Philippines Adventure Pt5- Bohol and Alona Beach

Having got up at 4am in Boracay I was at Cebu airport and reunited with Jr before 8.30am. Cebu airport is actually located on Mactan Island where famously a Spaniard was killed just before they successfully invaded. So we killed some time in a mall before making our way to the port to get a ferry to Bohol, another island about 2 hours away which was our destination.

I had arranged my trip to Bohol properly before leaving Australia and had hotels and tours booked! The ferry was pretty much the same as taking a bus!



This is the ferry at the port of Tagbilaran, a 30 minute drive from our final destination Alona Beach on Panglao Island, part of Bohol.



Once we arrived we caught up on sleep but got up to see sunset and explore the area.





Alona Beach is like a mini Boracay, a lot of the people are there for the diving and it had a more relaxed atmosphere but all the beach, food, bars and massage etc you could ask for! I recommend this area highly and most importantly because there is so much more to do with Bohol 30 minutes away. They are building an international airport so I guess everything will change anyway.

The next day I had a whole day tour booked around Bohol, the only downside of the tour was our driver's English, Jr was translating all day. We saw...

Baclayon Church:



A python sanctuary:



Some creaky hanging bridges!



A lunch cruise down Loboc River:



View from the boat:



View where we stopped:



And view of where the river boats start from. Taken from the bridge locally known as 'stupid bridge' as it could not be completed without destroying the church so it remains unfinished. And the church is thought to have gold buried beneath!



And then onto what I had been waiting to see ALL holiday- the tarsiers! Tiny primates, native and protected in Bohol.



These are Jr's idea of a picture of me with the tarsier- hmm, great focusing!





And the final stop, Chocolate Hills, called because at certain times of the year they go brown making them look like Hershey Chocolate Kisses. They are naturally occurring limestone hills and go on for miles!





Chocolate Hills were the furthest point, we slept in the van on the way back! Day two was a shorter tour just around Panglao Island and then onto Magaso Falls, we were supposed to head back to Manila that night but instead we moved to a hotel with a nicer pool for another night!

Day two, more old Spanish churches:





A shell museum:



A Bee Farm with no bees, a problem the world knows about.



And a cave:



Before swimming in the waterfalls.





We had a wonderful holiday in Bohol, I would really recommend it and now my time in the Philippines was nearly over.