First of all, skip the dolphin watching. You are unduly stressing the dolphin pods since the boats’ propellers disturb them. The first time I encountered dolphins in the wild way back in 2003, we were the only boat then at 5:30 am. This time, there were more than 20 boats chasing these poor dolphins. I should have told my boatmen not to go. I just wasted time. I told them to head straight to Balicasag. I was not interested in stressing the dolphins anymore.
When I went snorkeling in Balicasag 16 years ago, I was still wearing a life vest to keep me afloat even though I was a competent swimmer. At that time we didn’t anchor on the island and just stayed near the shore for snorkeling. There I had the life-changing experience: I saw schools of fish, of different kinds and sizes and felt like I was in a gigantic aquarium or was in National Geographic. It was sooooo beautiful. My stories of Balicasag entranced my mother, who immediately booked her trip to Panglao and dragged some friends with her. Twice.
Anyway, I was back after more than a decade, now braver in the water. This time we were able to anchor on Balicasag’s rocky shores but had to pay PHP 250/per head/per attraction and have a man row a small boat to spots like “Coral Garden” or “Sea Turtle Dive”. I opted for those two spots (That’s already PHP 500 but that’s ok since it keeps them employed and keep them from engaging in dynamite fishing). Since I am more mobile this visit and more inclined to dive deeper and farther, even away from the sea wall, my boatman grew exasperated with me because he was trying to keep up with me.
I still suck at equalizing so I could not really dive deeper along the sea wall and I was a bit afraid of the vertical currents–the bane of SCUBA divers. Still, I was able to dive deep to reach (but not touch) the corals.
In the sea turtle spot, I was able to get close to some turtles and swim above them, behind them, ahead of them. It was so beautiful but this experience was ruined by my grumpy boatman who wanted to head back to Balicasag shore earlier than scheduled. Annoying, really.
The next stop was Virgin Island, which was really a sandbar. It was already high tide so there was nothing left of the sandbar and basically the fish mongers/ambulant vendors were all underwater.
The vendors cater mostly to foreigners since they sell sea urchins, for only PHP 20 each. I don’t think Filipinos would waste their precious time in the water just to eat raw sea urchins. Unless they have a taste for uni sashimi.
This guy told me they just harvest the sea urchins in the nearby seagrass spot a few hundred meters away from where we were. Judging by the amount of sea urchins consumed that moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if the creatures would be decimated from the area.
Just like any local, I was more interested in the sandbar than filling my tummy with raw sea creatures.
So after cooking under the sun for hours, I just decided to relax a bit and explore Panglao island more via a rented motorbike and I had a driver.
Lovely, lovely day.