Bohol Escape

Day 1

I love the Centennial airport...

Maybe it's the thought of impending travel that makes the airport such exciting place. The hustle and bustle of people checing in luggage, the lines forming at security checkpoints, the chatter of people around you, talking about their travel plans...

Not to mention the good looking cabin crew and pilots milling about. :)

Seriously though, we were at the airport bright and early last Feb 2. Even though it was a domestic flight, we make it a habit to check in early. Amazingly, our PAL flight to Tagbilaran wasn't delayed. Nothing much happened on the flight, but our landing left much to be desired... rather bumpy, but other than that, it was a pretty uneventful flight.

We met our driver Jun-jun at the airport. From Tagbilaran, it would take another hour to reach Panglao island. We were booked at Sun Apartelle, we got there at about 11 in the morning. The place was very nice, we rented a two bedroom family suite, and there was a living room, dining area and a kitchen. Tere, Maitz, Bea and I slept in one room (two double-bunk beds, I got the top bunk, yay!). While mom, pa and baby Gabby had the other.

On the first day, we decided to drop by the beach to check things out. With visions of white sands (and Bora) in mind, we headed out. Supposedly, it was a 5-min walk from our place to the beach, but as we plodded along the street, wondering where the beach was, we chanced upon some tricycles and decided it would be better to just ride to the beach.

Well, to be honest, when we got there, I was rather disappointed. I was anticipating something very much like Boracay, with people about, restos and bars lined up the beach front, but Bohol was nothing like that. It was so... primitive... so... quaint... so... quiet.

But of course, it didn't stop us from having fun, playing in the sand and waves. A beach is a beach, and I have always been at one with bodies of water. While there, we also met Saison, who we made arrangements with for the next day, for some dolphin watching and island hopping. Day 1 ended early, because in order to see dolphins, you have to be at sea between 6-7, around sunrise. We were all in bed by 10pm, and I think none of us had problems sleeping that night.


Day 2

4:00 AM.

What an ungodly hour...

Still, the promise of a hundred or so dolphins playing alongside the boat prodded me to wake up and pull myself together. We were on time, and were in the middle of the sea a ilttle after 6AM.

The sunrise was beautiful...

Unfortunately, no dolphins.

There were a lot of other boats, it seems even our guides were perplexed at the apparent no-show of these lovable mammals. Citing the tides being rougher than normal, they did, however, offer to take us to other islands. But by that time, maitz and I were already itching to get into the water and do some serious snorkeling. Since, Bohol is more popularly known as a dive spot, more than anything.

They took us someplace near Balicasag island, where our boat was parked (for lack of a better term) at the very edge of a coral formation, meaning, from one side of the boat, your feet will touch the ground (more specifically, corals), but from the other side, its a long, long way down into the deep blue sea.

Our guides gave us some bread to feed to the fishes, I wasn't expecting much, but the water was so clear, that even without the snorkeling mask, you can see the hundreds of different colored fishes swimming about and around your legs... so close you can touch them. And with a piece of bread in your hand, they will charge at you (and I mean they can get pretty aggressive). It was amazing! If only I had an underwater camera. :(

We stayed there for about two hours, feeding fish, having our fingers bit every now and then, swimming about, enjoying the contrast of the warm sun and the cool water. It was just wonderful, I just wanted to stay there. But we had to move out since hunger and fatigue was beginning to set in. So we headed back to shore and had lunch by the shore.

After lunch, we were drinking fresh buko, when the rain started to fall.

Rain meant we were landlocked.

We headed back to our hotel, and waited the worst of it out. We were hoping it could clear up by late afternoon so we could go back to the beach. No such luck, it rained all afternoon, and we had no choice but to just stay inside, and watch TV.

No wonder the dolphins stayed underwater.

In summary, Day 2 started out wonderfully, regardless of the dolphin snub, the snorkeling experience made it all worthwhile. And even though it rained, we just had fun playing with Gabby and lounging about. Which to me, made it a very relaxing day.


Day 3

Another early start. Today was the "Tour of Bohol" day, and by 8AM, we were all strapped in the vehicle. This was the most exciting day, coz we got to see so much in so little time. Here's a rundown:

- Blood Compact Site (see pic). I won't even try to pretend I'm a history expert, but I do know that what they're drinking in those cups, is something I wouldn't want near my lips. :)
- Hanging bridge. Only Papa, Sweet and I had the courage to cross this. It was only scary at the beginning, but not much of a challenge once you get used to it. I bought keychains from the other side as pasalubong.
- Tarsier Encounter at Loboc - My hands-down favorite. These nocturnal wonders were inches away, and looked very much like Gabby with their large eyes. They were incredibly soft to touch, and looked adorable when we were feeding them insects on a stick. :)

- Chocolate Hills. A steep, 300+ step staircase was our challenge here. Tere, Bea, Papa and I plowed on through, which caused us to be lightheaded and out of breath by the time we reached the top. But the view was amazing, hundreds of hills all around. Too bad they weren't so chocolatey. Mama and Maitz took a slower route, but eventually got to the top. And we all went down together using the slower route, taking time to enjoy the different views from the different vantage points.

- Loboc River Cruise & Floating Restaurant. Mom's hands-down favorite. The food was excellent, and the ambiance was... different. :) We were on a floating restaurant cruising through the river, with a very talented singer on board, singing foreign and OPM classics which made some of our boat-mates sing along. Bea was eating a BBQ that seemed to take the shape of a tarsier. The water may not be as clear, but the air was fresh and clean. :)

- Along the way we passed two churches. I forgot the name of the one on the right, but the other one was Baclayon church, one of the oldest stone churches in the Philippines. We only got pics of the interior, so I won't post them here anymore.
- Clarin Ancestral House. Um, a very old house, with very old furniture and very old stuff. The people were very accommodating. There was a cafe, but we arrived in the middle of a power outage. Sayang, according to the people there, their hot chocolate was something to experience.
- Hinagdanan Cave. A cave accessible by a narrow stair, a bit of claustrophobia kicked in, but I made it through. It was dim, warm and damp inside. There was an underground pool, but the sound of bats lingering around freaked me out so I went up right after these shots was taken.

- Prony. Luckily for us, we were able to watch a feature in Saksi about one of the biggest snakes in captivity, which happened to be in Bohol. When we decided to come see it, Tere was petrified, and I laughed in her face. The python's name was Prony, 9 years and 23 feet long, weighing 200 kilos. It was huge... but unfortunately, hibernating. So I wasn't able to torment Tere then and there.
- Daks and Gams Wildlife Park. An array of wild animals, monkeys of different kinds, snakes, iguanas, pawikans, birds, cats... interesting, but sadly, not well maintained. Even the snakes there were hibernating, maybe it's the weather or something.

That ended our tour. We went back to Sun Apartelle, rested a bit, and went back out into the beach. It was high tide already, and we all had a blast going with the waves, knowing that by tomorrow, we would be too lazy to go out.

Had an interesting dinner of burnt longganisa (all of us are to blame for this disaster - long story), ordered out, fixed up our stuff and went to bed, knowing that tomorrow, will be our well earned rest day.

Day 4

Woke up around 8AM, stretched and realized it would be our last day in Bohol. Lay down again, and just enjoyed the fact that I had no pressing deadlines, no production support, and nothing to do for a few more hours.

A few hours later, after packing and making sure everything was set, we headed back to Tagbilaran and waited for our flight. We arrived back in Manila at around 6PM. Once again, I want to reiterate how much I love the Centennial airport. We headed straight to Magallanes for mass, and then afterwards, dropped by Nanay's for a quick visit. Then, we all headed back home, after a wonderful vacation. :-)