I just love this place. I thought it was slightly better than El-Nido; maybe a little quieter. The beach was awesome and there are lots of trips that you can book around the offshore Islands and further in-land into the island interior of Bohol itself to keep you occupied. Plenty of places to eat, in fact you are spoilt for choice here in this respect. Absolute paradise. Next time I will try Boracay but this I will save for a further visit next year. Back to Alona Beach for me for mid-December 2014 and I cannot wait.
Some good snaps. I hate to see people selling beautiful shells though. As a diver we are encouraged to take or move nothing and only leave bubbles. Sadly, so many countries sell so much from under the sea surface.
Nice Keith! I'm glad coz you and your hubby exploring our beaches.....yeah, visit boracay. It's almost the same of the beaches you visited, try the bat cave and other caves with in the area. You will be amaze by Gods creation! Till your next island hopping!
Thank for the comments everybody and yes I can highly recommend Panglao Island. Yes this is true Aposhark about the shells. There were lots of baskets of them along the sand-barr being sold to tourists. I only hope they were not collected as live specimens though. Some of those cone shells are poisonous as well. Thank you 'Roaming-on' for your tips. We are planning the floating restaurant on the Loboc River for December 13 because that is Marife's birthday and a trip to the Rajah Sikatuna National Park. We visited the Chocolate Hills and Tarsier Sanctuary last time. We have another trip planned to see Marife's 93 year old grandmother. She lives out in the wilderness near Sevilla so plenty of walking past rice paddies and Coconut plantations to get there but safe in the knowledge that there is plenty of fresh buko waiting for us when we arrive. Bohol really is a beautiful island. I also want to try the whale shark trip from Alona Beach - I fancied this last time but we ran out of time. So much to do but not enough time to do it.
I've stayed on Panglao in a mod-conned nipa. Stayed there for 3 days. Rented a motorbike off one of the locals. We explored Bohol between rain shower after rain shower. Thanks for the many waiting sheds along the way Great experience and great place. Loboc river floating resto is nice. The bamboo dance given at end the of the journey was fun too
Thanks HaloHalo - how did you rate the food on the floating restaurant? From the reviews on Trip Advisor and other such similar sites the food was not given the thumbs-up.
It was basic but for me acceptable buffet style food. I guess you have to look at the experience as a whole. Food, travelling down the river, band playing in the background. I enjoyed it. Like you we travelled on from Loboc to Carmen and took the view in from chocolate hills. Also stopped by and seen the tarsiers. We had a nice meal on Alona one evening. I liked Panglao/Bohol but there are other places I enjoyed more purely for their simplicity.
I went diving in Alona and Balicasag many years ago. It was quite pleasant although I could see the prices were getting higher and higher. I preferred off the beaten track diving like a place I found in Leyte back then where it was just me and a German instructor. That was really nice.
Thanks HaloHalo I am sure it will be a great experience and the river looks awesome as it winds it's way through the jungle. When I go back again next year, probably May time we will be going to Boracay and a week in Bali is on the cards. I am not a diver just a snorkeler but a friend of mine dives regularly in the Red Sea and I would at some point like to learn. I have never mastered how to dive under when swimming on the surface and I just look ridiculous with my legs kicking about in the air after swallowing gallons of water through my snorkel... not a pretty site to behold so learning to dive would be interesting.
Diving is easier than snorkelling, Keith. You can get down to see things much easier as you have weights on your belt around your waist, after you pass your course.
