Experiencing Bohol

While in Bohol we snorkeled and scuba dived (dove?) at one of the top 10 best dive areas in the world, ate dinner on the beach, stayed at a very nice resort and at a very simple resort, happily rode various modes of transportation, saw spinner dolphins and tarsiers, visited the Chocolate Hills, and were serenaded along a river and at the airport. All in 5 days! It will take more than one blog to describe it all!

For the first three nights we stayed on Panglao Island, which is just off the west coast of Bohol right near Tagbilaran where you fly in, and for the last night we stayed at a resort on the Loboc River, about an hour’s bus/jeep ride plus a 20 minute river boat ride from Tagbilaran. Coming along with us was Carolyn’s brother Bob, who had arrived in Manila from Oregon at midnight the night before. We also met up with my brother Kevin and his family and my parents, who had arrived in Bohol a day earlier (and also left 2 days earlier).

Kev and his family had arrived in Bohol straight from the States a day earlier. Along with my parents they stayed at the Bee Farm Resort, which is eco-friendly, with organic food they grow right there. We stayed at the Oasis Resort, which unlike the Bee Farm is located on the main beach of Panglao, Alona Beach. The Oasis Resort is nicely small, with I think 8 or 9 duplex cottages in two lines facing each other with a garden and the pool in between. It feels private, and peaceful. The grounds are beautiful and well-kept. The rooms are nicely appointed so they have a "native" atmosphere, with hot showers (an upgrade from Pandan). Jo Jo loved the pool, which has a small waterfall. It was a very nice place to use as a base.









The beach is a short minute walk away. You walk down a path owned by the resort, to the Seaquest Dive Center that is also owned by the resort. (I’ll talk about the diving and snorkeling in another post.) Like most of the beaches resorts are built on in the Philippines, the sand was wonderfully fine. It doesn’t have that special quality of staying cool even in direct sunlight that the sand at Boracay has, though. Also unlike Boracay, there is no lounge chair waiting for you at the beach, although you can ask to have one brought down, and no umbrellas—it can get quite hot in the sun! They also don’t have someone watching your things, as far as I could tell, as the resorts do at Boracay.

The day we arrived, the beach was littered with sea drift, but only that first day, so it must have been washed up by a storm previous to our arrival. The water is shallow for a long ways out, but swimming is problematic because sea grass starts very close to shore. We didn’t want to walk in there because of the possibility of sea urchins. There are lots of those pinkish sea stars with black knobs on them (some call them Knobby sea stars), though. Further out the coral begins, so you can snorkel out there. Then the corral DROPS!! It was awesome, but I’ll talk about that in another blog.

We had a dinner at the Bee Farm with the whole gang, which was tasty, especially the salad. My impression is that vegetables and especially leafy salads are not common Filipino fare. Even the guide books say that the Philippines is not a place a vegetarian could eat easily. So it was nice to have the veggies. We didn’t see the Farm in the day, so I can’t tell you what it was like. Kev’s room was very large, and it looked out over the treetops to the ocean. We even saw fireflies blinking in the treetops.

Unfortunately, Dagmar and especially their 6-year old daughter Kiani were not feeling well, but they did feel well enough to come and join us for some fun in the pool and for dinner out on Alona Beach. Just as in Boracay, the resorts extend their restos onto the beach for dinner. It was really a joy to hear my mom speaking her native language, ordering the different types of fish and other food. It was a great dinner, well-prepared and tasty, and served under the full moon! Really lovely.

Kevin and his family and my parents left the next day for the rice terraces of Banaue and Sagada, with a flight change in Manila. Carolyn, Jo Jo, Bob and I continued on to Nuts Huts, a primitive but very nice resort on the Loboc River. We will describe that trip and what we saw on the way in other blogs, so I’ll just describe the resort. The accommodations are cool-looking, with lots of bamboo and thatched roofs. The beds have mosquito netting, and the showers don’t have hot water. No air con, but unlike Pandan there was a circulating fan. There are wonderful verandas that look out over the grounds and the River.

We took a short hike up the river to the waterfall, which meant getting across the river to the trail by riding in a very small paddle outrigger canoe. Fortunately, none of us slipped on the slippery banks! The hike to the waterfall was interesting because the trail goes past several small farm homes. We passed small plats with corn, beans, and eggplant growing. The falls themselves were underwhelming—you can barely see them from the trail, and the water was very muddy brown from the heavy rains, so we didn’t want to risk swimming in it to get a better view if we couldn’t see well (the water is supposed to be nicer when it isn’t all muddy like that.) But we were happy to be out and walking, anyway, and to see the houses.

Our cottage had a pond next to it that was full of frogs at night. We had a fun time with our headlamps on, trying to figure out how many different kinds—at least two species, each with a different call. I tried to catch one but they are hard to keep in your hand! And man, were they loud! Even when it poured rain in the middle of the night you could hear them!

The restaurant is up the slope. Up over a hundred steps, actually! (I’m sure Jo Jo will tell you how many, since he counted them.) It is a spacious open air place, with even some hammocks and a mattress with pillows. I had fun teaching Jo Jo how to play ping pong on the ping pong table there—until the ball disappeared over the end of the floor!

The next day we left for the Chocolate Hills and then flew home to Makati for a few hours before boarding a bus to Banaue. Still loads to talk about, so stay tuned!