Panglao and Balacasag Islands

A twenty-two hour flight took us from San Francisco through Taipei , Taiwan, and to Manila of the Philippine Islands. The purpose for the trip was a wedding, but beyond that, to step out as far east as Asia, the farthest I had ever been across the globe. Manila was not our destination, however; it was a layover, and a sardine sandwich at the airport was not a very good culinary start. We boarded another small plane that took us to Tagbilaran City, Bohol. Bohol is the island we would explore for one day as tourists, and live on for the next four days as family.

Panglao. On July 4, we landed in the very small Tagbilaran airport and were greeted by my brother, his beautiful bride-to-be, her children, and cousins. A taxi-van took us all to the small island of Panglao, attached to Bohol by only a bridge. Bohol is in the Central Visayas, just east of the larger island of Cebu. If you think of Bohol as shaped like a turtle, Panglao Island is its tail, extending out a bit to the southwest between the Cebu Strait and Bohol Sea. We all settled into the Lost Horizon Resort Annex and walked down to Alona Beach for seafood dinner, and dined at plastic tables in the sand, watching the tourists and partiers walk the boardwalk-style beach lined with restaurants and bars, live music, and fire dancers. Better than fireworks in America.

First thing in the morning, we were greeted by a boatman for an excursion out on the sea to see dolphins. We boarded a pontoon-style fishing boat and sailed south into the Bohol Sea. The dolphins came and started breaching and showing off, except for the minor problem of about 20 similar tourist boats turning their courses full-speed ahead toward the pod. At which point the dolphins had enough of the gaping apes and their big floating contraptions and disappeared. So our boatmen/fishermen called it good and made a westerly swing toward Balacasag Island.

Balacasag. As Balacasag Island came into sight, at first I saw the lighthouse jetting up from the green center. Approaching closer, we headed toward the shallow reefs surrounding the island’s beaches, and joined a number of other fishing/tourism boats docked in front of a beach lined with huts. We were welcomed warmly by the fisherman’s family and their large line of handmade jewelry and trinkets they were overly eager to sell. And while the boatman took us to the island’s dive sanctuary for a bit of snorkeling for Chris and viewing fish from the boat through crystal-clear water for me, the villagers were busy cooking us up an 11 AM lunch of fresh-caught fish and blue crab. All for an extra fee of course, but a small splurge for us is like a week’s pay for them. Balacasag Island is one of the tiniest islands in the Philippines, just about 5 miles southwest of Panglao. It’s hard to make a living, and the wife never in her life left Balacasag. Never went as far as Panglao. We, however, were on our way to our next adventure. That is after the boatmen fixed some busted spark plugs to revive the dead engine while floating on the sea.

That makes 4 out of the 7,107 Philippine Islands I have been to; only 7,103 to go.