slightly behind her and then turning around the drone leads her from above giving us the ‘money shot’ as she strides to her point of origin back up the beach. Upon stopping, she stretches out her hand at shoulder height and the tiny drone flies down to settle on her palm perfectly. The whole operation probably takes under two minutes at which time she heads back to her beach lounger, covers up and in all likelihood prepares to post her latest and greatest ‘this is me’ moment. I wonder who is sponsoring those breasts.

For me, this was an excellent float but unfortunately also the last for some time as my two plus months of warm waters travel comes to an end as I head back to visit family in western Canada. The compensating factor in this equation is the abundance of craft beer which will soon be available to my palette. Also possible, is that every time I hear a couple of notes of Singin’ In The Rain I will be able to sing along with my own version and recall one very memorable and happy afternoon.

“I’m floating on the sea,”

Corliss

beer float.calm =beerfloat.netnot beerfloat.com