Bohol, Philippines Island Hopping

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

Pamilacan island beach
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
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

Pamilacan Island Dolphin and Whale Watching Tours
Contact Person: Joselino "Jojo" S. Baritua
Address: Public Market, Poblacion, 6301 Baclayon, Bohol, Philippines
Phone: +63 38 540 9627; +63 38 544 0228
Phone: +63 919 730 6108; +63 917 864 97
Email: pamilacantours@gmail.com ; pamilacan@yahoo.com
Website: http://whales.bohol.ph/

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 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. You can easily spot sea turtles while swimming on this islet. 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

Isola di Francesco, formerly known as Virgin island or Puntod island: Virgin island was an uninhabited islet where you can enjoy a long string of white beach. During low tide, you can enjoy kilometers of white beach (sandbar) but during high tide, much of the beach disappears under the sea.
Virgin island
Virgin island
Nowadays this islet is developed into a spiritual sanctuary. Here you can also find trees like mangroves and Pandan trees (Pandanus fascicularis).

Cabilao island beach
Cabilao island beach
Cabilao Island View
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.

Tubigon island Hopping: There are some islets you can visit around Tubigon like Dumog and Mundong sandbar. You can enjoy swimming around the sandbars and see ships from Cebu to Tubigon or vice versa passing through close to the sandbar. You can also visit the mangrove plantation and see the sea birds of one of the islets. After the 2013 earthquake in Bohol, some of the islets have sunk for about a meter, as result the whole islet is now under the sea water during high tide. It means that your house is also under water. You are lucky if you have a multi-story building house, unfortunately most locals have only nipa houses.

Sea Drake Island Cruises
Contact Person: Michael De Vincent Edwards
Address: Guiwanon Port, 6329 Tubigon, Bohol, Philippines
Phone: +63 917 741 8262
Email: seadrakeislandcruises@gmail.com
Website: https://www.seadrake.net
Sea Drake Island Cruises

Where to stay:

Pamilacan island: https://www.bohol.ph/article75.html#pamilacan

Balicasag island: https://www.bohol.ph/article75.html#balicasag

Pamilacan island: https://www.bohol.ph/article75.html#cabilao

Rodelyn Gallo Hellingman