Bohol Getaway (Panglao Sea Tour)
We woke at 5am for us to prepare for our Sea Tour. Our "guide" fetch us at 6am and we headed to the beach front where our boat awaits. Our hotel has a free breakfast, but since we cannot consume it there, we asked them to pack them for us and they did. I didn't ate right away, for insane reasons that I will look bloated and fat wearing a swimsuit. This are the things you do just to achieve that Instagram worthy picture!
It took a while for our boat to arrive, we then paid the man who fetch us and he paid the boatman too. It costs us 2000 for the half day boat rental, excluding the entrance fees of the islands we are going. The weather is kind of gloomy but thank the Heavens, the rain didn't gave away during our trip.
Our first stop was supposed to be the Dolphin Watching but since the sun is a little shy we moved to our next stop which is the Balicasag Island. It's a snorkeling site so a lot of activities underwater are available. We paid 300 pesos for the Guide fee for the Turtle Watching. We rode a very small boat so as to avoid destroying the corals. At first our guide was very keen on explaining us that we need to be careful when swimming underwater because we might not see the turtles if we are too loud swimming through them. I am amazed by the corals underwater it's so nice. After a while and so much swimming we saw a couple of them, they are fast swimmers I must say because our guide is having a hard time swimming very fast just for us to catch up with them. We captured videos because the remote for the goPro is not working underwater or I don't know if we are just to deep? But I doubt, my lungs cannot take it lol. Anyways it was really tiring chasing them but I enjoyed it.
Then we proceed to the snorkeling with the fishes! Our guise asked us to bring bread so as those fishes will swarm us lol. There wasn't that much corals but there are a ton of fish. Big and small! The good thing was no one bit me like what I experienced in Palawan lol! We also took videos of us swarming by toe fishes it was so much fun.
We then headed to Virgin Island, which was basically an island where there are a very shallow stretch of sand I bet if it's low tide it will show up. It was still gloomy though. And there are vendors in a small boat selling food like coconut juice, sea urchins and other sea foods. I am really afraid of sea urchins, so it's a big no for me to eat them.
We decided to head back, hoping that the Dolphins will show but they didn't because it's still gloomy. And we finished our tour 3 hours earlier than scheduled. I felt like the tour and what we paid for is not worth 2000+ pesos. I am really disappointed and I felt like we've been robbed or something.
We decided to roam around in the shore of Panglao, what really struck me most is the Hennan resort because of the astounding design of it. Too bad you cannot take your picture there unless you are a guest in their resort plus there are guards in the area so it's not a photo friendly place. We just took photos in front of it and asked my boyfriend to take my pictures - well a lot of it. Then after a while we headed back to our hotel to organized our things for check out and of course head back to Cebu.
We decided to asked Kuya Reggie, our driver in the Country Side Tour to take us to the Port, since it's almost the same price as getting a tricycle to the port as renting a car. It's supposedly 500 pesos but we asked if it's possible to lower it to 400 pesos, he agreed and he picked us up just in time for our check out. Again I slept during the trip because of getting up so early. When we reached the port, we ended up paying Kuya Reggie 500 pesos then. You know for the "tip" and for being nice to us since our trip in Bohol. I would highly recommend him to those who wanted to travel around Bohol.
Again we bought tickets going back to Cebu, this time it's another shipping line because Supper Cat doesn't have a trip that will leave immediately. Again another 500 pesos each plus the terminal fee of 25 pesos each. When we reached the terminal it was full of passengers heading to Cebu. We waited at least 30 minutes before boarding. It was another 3 hour boat ride so again we slept but there was no one to bother me sleeping just to give me water.
When we reached Cebu Pier 1, the rain was pouring like crazy. We had only one umbrella and we needed to be in our Hotel which is I believe 30 minutes away from the Pier. It was so hard getting a cab so I decided to booked using Grabcar. After several minutes he arrived and we are on our way, it's still raining but not that pouring, but it was traffic! Like Metro Manila traffic! The shortcuts are flooded and the main road was of course full of vehicles. It took us 2 hours to reached our hotel, which is supposedly a 30 minute drive only. I was so exhausted.
We checked in and headed to our room. It was nice but a little bit dark or just the lighting was not enough. The bathroom was huge and nice, and the bed was really comfortable. My boyfriend is not feeling very well that night so when we headed out to eat dinner, he said he's gonna sleep. I met up with my friends and headed to Larsians, because it was recommended to us by our colleague. It was a long walk from our hotel good thing it wasn't raining anymore. Near Larsians, there was a store selling siomai sa Tisa, another recommendation from our colleagues who happened to be from Cebu. We didn't buy right away, because there might be one inside Larsians. When we reached the place, it was bustling with vendors, we have a hard time picking and ended up in the stall near the entrance. We ordered sea foods of course, I ordered barbecue that is so tiny for it. There was no siomai there so me and my other friend Che headed outside to buy siomai. It costs 7 pesos each, not bad for a highly recommended dim sum. We headed back still our orders has not arrived. We waited very patiently for it. We were asked how many "puso" (rice that is cooked inside banana leaves) we needed, we though it was a very big one so I said 2 only. We are given 20 pieces of small "puso" rice. And our orders arrived, we are starving! I ended up eating 3 pieces of the rice, and the barbecue and siomai are so good! And we only paid like less than 200 each.
