An impressive sight welcomes travelers approaching Puerto Galera from the sea, with its verdant mountains overlooking its scenic bay, which is considered one of the most beautiful bays in the world. You can just imagine how it must look from the air. Which is exactly how Gerry Lane first saw it.

A sip of the ginger tea is soothing and you begin to unwind. Your therapist starts to give you a foot scrub that prepares you to the pampering ritual of two hours and 45 minutes known as Boracay Puka Beach Package, or “Soul of the Sea”, the most eco-friendly treatment, at Tirta Spa.

Everyone starts with a blank canvas. For a first timer with no previous painting or sketching experience, one might easily feel intimidated. The session doesn’t just include painting. Each one sketches their own work as well. It is definitely not a Paint by Numbers kit as some people might think. Not to worry though, painting instructors and in-house artists, who are fine arts graduates from top universities, are there to assist.

Hoping to fulfill a personal need, Kage Gozun and Noelle Hilario started Brown Belly clothing back in 2004. Gozun shares, “Noelle and I met through capoeira classes and surfing and started hanging out. There and surfing and started hanging out. There talking about how hard it was for both of us to find affordable beach clothing in Manila. That kind of became the springboard for Brown Belly.”