We have arrived in Bohol!!!! So excited to be back as I have only been here for a day trip with my sister. So me and Olly have heard very very mixed reviews about Bohol since we started travelling around the Philippines. Most people say that the Chocolate Hills are overrated. This has apparently given Bohol a bad rep and turned into a little Boracay (little Ibiza). We took all of these opinions with a pinch of salt and headed there anyways.
Tagbilaran
We booked accommodation in Tagbilaran which is where most of the backpackers are and most of the trips start from. As soon as we got off the ferry we realised this wasn’t like anywhere we had been before. The island of Boracay has shut this week which leads us to believe that is why the people are horrible! Taxi drivers charging ridiculous prices and ignoring us if we won’t pay. They are just out to rip you off and it feels like Thailand. We got to our hostel and the owner was a nice German guy. He tells us all we need to know about trips and starts to get us drunk. After that we head into town to sort out a tour for the next day and grab some dinner.
Time to try new things
We saw on another blog there was a really good vegan restaurant in Tagbilaran. Olly normally orders the veggie option as he is fussy with meat. More fussy than I am with food in general. Me (Milly) trying to be a good understanding girlfriend says “ sure let’s try it”. In the back of my mind I’m thinking it’s only half 7, there’s still time to get food after. This meal we had was probably the most filling dinner we’ve had while being away. Olly had a Diwali festival inspired curried potato rosti filled with cauliflower, cashews, peas, tomato and sweet pickles. My dish was a sweet potato, garlic, mushroom, mango and spinach burger. I was so hesitant for trying it but he said “ I’ll pay for it if you please try it”. Olly was watching my face to see my reaction and I have to say it wasn’t bad.
Balicasag island
Every time we go on a ferry I say to Olly “ I just want to see a dolphin”. When we were looking at what trips to do, he pointed to the dolphin watching trip!!!! Of course I was so bloody excited. We had an early start and got on the boat at 6:30am. We headed out to a remote island just off shore to do some snorkelling and on the way we saw a pod of dolphins!!! It was really cool but I was kinda disappointed that there were about 15 boats doing the same trip as us, chasing them. Didn’t feel too natural but we literally saw them and drove off, our boat driver didn’t chase them which was good.
We got to Balicasag island and got into smaller boats where they took 4 of us out at a time. They took us over the protected reef ( very happy there is protected reefs still) and to the cliff edge where we saw the most amazing coral! We saw hundreds of fish, clown fish, purple fish and all amazing shapes and colours of coral. This is definitely the best I’ve ever seen! We got back on the boat and they took us 5 minutes around the corner to a stronger current where we saw lots and lots of turtles !!! This was becoming the best day yet with the amount of wildlife we had seen.
We then went to the Virgin island which is a huge sandbar in the middle of the sea, pretty cool but as always, over crowded. We jumped back on the big boat and Olly being the amazing boyfriend he is, he let me fall asleep on the boat while he chatted away to the locals and I was extremely burnt when I woke up.
To ease the pain of the sunburn, we found the perfect spot on the beach to relax. Drinking lots of cocktails watching the sunset was amazing. This resulted in meeting two English girls who we got talking to and went for dinner with was a really nice end to this amazing day!
Moving onto Guindulman
We then travelled to a different part of Bohol the next day, called Guindulman, next to Anda beach. We stayed in an amazing hotel called Guindulman Bay tourist Inn with an English owner and his Filipino wife and son. He was like an old English gangster with so many stories and she was probably the smartest person I have ever met and their son was a little Filipino geeza who loved the ladies. They made us feel so welcomed and the food!!! Oh my goodness the food was out of this world. Me and Olly had to get used to eating 3 huge meals again while it lasted! We spent hours talking to them and they were so helpful with everything around this area.
Exploring a different side to Bohol
Olly and I spent a day going to waterfalls that were empty, running around rice terraces getting spooked by Carabao’s ( like a water buffalo). It was amazing! We also took the moped and explored around and we got a flat tyre. With this area not being used to westerners , none of the locals spoke English but we managed to figure out that the shop to fix it was 1km away. With us not wanting to push this heavy bike in the heat, a local who looked about 15 pushed it for us 🤣
Our next adventure takes us back to Cebu for a day, so we can catch our flight to Puerto Princesa and move onto Port Barton!!!
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