PQ Team in Boracay (January 10, 2026)
It finally happened. Three days into my stay at Boracay, I had the opportunity to meet with Ryle, Barb and Chino, another member of the Positive Intelligence customer service team here in the Philippines.
At last, we meet in real life! Barb, Ryle and Chino.
These incredibly brave souls drove 12 hours to be here today. Ryle shared his shift at Positive Intelligence ended at 3am, and he got in the car at 4am. They arrived just after 4pm. Now THAT is commitment. We’re going to spend a lot more quality time tomorrow together, but this was “first contact” upon their arrival today.
This was the number one reason I flew to the Philippines. I’ve worked with Barb since the day I began my journey at Positive Intelligence back in September 2019 (she was one of the very first hires at PQ). Ryle came shortly thereafter. Imagine working with team members virtually for 6 years without ever meeting face-to-face. This connection is long overdue! So while this team was in the car all day today, I had a much different experience here in Boracay including: (1) ATV riding, (2) Ziplining, and (3) Scuba Diving a plane wreck.
Warning: There is entirely too much video content in this post. I apologize and am warning you ahead of time!
For context, I hired a local guide, Rodel Mansuelo, who personally took care of me today for the ATV and Zipline adventure. He was committed to me having a full documentation of my ATV and Zipline adventure and used my phone to take more video content than even I take (and I tend to take a lot).
Then, I decided to do a second wreck scuba dive and rented an underwater digital camera. This was my first adventure as a scuba diving videographer, so of course I took more videos that anyone will ever care to watch. I’ve prioritized the coolest ones, but I was having way too much fun at 28 meters filming my underwater adventure. Feel free to “speed run” this post and/or scroll through the highlights. Or, if you want to feel like you were scuba diving with me, feel free!
The line was finally short enough to wait out the photo in front
I began my adventure in front of this sign. The line was short and I wanted to share that they really do make a new elaborate sand art castles every day. In speaking with the artist, it takes them 4 hours!
There’s an association of artistic sand castle artists in Boracay!
More impressive than the association are the tools used. It’s basically a feather-like brush and a mixture that makes the sand easier to work with. If I understood correctly, it’s like a hardening liquid applied to the sand as the artist is shaping the desired look. But I’m going to move on as I did SO MUCH today this was just a side-note.
Boat Ride and Van Shuttle to the ATV Adventure
I was originally thinking of calling today’s post, “Sample Platter of Boracay” as I was trying a little of this and a little of that in order to get the full experience of this part of the country. It all started with a conversation with Rodel Mansuelo:
Rodel Mansuelo is a tour guide who works for Island Hoppers
Rodel is the guy you want booking your activities. Not only did he find the right scuba dive shop for the wreck dive I was interested in yesterday, but he took the time to find out what I was interested in and recommended a specific half-day tour. What I didn’t realize is how fun the “pre-adventure” would be. That is, the speed boat ride and van experience on the mainland just getting to the ATVs.
Seriously, one of the highlights of today was feeling like a local as we took a speedboat to the mainland, then walked over a bamboo bridge through a small village to get to a van that drove us past the Boracay Airport through another few towns to get to the ATV adventure. Did you happen to catch the “delivery motorcycle” full of several hundred chickens? Giant bags of ice are used to keep the chicken cold and it’s much cheaper than a refrigerated truck (especially for short trips).
Did I mention it rained quite a lot last night? Mud puddles galore!
Now, to be totally honest, this was more of a “put put” ADV ride than an extreme sport. I was with a group of a dozen or so individual riders all with various “beginner” abilities. Since there wasn’t much opportunity to pass, it’s like riding a Ferrari on the 405 freeway in Los Angles during peak commute hours. It may be fun to drive, but you’re not going very fast given all the traffic in front of you.
So while Rodel took at least a dozen videos, I’ll spare you the details of me riding behind someone else trying not to fall off their ATV. Imagine a one-lane hilly off road go-cart track and you’ve got the gist of it. Or if you’ve ever ridden horseback single file poking up a trail, same idea only with an ATV that’s got a 250cc engine. The power is there, but there isn’t much opportunity to open it up.
Next up is the Zipline. While this was just two lines — one across the river and one back to basecamp — it was all the thrill ride you’d want from a zipline.
And once the zipline adventure was over, there were a few more surprises waiting for me. The first was this monster tree. Wow, the root system on this tree is awe inspiring.
Yoga tree pose in front of this epic tree. Feeling GROUNDED!
Next included the water slide and diving board. While we weren’t able to use them as the water level was too low, it was cool to see how this adventure park makes good use out a a deep flowing river (and not just kayaking).
And last, but not least coin-operated WiFi! I had to double check that this was, indeed, what I was witnessing. It makes sense. When you need a strong signal and your mobile phone carrier is nowhere to be found, how do you offset the cost of WiFi for guests? Hotels chalk it up to the cost of doing business, but if you’re a small business, it’s great to know that there’s an alternative available to you.
Upon my return this half-day adventure had me thinking about what more I could do that was uniquely here in Boracay. I discovered flight boarding, but it was totally booked out. A flight board is a personally controlled hydrofoil that lifts you out of the water. Here’s a picture I didn’t take, but will help you see what this is all about.
Once you get going, the board lifts out of the water. Feels like flying.
So the next best thing was to do a second wreck dive of a plane that’s been down underwater for more than a decade. This time, however, I rented an underwater camera and did my first scuba videography. I took 28 videos, but I’ll just share a few of them here so that you get the gist of the dive.
You get the gist. The only other video I’d love to share with you is of the many clown fish that live with the sea anemones post-plane wreck portion of our dive. Yes, we also saw an eel and other cool fish, but the clown fish are relatively rare where I come from, so this was a treat.
So this was a jam packed day today. As I have only one day left in Boracay, Philippines, I took this opportunity to do a lot that I would otherwise not be able to do after this weekend. I’m looking forward to a more “chill” day with Barb, Ryle and Chino. It will be good to catch up with each of them and deepen our relationship (from a virtual one to the depth of an in person one).
