Bohol Island Hopping

IJsselstein, Monday, 17 October 2011 17:21:40

Pamilacan island beach

Besides a traditional inland tour with a bus or van, you can also enjoy the beauty of the smaller outlying islands and islets of Bohol, by pump-boat. If you are planning to join in on a whale and dolphin watching tour, you can combine this with island-hopping. In order to see dolphins and whales (only if you are lucky and come in the right season!), you'll have to leave early in the morning, sometimes as early as five o'clock, so that you can see a lot of them during their feeding time. The last time we did it, we saw a hundreds of dolphins, playing, jumping, spinning, and swimming next to and under our boat. It was really fascinating to see them in the wild, and observe their intelligent style of catching fish by surrounding a school of fish with a group of dolphin's, then tightening up the circle until the fish had nowhere else to go and would literally jump into the open mouths of the dolphins.

Dolphins

After you have completed your whale and dolphin watching tour, you can visit some of the island surrounding Panglao such as Pamilacan, Balicasag and Virgin island. There are more islands to visit in Bohol but most of them are not yet as well known as tourist destination. To the west of the main island of Bohol, you can visit Cabilao island, which houses three resorts, and to the north of Bohol is a large number of islands, mostly unexplored by tourists.

Pamilacan island

Pamilacan island: Some of the dolphin and whale watching operators bring their guests to this island so that they can further enjoy their tour. It is nice place to go strolling, swimming and snorkeling. On this island you can find a small chapel and a dilapidated Spanish-era watchtower. Depending on your package deal, you can enjoy your lunch here. Furthermore, you can buy locally produced souvenirs from the locals. If you want to stay in Pamilacan to enjoy the peace and the white beach, there is a resort on this island.

Balicasag Lighthouse

Balicasag island: Balicasag island is one of the well-known dive spots in Bohol. You can enjoy snorkeling and scuba diving around this islands with its marvelous coral reefs, and spectacular drop-off (underwater wall) up to a depth of 60 meters. The island is surrounded by a white-coral beach, which consists of a lot of big-coral fragments washed ashore. In the middle of the island are two light-houses, one is an old square tower, the other a modern, solar power operated mast. On the South-west of the island, you can stay at the government owned resort.

Virgin island

Virgin island or Puntod island: Virgin island is an uninhabited islet where you can enjoy a long string of white beach. During low tide, you can enjoy kilometers of white beach but during high tide, much of the beach disappears under the sea.

Virgin island

On the island you can find some (wild) cats, they say that originally a fisherman brought some cats to the island, left them behind and feed them when they come back. On this island you can find some trees like mangroves and Pandan trees (Pandanus fascicularis).

Cabilao island beach

Cabilao Island View

Cabilao island: Cabilao island is located at to the north-west of Tagbilaran. This island is one the diving destination on Bohol. You can enjoy snorkeling and scuba diving around this islands with its marvelous coral reefs. There are three resorts on the island.

Rodelyn Gallo Hellingman