I'll continue this on my next blog, our trip to Oslob and finally seeing Magellan's Cross in person.
EXPENSES DAY 2:
2000 - Boat Rental
300 - Guide fee @ Balicasag Island
200 - Environmental Fee
300 - Guide Fee for Turtle Watching
500 - Car rental going to the Port
1000 - Ferry ride for two
50 - Terminal Fee
300 - Taxi fair going to the hotel
200 - Dinner
_____________________
4850 / 2 = 2425 each
***Excluding hotel and air fare
Then we proceed to the snorkeling with the fishes! Our guise asked us to bring bread so as those fishes will swarm us lol. There wasn't that much corals but there are a ton of fish. Big and small! The good thing was no one bit me like what I experienced in Palawan lol! We also took videos of us swarming by toe fishes it was so much fun.
We then headed to Virgin Island, which was basically an island where there are a very shallow stretch of sand I bet if it's low tide it will show up. It was still gloomy though. And there are vendors in a small boat selling food like coconut juice, sea urchins and other sea foods. I am really afraid of sea urchins, so it's a big no for me to eat them.
We decided to head back, hoping that the Dolphins will show but they didn't because it's still gloomy. And we finished our tour 3 hours earlier than scheduled. I felt like the tour and what we paid for is not worth 2000+ pesos. I am really disappointed and I felt like we've been robbed or something.
We decided to roam around in the shore of Panglao, what really struck me most is the Hennan resort because of the astounding design of it. Too bad you cannot take your picture there unless you are a guest in their resort plus there are guards in the area so it's not a photo friendly place. We just took photos in front of it and asked my boyfriend to take my pictures - well a lot of it. Then after a while we headed back to our hotel to organized our things for check out and of course head back to Cebu.
We decided to asked Kuya Reggie, our driver in the Country Side Tour to take us to the Port, since it's almost the same price as getting a tricycle to the port as renting a car. It's supposedly 500 pesos but we asked if it's possible to lower it to 400 pesos, he agreed and he picked us up just in time for our check out. Again I slept during the trip because of getting up so early. When we reached the port, we ended up paying Kuya Reggie 500 pesos then. You know for the "tip" and for being nice to us since our trip in Bohol. I would highly recommend him to those who wanted to travel around Bohol.
Again we bought tickets going back to Cebu, this time it's another shipping line because Supper Cat doesn't have a trip that will leave immediately. Again another 500 pesos each plus the terminal fee of 25 pesos each. When we reached the terminal it was full of passengers heading to Cebu. We waited at least 30 minutes before boarding. It was another 3 hour boat ride so again we slept but there was no one to bother me sleeping just to give me water.
When we reached Cebu Pier 1, the rain was pouring like crazy. We had only one umbrella and we needed to be in our Hotel which is I believe 30 minutes away from the Pier. It was so hard getting a cab so I decided to booked using Grabcar. After several minutes he arrived and we are on our way, it's still raining but not that pouring, but it was traffic! Like Metro Manila traffic! The shortcuts are flooded and the main road was of course full of vehicles. It took us 2 hours to reached our hotel, which is supposedly a 30 minute drive only. I was so exhausted.
We checked in and headed to our room. It was nice but a little bit dark or just the lighting was not enough. The bathroom was huge and nice, and the bed was really comfortable. My boyfriend is not feeling very well that night so when we headed out to eat dinner, he said he's gonna sleep. I met up with my friends and headed to Larsians, because it was recommended to us by our colleague. It was a long walk from our hotel good thing it wasn't raining anymore. Near Larsians, there was a store selling siomai sa Tisa, another recommendation from our colleagues who happened to be from Cebu. We didn't buy right away, because there might be one inside Larsians. When we reached the place, it was bustling with vendors, we have a hard time picking and ended up in the stall near the entrance. We ordered sea foods of course, I ordered barbecue that is so tiny for it. There was no siomai there so me and my other friend Che headed outside to buy siomai. It costs 7 pesos each, not bad for a highly recommended dim sum. We headed back still our orders has not arrived. We waited very patiently for it. We were asked how many "puso" (rice that is cooked inside banana leaves) we needed, we though it was a very big one so I said 2 only. We are given 20 pieces of small "puso" rice. And our orders arrived, we are starving! I ended up eating 3 pieces of the rice, and the barbecue and siomai are so good! And we only paid like less than 200 each.
I'll continue this on my next blog, our trip to Oslob and finally seeing Magellan's Cross in person.
EXPENSES DAY 2:
2000 - Boat Rental
300 - Guide fee @ Balicasag Island
200 - Environmental Fee
300 - Guide Fee for Turtle Watching
500 - Car rental going to the Port
1000 - Ferry ride for two
50 - Terminal Fee
300 - Taxi fair going to the hotel
200 - Dinner
_____________________
4850 / 2 = 2425 each
***Excluding hotel and air fare
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