Wow Bohol! Day 2 (April 4, 2009)

Day 2 of our Bohol Island Tour.

Itinerary:
Dolphin Watching

Snorkeling at Balicasag Island

Virgin Island

Meryenda at Alona Beach

Dinner at Miravilla

We woke up at around 5:30 to catch the beautiful dolphins of Bohol! We got to Alona Beach in Panglao at around 6:20am, a few minutes late from the ideal time of 6am. We rode the boat and went to the spot where the dolphins were seen.

The weather was unpredictable. At first it was sunny, but when we got to the spot, it started to shower.

We were very very lucky to see a big school of dolphins coming from everywhere around our boat! That was a breathtaking sight to see!

After which we headed to the nearby island, Balicasag island, for the snorkeling. It was the first time that I saw a school of Jacks hovering just near the shore! Too bad I did not have an underwater camera to capture that beautiful work of nature.

I admire the fisherfolk in the area for maintaining such beauty underwater. They were responsible enough to let us know the do's and don'ts in snorkeling. The coral reefs just a few meters from the shore are intact and beautiful, thus maintaining the fishes' habitat. I saw a lot of little Nemos and Marlens with their habitats, sea anemones! One of us even saw a sea turtle as it swims towards the middle of the sea. It was really an exhilirating experience!

At 11am, we had our lunch served at the island!

Menu:

Sinigang na Maya-maya.

Fried Maya-Maya.

Kinilaw na Maya-maya (The Big Maya-maya was divided into three parts for the sinigang, fried and kinilaw)

Inihaw na Pusit

Kamatis at Bagoong

Eat all you Kanin

Nothing beats the taste of fresh fish in the middle of an island!

At half past 12, we asked if the boatman could take us to the much talked-about Virgin Island, famous for its long Sand bed. The boatman agreed to take us there so we rode back to our boat and set sail for the island!

Richard James, the young apprentice, the first mate

The Virgin Island, or some others would call the "Puntod"

We arrived at the island a little before 1pm. The sand bed was truly a captivating sight! At the first sight of it you would easily want to jump your boat to run it through!

The island was so small, you can walk through its shores for just 5 minutes!

We met a few fisherfolk selling "Uni" or Sea Urchin for only P50 for a "lapad" bottle! I was tempted to buy all four bottles and sell them to hotels here in Manila and make big money! :)

Luckily, the ladies obliged to give us free taste. Nothing beats a freshly cracked Uni!

We stayed in the island for about two and a half hours, ate chips, cracked jokes, slept, went around the island, drank fresh Buko Juice (we bought it from the only "convenience" store in the island!), took lots of pictures... We didn't mind the intermittent skin-piercing hard rains and just went our way to enjoy the Sand bed, the sight, the island. Before we left, the sand bed already had disappeared due to the high tide.

As we were going back to Alona Beach, hard rains struck our boat in the middle of the sea. We got so damn scared! Luckily the waves were mild and the boatman was able to take the boat closer to the shore of the main island. Whew!



We took a short break at Alona Beach to have some meryenda. We had pancit, chips, shakes, burgers, and the native street food Tempura (thinner than kikiam), which is sold like fishball. After which, we went back to Coco Grove to wash up and prepare ourselves for dinner.


We had dinner at Miravilla Restaurant in Tagbilaran. Food was good, the price was just right. It was more of the province's own version of the dampa. It was located near downtown Tagbilaran. People would visit the place not just to eat, but also to swim because they had an infinity pool and a few cottages.
That caps the second day of the 4-day Bohol adventure. :)

Day 3 to follow...