After getting myself prepped for holiday at Sophie Gass’ Boutique. I settled into a 15-hour flight to Manila and watched movies back to back gobbling on Percy Pigs the tastiest gummy sweets.
I touched down in Manila; hopped onto my next flight to Cebu to meet Stef and Trish. We exchanged stories of our journeys but realised catching up with a 16kg backpack still on wasn’t very comfortable and headed in search of somewhere to rest for the night. The next morning we travelled to an island called Bohol.
Once we arrived in Alona Beach the first priority was to strip off and get ourselves into that beautiful water.
As the sun disappeared we found a cosy spot on the beach to take advantage of ‘buy one get one free cocktails’ and munched away on various curries.
The night’s entertainment was a random mixture of locals screaming love ballads on karaoke, children humming away on ukuleles and my favourite part – the fire dancers. I found it fascinating how they cope with the heat booming onto them and manage to create such beautiful shapes as they delicately move.
The evening continued with another round of children playing on ukuleles.
Followed by more pina coladas and tequila shots before heading back to our garden hut. We were greeted with a massive toad on the way home that nearly gave Trish and myself a heart attack.
We happily spent the next day chillaxing on the beach, sipping fruit shakes and having massages on the beach.
At the crack of dawn we hopped into a boat, watched the sunrise over the sea and began our boat trip in search of whale sharks.
A long boat ride later, we loaded up our snorkel gear and jumped into the sea to swim with the 4-5 metre long whale sharks. The docile mammals were fascinating to watch and swam happily amongst us. There were at least five or six whale sharks swimming closely by.
At one point I had a whale shark on my left-hand side and right-hand side. I looked below to find one swimming directly underneath, to my surprise I frantically swam out of the way before I ended up laying on top of the big guy.
It was such an incredible experience watching the slow moving mammals; open their huge mouths to eat and being in arms reach. We admired their skin marked with pale yellow spots and stripes before jumping back into our boat. I managed to take a few snaps and then we travelled back to our island.
The next mini adventure was squeezing four of us in a teeny tricycle; with Trish sitting on the back of the driver’s moped we travelled happily with the wind in our hair.
Our squished journey took us to the local church for Easter Sunday celebrations.
The church was stunning inside with a high ceiling intricately detailed and beautifully patterned floor. The exterior of the church was undergoing renovation work after being damaged by a recent typhoon.
We headed back to the beach and embarked on a jumping competition. As you do!
Onto jumping crazily in pairs.
After exhausting ourselves with our giddy behaviour we decided a massage under the sunset was essential.
I rested on my back and gazed at the dark sky filled with twinkling stars and consolations.
We had such a great few days in Bohol and excitedly headed off to our next island. Almost missed our boat as our tricycle broke down; we managed to hitch hike on the back of a truck and made it just in the nick of time.
Next stop Apo Island.
