Bohol #3: Island Hopping

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We were still shattered, so didn't get up to early. We headed over to the restaurant for some breakfast and to ask them about the boat trip we wanted to do. We shared a continental and an English breakfast, they were good. The bread was really delicious, and sharing the two meant we got a good combo of fruit, bacon and eggs. The owner of the guesthouse went off to see the boatman, the one they usually use was already booked for the day, so she was going to see if another fisherman was available. We ordered some sandwiches to take on the boat trip with us, and went to the little convenience store near our accommodation to stock on water and snacks. When we were ready, the owner took us to the boat. We went off down some side street, and there were loads of houses and people. There was also like a chicken farm (?), loads of hens, with little houses. It was interesting to walk through this area, as it felt like a real slice of Philippine life. The owner of the guesthouse was so sweet, she was worried that the fishermen don't speak English, and that it would be difficult for us to communicate with them.

We came to the water's edge, it felt a bit disorientating, as I felt like we should be further inland. How I imagine the island is not how it is laid out in reality. The water was pretty shallow, and we waded out to the boat. It was also different to how I though it would be, as I was expecting to leave from the beach we had walked along a few days earlier. This place was surrounded by mangroves, it was really pretty. Our boat was pretty small and basic, but it did the job. One on the fishermen pushed us out of the mangroves using an oar, and once we were clear and in deeper water, the other started the engine. The fisherman at the front directed the other one with hand signals. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The journey took quite a lot longer than I thought it would, maybe an hour or more. I didn't realise that the islands were so far away. There were quite a few boats out on the water, they were all different sizes, so small like ours and some bigger ones, to cater for the divers. We passed a few islands, and we were trying to guess which ones we would be stopping at. The sea started off quite calm, but as we headed further out, it got a little choppy. Also the sea was a beautiful colour. It was the tropical colour that you see in holiday ads, and can't believe is real.

We arrived at our first island, Balicasag. As we approached the island, we could see loads of boats moored there. Our boatmen found a spot for us to park in, and we got off. A man came over to see if we wanted to hire snorkelling equipment, but we declined. The island seemed quite big, and there were a few restaurants and store shacks lining the edge of the island. We headed inland from the beach and took a little walk through the village. I think it would be really nice to stay on the island, if possible, especially when all the day trippers have gone home, and you've got the place to yourself. We then headed back down to the beach. The sea was still looking gorgeous in colour, but a bit too rough to swim in. It was pretty rough, and we were watching some people snorkelling and the waves were carrying them quite far off course. We spent a few hours chilling on the beach, taking in the view, trying to figure out how to work our selfie stick effectively, and napping. The selfie stick took ages to sort out, and we had a good laugh, as some of the pictures we took we terrible, heads missing, the lot. Finally, we got the hang of. The sky had looked overcast when we were coming to the island, but we got glorious sunshine. We even had to retreat to the shade of a tree after a while.

When we got bored, we wandered inland again for a bit, I think that the island is fairly big, but we didn't explore too much. There are quite a few local people living on the island. We saw one kid getting a right bollocking off their parent, I wonder what they'd done wrong. We headed back to the beach and walked along to find our boat. We had walked further than we had thought, as we were trying to find our boat, and not having much luck at first. We found it after, and there were some boatmen sitting around, they asked us if our boat was ours and went off to find our men. So nice of them! It must be a good laugh, being the boatmen/fishermen. A bloke from another boat was taking the piss out of one of the blokes from ours and getting us to join in. It seems like they have a great sense of community and fun. The sea was a lot more choppy, as we headed to the other island, which we had been told was called Virgin Island. The water was coming up and I was a bit soaked by the time we got there. Just as we arrived at the island, it started to rain, perfect timing! However looking out at the sky, there was plenty of clear blue sky on the horizon, so we knew the rain wouldn't last long. It also meant that everybody else, who was on the island left. So for a little while we had the island to ourselves.

We walked along the sandbar that jutted out, where the boats pulled up and got to the island proper, there was a massive statue, which we took a quick look at, and then headed through a kind of entrance building. On the wall of the structure, there was a big set of rules about the island, what you could and could not do. Boy, this place was strict. We took a walk through to the garden in the middle of the island. We had a quick look at the garden, but the lure of the beach was too strong, so we headed down there. We sat on the beach and enjoyed the view out to sea. We sneakily ate our picnic, as the signs we had seen forbade the consumption of food and drink on the island. The island was quite small, but there was some kind of construction work going on. I wonder what they are building, I hope it's not something that will ruin the place. While we were on the island we noticed two security guard types, we thought that they were there to protect the construction site, but there were a few chairs set up at the edge of the grass, before the beach started and they sat on them at different times, keeping an eye on the tourists that turned up. Now, this was all very ordinary, however we did notice that the guards were carrying guns, and one was huge, slightly unnerving, but we just kept our distance and tried to get some sneaky photos of them and their guns.

We took a walk around the edge of the island, and on the other side, there was a big boat moored on the sand. I wonder if the island is privately owned or by the church. In the centre of the island, where the garden is, there were a lot of religious statues. It was interesting to wander around them. There was also a flagpole with the Philippine flag on it. We wandered back to the beach, dumped our stuff, and headed into the sea. The water was really shallow and filled with starfish, which were hidden under the sand. We had to be really careful where we were walking, so we didn't squish any. We ended up sitting in the sea for a bit, it was that shallow, and taking in the view of the island. It was bloody gorgeous! We could see another tiny island, which had a solitary man walking on it, and another with a tree growing. All the while we were on Isola di Francesco people were coming and going, as their boat trips dropped them off for a short amount, so it did feel like we had the island to ourselves. There is also a huge statue of a saint, who had Cappuccino in his man, he must be my patron saint, as I love my coffee.

After dodging a couple more small rain storms, we headed back to the boat. The journey back to Panglao wasn't too bad, as the sea had calmed down a bit. When we got back to the small bay that we had left from, the tide had gone out, so we had to hop out and walk to get back to the shore. The sand underfoot was actually mud and we were black by the time we reached the shore. Luckily, the fisherman showed us an outdoor tap, so we could clean our feet. We headed back to our accommodation and showered and changed. When we headed out later, the boatmen were in the restaurant, eating up a feast. We went back to Jam Restaurant, where we ate a tonne of Humba and some kind of stew. I'm so sad, that I won't have Humba again soon, I need to look up the recipe.

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Photos

Beautiful!
Such a beautiful colour!