“why wait for 40 when you can be happy NOW??”

the above line from melanie t. lim’s WIDE AWAKE – a compilation of articles from her sunstar column, struck a nerve in me. or at least it awakened something from within. as soon as i finished reading all the articles, i debated between attempting to awaken my culinary skill [if i have it in me, that is] or going for an unplanned/unbudgetted? trip to panglao in bohol. superego told me that i possibly could not go for that trip since i just cooked an almost half-kilo [roughly 6 to 8 servings] “humba” to be consumed by me, myself, and vet. moreover, i just bought some more ingredients to attempt cooking another dish. i simply could not put off cooking else the ingredients would go to waste. id, on the other hand, argued that traveling always guarantees me pleasure. there’s nothing more pleasurable than traveling, hopping on a boat and going to another island, whiling away time on a sandy beach and forgetting about life’s worries. to clinched it, id reasoned that there’s just no pleasure at the prospect of eating all those “humba,” [the winning argument] hehehe…

all these arguments and counterarguments happened between ten thirty to twelve sunday afternoon…

at 12 noon, i sent an SMS to my sister in labangon if she’s interested in coming with me to panglao. told her we’d be back at the city the next day since i’ve yoga class then and i don’t want to miss it.

at around 3:00 pm; my sister and i were at the Ocean Jet terminal over at Pier 1 on our way to tagbilaran

one-way ticket @ PhP520 [inclusive of terminal fee @PhP20.. two-way ticket costs PhP800]

inside Ocean Jet vessel; view from Seat 36 C

me @ Seat 36 C and my sister che @ 36 D [airconditioned]

our arrival in tagbilaran port.. the most bumpy ride ever.. the sea captain was directing the boat as if ON EMERGENCY. weather was fine, but ride gave me slight headache as the vessel was rocking from L-R because of its heck-of-a speed to reach tagbilaran [same boat is on the way to dumaguete, then siquijor]

the welcome to tagbilaran sign

we arrived in tagbilaran around 5:35 p.m. [roughly 2-hour ocean jet ride]

trike fare schedule posted at the tagbilaran port

a tagbilaran port scene

from the tagbilaran port, my sister and i headed to island city mall or ICM [tagbilaran's version of SM, not an SM affiliate though - i think]. we hopped on a trike and was charged PhP50 for the port-to-ICM ride. we headed to icm to get ourselves some sunblock. however, we ended up buying a few things such as a skirt for my sister, a pedal, a tote bag, t-shirt, and underwear for me courtesy of the power of plastic. we finished the rush shopping at around seven pm and went straight to ICM’s The Prawn Farm Grill and Seafood for dinner.

the restaurant’s interior [my sister facing the mall]

moi @ the restaurant with my back to the mall

the restaurant’s bar, view from my left

the table setting

another view of the resto’s interior

the restaurant’s second floor

interesting hanging lamps and nice white wavy walls

equally interesting floor lighting by the bar

my sister’s iced tea and my green mango shake [PhP 40 and 65, respectively]

our seafood platter @595 good for 4 persons

had to have my vetlongwalks mark … hehe

my sister and i couldn’t finish the whole platter, thus typical Filipino us had half of the platter in a doggie bag. the cheapskate in us had this brilliant idea of buying a 1-pc chicken meal and extra rice over at KFC so we’ll have something to eat to go with the leftover seafood platter for breakfast the next day.

after the very filling dinner, my sister and i hired a trike to take us over to bohol diver’s resort in panglao. as it was already 7:30yish pm, the trike driver pegged the fare at PhP300. had we arrived earlier, we would have gone the cheapskate route and take the jeepney bound for Tawala. one can find jeepneys over at the Dao Terminal, which is just across ICM. it’s also in this same terminal that you can find buses heading to different towns in bohol such as Tubigon.

around quarter to 9, we arrived at the bohol diver’s resort in panglao. bohol. the resort is one of the many resorts found along alona beach.

bohol diver’s front area, view from the gazebo fronting the reception area

reception area

this would be the third time i’ve stayed in this resort and in these three occasions, they’ve never asked for a deposit. they’d only ask you to fill out some forms, give you the room key, and take you to your chosen room. i find this gesture a very trusting act because a dishonest guest could easily slip out of the resort without paying the next day. that’s because one need not go back to the reception area, but head straight to the beach out to the other side instead. thus, i give it to their staff – their behavior is truly amazing. hopefully, no guest would take advantage of this.

bohol diver’s resort @ night… i don’t know how to tinker with my digicam so the pix are rather of poor quality.

just us, camwhoring

yeah, us again… pardon us, we’re vacationing and enjoying it!!!

okay, enough with the camwhoring. let me proceed to the real reason for this attempt at travel blogging – me wanting to share my own travel experience in the hopes of encouraging others to buy the ticket and explore the world. now moving on to our accommodation…

bohol diver’s by day

—– The Room Number —-

Rows of Nipa-Sawali-Made Rooms @ PhP800 / night . this area is not fronting the beach… you’ve to walk a few meters to get to this place. it’s a good exercise after all those hours spent on your swivel chairs.

my vetlongwalks mark at the guise of showing the bermuda grass fronting the rooms above

the PhP800-room interior, 2 double beds, fan room with shower

the bathroom… the purplish curtain shown in the pix above serves as the door. yup, no lock. i didn’t mind this as i’m positive my companion is no pervert.

