New Year's Eve in Bohol



Xavier, Fredrick and Joan

Vickie has made some friends in Bohol, Fredrick and Joan, who run a stand up paddle (SUP) board business. Fredrick is from Belgium and has been living in the Philippines for about 12 years. They made arrangements for a snorkel, ‘island hopping’ (really just a stop at a sand bar) excursion to Balicasog Island’s Marine Protected Sanctuary. A couple of Fredrick’s friends from Belgium, Nicolas and Xavier, were visiting so we made a group of 11 for the trip.

Balicasog

Yara, Nicolas, Fredrick and Xavier

there's lots of tourists on this day

It was about an hour boat ride to Balicasog which is very much like the offshore islands of Apid and Mahaba, we have here in Inopacan. Even though the island is a sanctuary many people live there who lived there before it was designated as a Marine Protected Area (MPA). They’ve done a good job of promoting it as an ecotourism destination which has given them an alternative means of livelihood other than fishing. I couldn’t believe how many other boats were there or the number of people partaking of the amazing underwater sights. It was actually a bit too crowded. I was getting kicked and bumping into people constantly.


Amelia Kent, Chai Mendoza and Victoria Carberry

We can do this at our islands for sure.

 

 At first the swim out to where the shelf drops off was shallow, bare substrate, broken rubble with not much to see but all of a sudden the shelf drops offs to about 60-80 ft. It was like swimming into a clear blue sky full of hundreds of fish of an amazing variety of species and beautiful diverse corals and you can see the cliff of corals going down for what seems like forever. Surprising was when scuba divers would come into view rising up from the depths below. I’ll be doing that soon.

We not only hired the big boat and captain but once we got there were informed we’d need to hire another guy to accompany us in his little fishing boat. This was actually a good idea. We could put cameras and other gear on the boat and it was reassuring to have him close by in case we needed to rest or in case we had an ‘incident’ like getting kicked in the head.

He had a little gig on the side. When we were done snorkeling he led us back a round about way so we’d pass by his home where family members had stuff for sale. This was mostly jewelry and much of it was made of fresh water pearls. Back at the main congregating spot they have stands selling more local handicrafts, food and drink. You can order fresh seafood cooked how you want it. We ordered a feast of grilled tuna, oysters, other fish and seaweed, fruit smoothies and cold beer.

I totally see this happening on Apid and Mahaba back in Inopacan

 On the way back to Alona Beach we went via a stop at a sand bar. We got out and walked around being pestered by some aggresive guys trying to sell fresh water pearl jewlry. The Belgians were compelled to walk out to a lone mangrove tree way out in the surf. Wouldn’t you know a storm suddenly rolled in. We needed to get the heck on our way and Fredrick, Joan, Nicolas and Xavier were half a kilometer out taking pictures of themselves with the lone mangrove tree, not concerned by the storm. The trip back to Alona was a bit wet and choppy but our captain and his two sons kept everthing under control.

 

 

Coconut water anyone?

PCVs Yara Sullivan and Amelia Kent

It’s New Year’s Eve and we have a long night ahead of us. For dinner we all went to the Bohol Bee Farm, an amazing organic farm, place to stay and restaurant. Because there were 10+ in our group we qualified for a full smorgasbord meal that was amazing. I especially enjoyed the salad of organic lettuces, edible flowers and honey mustard dressing.


This was an amazing meal with desset even, organic coconut ice cream

The place sits on a cliff overlooking the sea. The walk down from the upper parking lot goes through terrace after terrace seating areas built of bamboo and salvaged trees and limbs, covered with open timbered roofs thatched with nipa and draped with hand woven yardage. The hand made native shades on hanging lights created a wonderful ambiance.

 This place has ambiance galore

After dinner we went back to the beach where there were numerous outdoor venues with live music for dancing. At the far end of the beach the fancy resort (can’t remember the name) had a full blown dancing entertainment going on with fire dancers. So cool and then at midnight the fireworks were spectacular over the water. Then the fun dancing began and didn’t end for me till 3:00AM.



                                                              HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!