Credit:oureverydaythings.com
We had to wake up really early to catch the dolphins on our last day in Bohol. The beach at the back of our resort offers beautiful sunrises for early birds.
Jaslin and I sat right at the front of the boat and it was really fun riding the waves! Leonny was really worried that we might fall into the ocean, especially since we weren't wearing life jackets.
Credit: gui-tou.com
And one more benefit of sitting at the front, we were RIGHT beside the dolphins! If my arm was any longer, I could have touched them. When they told us we were going dolphin watching, I assumed that we'll be seeing one or two dolphins jumping in and out of the water from a distance. But nooo, there were at least eight in a school and I'm amazed that we managed to spot them so quickly without much wait. Hazel told us she had to wait two hours the other time.
We circled around the area clapping to catch their attention. Then Josh passed me his GoPro and I stuck it into the water. The current was super strong though and I had to hold it against my leg to keep it underwater but ALL WAS WORTH IT. We captured footage of the dolphins swimming in the ocean!!!! You can see it in the video at the end of this post. If you've been dreaming of seeing wild dolphins in action, you know where to go!
Then we came to a beautiful island called
Balicasag Island where the seaweed is greener, the water is clearer and the sky is bluer. It's so picturesque here! We were supposed to go snorkeling but there were some divers with us who wanted to go diving. Since I have yet to get my diving certification, I was given the option to go for an experiential dive. And of course I went for it!
First time putting on the wet suit, wearing the weights belt, breathing in compressed oxygen. The instructor told me I only had to be aware of three things (hand signals, how to clear my goggles and how to get rid of the pain in my ears due to water pressure) and my dive master will do the rest. I waved goodbye to the others who went to a further place to dive while my dive was just near the shore.
Even though I was so near the shore, thousands of marine creatures greeted me once I submerged. Compared to the snorkeling I did two days ago, I was so much closer to the marine life! It was like having a front seat during a National Geographic movie screening, in Super High Definition. I was guided by my dive master who controlled my buoyancy, direction, descent and ascent. So I basically sat back and enjoyed the spectacular view being displayed in front of me.
I saw the trigger fish which I heard many frightening stories about (it bit off someone's earlobe, etc) but I was quite excited to see it in real life. Hope I don't meet it again though hahaha. I also saw coral nurseries, some giant clams, turtles and loads of fishes that I can't name.
Credit: gui-tou.com
These photos are taken by Kenny who went down to about 20m. The visibility is fantastic as you can see. Kenny said that the dive master told them that this isn't the best. I can't imagine what can be even clearer than this.. Now I can't wait to get my open water certification and explore the wonders under the sea!
We reluctantly said goodbye to this beautiful island and went back to our resort to clean up before heading out for lunch at
Egay's Farm Restaurant. I remember the fried eggplant with egg being super good, it was gone within seconds. :d Others enjoyed the fried fish and the chicken soup. We had a tour around the farm where they grow their own vegetables and rear their own animals. Then we met the most adorable baby bunny!! At first it kept struggling then Smith said "It can tell you guys just ate rabbit meat!" So I coaxed it by telling it I'm vegetarian haha. Look at its hobbit like feet! Fur beneath its paws AWWW.
Next up was something that quite a few of us were looking forward to, doing some community work at an earthquake hit area. They first showed us around an organic farm where all the animals are vegetarian. The others asked if I would eat such animals and I've got no answer to that... They also grow herbs and we tried peppermint! Tasted like Colgate haha.
Sadly, we only spent half an hour trying to help out. In fact, I'm not sure if we did more help than harm.. the locals looked on with a bemused expression as we tried to cement the walls. Even the town mayor joked with us that the families must be crossing their fingers, praying that they won't get this house that we worked on haha. One house takes them a mere 15 days to construct and they're all villages who help one another out. We took a photo in front of one conpleted house, it has one room separated by curtains. Base is cement and halfway up is wood. We were all pretty regretful that we didn't do anything more useful but the mayor assured us that by spreading word about this community project and also boosting Bohol, we're already helping them. :)
Dinner was at Bohol Bee Farm where we had awesome Ube ice cream!!! Highly recommended. The other flavours are great too, I was spoilt for choice. They have various jams on sale and we got to sample honey, mango and a herby one during dinner. They were really rich and I liked the honey one a lot. I love the bread too! I'm a big fan of delicious
carbs bread. Everything was delicious and I was stuffed to the brim...
Credit: gui-tou.com
Some of us were much too excited to sleep on our last night so we went to star gaze at the beach behind our resort. It was nothing short of amazing..
It has been a memorable trip to The Philippines and I can't ask for better company. Thanks guys for being awesome!!
And now... here's your chance to win SGD2000 to The Philippines to create your own dream adventure! Click HERE to vote for your favourite blogger out of the nine of us and fill in your details, the more you vote, the more you stand to win! :D I'll be really grateful if your vote goes to me of course hehe. :p
Meanwhile, enjoy our Bohol video!
This trip was made possible by the lovely people from Philippines Tourism Promotions Board, SilkAir, omy.sg and Singapore Blog Awards 2014.