hehe, moi playing with the timer… my back to the door … my backpack and what is visible of my sister’s red bag

the next day. august 25, monday

the view fronting our room

as i mentioned in the early post, you’ve to walk a few meters to get to this area. a few more meters going down, you’ll get to the beach

bohol sunshine at 5:53 a.m., i hoped to have a glimpse of panglao sunrise when a man approached me. he asked if i wanted to go dolphin watching and snorkeling at balicasag. he said it only costs PhP1,500. i initially refused the guy as i didn’t think we’d have enough time to do such. my sister and i planned to head back straight to cebu in order for me to catch my 6:30 pm yoga class. we planned to leave the resort at 12 noon in order to get a ride back to cebu via tubigon. last i remember, there were hourly trips from tubigon to cebu. we didn’t get a return ticket as the available tagbi-cebu sailing time then were sched at 4:30 / 5:10 pm, which weren’t enough time to be back to cebu before 6:30. i also told the man that there’d only be my sister and i, so… sensing my hesitation, the man lowered the price by 200. as i haven’t been to balicasag, i went back to our room and told my sister about going dolphin watching and snorkeling in balicasag. as the ever practical elder one, she cautioned me about going overboard considering that we didn’t have enough cash. but the middle child that i was, convinced her to worry about money later, we’ll just use plastic to pay for the room and skip lunch…hehe…

the middle child on her way to catch a few glimpse of them dolphins

them bancas and the people on board on the look out for dolphins

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ hello sunshine }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

still worrying about the money, NOT

waiting…waiting…. waiting…. them foreigner kids were ecstatic having seen some dolphins [bottom right pix]

our boatman – jonathan. he’s camera shy

blue waters and bancas

the succeeding pictures are pictures wherein you wish you have your friend’s kickass cameras or you have the dexterity of a cheetah

chasing dolphins ………………..

the only decent pix i’ve captured of them dolphins

after an hour or so of dolphin chasing [nope, not watching]… our boatman suggested that we now proceed to this piece of paradise

balicasag island beckoning

the watch tower somewhere in balicasag

calm waters and what is visible of half the vetlongwalks mark

almost there… almost there….

a paradise called balicasag island

vetlongwalks stepped on this island

my sister enjoying the crystal clear water… up ahead is the fish sanctuary. there’s a fee of PhP100 pesos to snorkel and feed the fish. we are unable to do so as again we didn’t bring money with us saved for the boat fee [tip: whenever you go island hopping, dont fail to bring extra money as there areas that collect fees. this is also what happened to us in bora where we couldn't go in the Crystal Cove because we also didn't bring extra money.. hopefully, this wouldn't happen to us next time]

hehe… sa kilid.kilid ra tawn kay dili kabalo molangoy…huhu

aahhhhhhhhh….. the good life ……….

yay!!! i can do the full lotus pose… hehe, sa tubig lang – out of it…naah

crystal clear water

them little fishes

them fishes and the vetlongwalks mark

more and more fishes… at knee deep and with a snorkel you can see so much more – more than what you can see in an aquarium – the fishes look bigger when seen under the water

after an hour or so, we had to go back to bohol diver’s for a quick shower, brunch, and checking out…

leaving balicasag, farewell paradise

dark, showered, ready to head back to cebu

bohol diver’s reception area in daylight

the gazebo

the pool and beach – view from the reception

the resort’s restaurant

the resort’s bar fronting the pool and by the beach

last few pix at the resort

the sole pix of us together

the sole pix of the beach at bohol diver’s resort… although the beach has crystal clear water, the presence of “lumot” is just a turn off…. but august is that time of the year where nobody thinks about going to the beach for precisely this reason…

the succeeding pix are scenes along alona beach. you’ll find here quite a few number of resorts. if you don’t have your own transpo, going back door – not passing through the resort’s entrance is the most sensible thing to do. this is actually where you’ll head if you’re the sleazy type and skip paying for your accommodation [hopefully, you reading this is not among the sleazy type...hehe - please don't be...]

once you’re out of alona, expect a man or two to approach you offering van tour to places of interest in bohol. if not, there’d be lots of parked habal-habal to take you back to tagbilaran. but if you walk further ahead, you can wait for jeepneys heading back to tagbilaran. as my sister and i were pressed for time, we opted to ride the habal-habal to take us to dao terminal. the hour + minutes-ride cost us PhP250 and a muffler burn on my right thigh.

i was unable to take a picture of the dao terminal because when we arrived there, the bus going to tubigon was about to leave. as my brain was trying to process how in the world i got my thigh near the muffler, one man grabbed my backpack and brought it to the bus. the man was very insistent on getting my bag and everyone there assured me that my bag was safe as nobody in bohol does foolish things. again, very trusting people – them boholanos. anyway, as soon as we paid the habalhabal driver, we boarded the bus going to tubigon. no pictures also during this uneventful ride. we left dao terminal around 1 pm and arrived in tubigon a few minutes before 3 pm. the bus ride cost us PhP60 each. from the tubigon terminal, we hopped on a trike to take us to the port and paid PhP16 for the two of us. had we have the luxury of time, i would have opted to walk from the terminal to the port. best guess, it would only take me less than ten minutes to get there on foot.

people lining up to buy tickets. ticket prices are at PhP190, 200, 210. we got the PhP190 as that’s the only one available

after you pay for the tickets, there’s a person who collects PhP 2/person for tax and another PhP10/person for terminal fee.

tubigon port’s waiting area

leaving tubigon port [my back towards tubigon ]

the PhP 190-accommodation of the boat on the left side [above pix]

be warned, this PhP190 accommodation comes with free sniff of stench of humanity and nature’s waste, hehe… the price you pay for the PhP 250 savings you get had you taken ocean jet back in tagbilaran. anyway, ride from tubigon to cebu was roughly an hour and half.