Our Next Adventure was to Bohol

 We Traveled West to Bohol Island

On Monday, we began our next adventure. We had heard about so many fun things to do on Bohol Island, and really wanted to visit. Bohol is located to the east of Cebu Island and we could actually see the island from where we had lunch on the day we swam with the whale sharks. 

Our day started early  - at 6AM we were out in front of the patron house where our ride picked us up and took us to the pier where we boarded an Ocean Jet to Bohol Island. The ride took about an 1 1/2 hours. 

When we arrived in port, our cute tour guide Marylou was there to meet us.

She loaded us in the van her husband was driving and we headed to the Loboc River for a river cruise on a “floating restaurant”. It was so much fun.  

We enjoyed cruising along the river and enjoying the scenery. The Philippines is such a beautiful place…so lush and green. It was just so nice to relax and enjoy the surroundings and each other’s company. Shortly after embarking, they served a wonderful lunch with so many food options. We were definitely well fed.

Then, to our surprise we came upon a native village where they had us exit the boat. I wasn’t sure what was happening but followed along. We were greeting by the native people with flower headbands and drums sounding the in the background. 

They got us to play drums with them, watch a fire breathing guy and rock out with the locals. We had a fun time as we played along with them. In the end of course they wanted us to give them money, which we did. I’ll try to include a couple videos for your enjoyment. 

When we finished our river cruise, we headed out into the countryside to see the Tarsier Sanctuary. Tarsiers are tiny primates - one of the smallest in the world actually and only found in the Philippines on Bohol. 

Tarsiers are nocturnal so we were lucky to get to see a few of them that were awake. Their eyes are enormous compared to their small bodies. Their eyes cannot move in their sockets so they have a special adaptation in their neck that allows them to rotate their heads 180 degrees in each direction. They were cute and a little creepy at the same time.

After the seeing the tarsiers we were given the option of going on a zip line or gondola over the river. Since we had recently done not one but two zip lines we opted for the gondola. It was a nice peaceful ride with beautiful scenery. 

Our last adventure for the day was the Chocolate Hills! The Chocolate Hills are a geological formation consisting of over 1,200 grass-covered mounds that turn a chocolate brown during the dry season. Because we were there in the rainy season, they were pretty green but still very cool. 

As you can see, we made a visit to the gift shop

I always try to pick up a tee shirt everywhere we go so I can make a tee shirt quilt when we get home. 

The view was spectacular 

Just as we were getting ready to leave and head to our next adventure - riding an ATV around the Chocolate Hills, the rain began to pour. We had to make a decision, should we take a chance that the rain would stop or should we head to the hotel and get checked in? We opted for the hotel and it was a good choice, the rain did not let up and we would have been in a muddy mess. 

 The hotel was a beautiful resort right on the ocean front. The view from our hotel room was amazing!!!

In the morning, we were scheduled to swim with the sardines. Everyone went except me. I wasn’t feeling great so I decided to have a slow morning and stay at the hotel and take it easy. They all had a great time and saw lots of sardines. As you swim around them, they scatter in every direction. They said there were thousands of them everywhere. 

The next morning we headed out for another day of adventure - since we didn’t get to ride the ATVs around the Chocolate Hills, we asked if we could go do that and I’m sure glad we did, it was so fun. I had never ridden an ATV before so it was a fist for me. Also, we didn’t exactly ride around the Chocolate Hills but they were there in the background.

We got our helmets on and we were ready to go. 

During our ride we took a break to take a few fun pictures. The only thing that would have improved this adventure would be if we had driven faster. We had a guide out in front of us and he kept us as a crawl. He probably thought we were too old to go fast.  Haha! 

Before we left the ATV place, Jill wanted to try some coconut water. 

Neither of us cared for it much.

We really appreciated our tour guide bringing us back to ride the ATVs. It was way out of the way of what she had planned for our second day on Bohol. After our ATV adventure we visited a local place called the Bee Farm. Apparently there are no bees at the bee farm because several years ago a typhoon destroyed their hives and the bees never returned. It is still an interesting place with lots of other things to do.  There is an organic garden, a wellness retreat, a boutique resort and a culinary experience. Our tour guide reserved the culinary experience for us and it was so fun, interesting and delicious. 

Almost all of the food had edible flowers included. We weren’t that excited about eating flowers but they sure looked beautiful. 

We later headed back to the river where we were going to watch the fireflies. While we waited we had the option of paddle boarding or kayaking which none of us except the Stirlands really wanted to do. By this time we were all tired and it was actually a little cold and we didn’t want to get wet since we would be even colder when the sun went down. The firefly cruise was ok, we had been on one before and we had all seen firefly’s before and oddly enough, we didn’t get any pictures. 

The next day we had some free time and spent it exploring the resort and enjoying some time to relax. We walked on the beach and took a few pictures. 

Jill fed the coy fish and boy were they excited to get fed. The hotel keeps little bags of fish food near the pond and you can just put a few pesos in the box and grab a bag. 

We headed back to the pier and once again boarded the Ocean Jet headed back to Cebu. It seemed like the past three weeks just flew by and now it was time for Jill to head home. It was so fun to see her, spend time with her and show her a little of what it is like for us here in the Philippines. We still have one more adventure that I will share in the next blog. 

Sending all our love to you our family and friends,

Sister Mom/Beth