But before the beach part, the mainland Bohol experience first. Some of my friends were first timers on the island so we had to do the usual tourist things. One of our classmate in our batch resides in Bohol and her family was kind enough to tour us around. We went to see the Chocolate Hills, the tarsiers, the man made forest and also took a cruise on Loboc River (this time it was a night cruise).
Zip lining across Loboc River was an added experience for me this time. It eventually became one of my most unforgettable memories in Bohol. The zip line at Loboc EcoAdventure Park crosses a distance of 520 meters from the starting point to the end point at the height of 120 meters over the Loboc river. Going one way was already mind blowing and imagine we have to do the zip line again on the way back (although you can opt to take the cable car ride if you want). Looking down you will see how beautiful the river is and probably pray at the same time you won't fall down. Haha! It's that high. A very scary but exciting feeling.
Second day was the day I've been waiting for. We are finally going to the beach. Yey! We woke up very early (as in wala pang araw) and headed to the shores of Panglao. We rented a boat which will be our vehicle for our island hopping activity. The sea was very calm when we headed out and the sun was just about to come out.
Dolphin watching was first on our list that day. I actually thought it was a close encounter activity where the dolphins would be jumping out of the waters just beside our banca. Haha, poor me. It turned out that the dolphins tend to be distracted with engine noise coming from the motor vehicles. So we just kept our distance and waited for them with our engine turned off. When they finally appeared gliding through the waters, I got very excited I could actually feel my eyes glowing, hehe! Too bad I wasn't able to take any decent photos because of the distance.
Next, we headed to Balicasag Island. Upon setting our feet to its shore, these greeted us. Crystal clear waters it almost looked like glass. As in sobrang linis nia, nakakamangha talaga! I got inlove with the place agad agad.
Balicasag Island is famous for its rich marine sanctuary. Tourists flock the place for snorkeling and diving. We proved this ourselves when we snorkeled the area and experienced its diversity. Just imagine variants of fishes of variant colors swarming around you. It was such a sight that you can keep forever as a memory. Corals, starfishes and sea urchins also inhabit the place. We had the best time of our lives at that time. So sayang I don't have an underwater camera to capture the experience. I even had a face to face encounter with Nemo. Haha! Manong bankero was kind enough to push me underwater (di kasi ako marunong magdive) where a family of clownfish lives. I'm quite sure the fish blinked and pouted its lips to me, so cute! I got so happy naging bukambibig ko na si Nemo for the rest of the day. Haha!
After we had our lunch, we packed our things and headed to Virgin Island Sandbar next. Our timing was good because it was low tide when we got there. The sandbar is only accessible during low tides. Upon docking, we immediately checked out the place from end to end. It was kinda scary looking to your left and right and see nothing but the vastness of the ocean. Nonetheless, this was one beautiful place. It was my first time to step on a sandbar.
Starfishes can be seen scattered around the area. Different types of different colors. Look at us holding our favorite starfish each.
Sea urchins for sale. And by that, I mean raw sea urchins that you can eat. Sounds yucky, neh? I saw this actually on Kris TV before. They are edible. Our group tried it ourselves. Bawal ang KJ so bawal magpass. Manong cuts the urchin right in front of our eyes and puts it individually on our palms. Then lagyan lang ng suka and its ready to eat. Eeew. I can't remember tasting it that time. I had immediately gulped it the moment it entered my mouth, haha!
Some locals are also selling sea shells for a living on the island. Good for pasalubongs and souvenirs. Here's a pic of us checking the shells out.
After roaming the area under the scorching heat of the sun, we eventually got tired and was looking for refreshments to quench our thirst. Good thing buko vendors are around. This is us resting our tired and sunburned feet. Thanks to Manong magbubuko not only for the fresh buko but for his umbrella shade as well.
As a side note, I kinda got stressed with our sandbar experience. My biggest fears actually when I'm out on the beach/sea are sea snakes and tsunamis. I'm praning, I know. Haha! I remembered while I was busy taking pictures on the island, I thought I saw something striped moving. A sea snake immediately played on my mind..haha! So just imagine me panicking and grabbing my friends telling them its time to go back to the resort na. Haha! They kept on convincing me it was just the sea grass but kapraningan was already into me. Tsk. Tsk.
Before the sun set that day, we were back to our resort. We were checked in by the way at Dumaluan Resort located at the beaches of Panglao.
