This. This view is one of the reasons for loving this country when everything else seems to fail. The two-hour travel time from Quezon City to Ortigas for ~7 km. One stupid thing from the government to another stupid thing…Endless reasons why I am so stressed out.

Anyway, as a birthday gift to myself, I used my Cebu Pacific GetGo miles to have a free roundtrip ticket to Bohol and booked using my Agoda VIP points. What I did was I tried to locate where Bohol Beach Club is on Google Maps and checked which resort is beside it. That way I am assured that the beach front is good. Bingo! It was Dumaluan Beach – Marilou Resort. My hunch did not fail me; I chose the perfect spot for my decompression in late October.

I took the earliest flight out of Manila and arrived in Panglao International airport at around 7:30-ish. There was no public transport available at the new airport (the last time I was in Bohol in 2003, there were tricycles outside Tagbilaran Airport). I had no choice but to book one of the white vans for PHP 400 for a 15-minute ride to Dumaluan Beach.

Warning: There are two Dumaluan Beach resorts there. The two resorts are owned by siblings but Marilou Resort is the newer one. Dumaluan Beach I is a semi-public beach which can be accessed by day trippers.

It was still early and the check-in time is around 3 pm (really??? It sucks, I know) so I asked the front desk if I can leave my stuff there so I can maximize my time in the crystal clear waters surrounding Panglao.

I remembered that waters around Panglao are shallow so I had to swim all the way past the fishing boats for the perfect depth for free diving. Its tiring; so next time I better bring a torpedo floater with diving flag (there are a lot of diving and fishing boats around that can kill you if you suddenly surface with a propeller just above you) and a diving donut to hold my stuff (like baby shampoo to defog my mask). Kayak is useless because I just tipped it over and getting into that silly thing was harder than I thought. I rented a kayak in the nearby water sports rental shop within Bohol Beach Club. It was a complete waste of money since I just tethered the thing to one of the buoys, which was still halfway to where I was supposed to dive.

The island’s underwater ridge slowly descends but the thought of encountering sharks or strong currents was enough to scare me into sticking along or just near the edge before the sea floor slopes deeper into blue nothingness. I also made sure the fishing boats were within hearing distance in case something happens to me. NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT DIVE ALONE.

There was a man spear fishing among the sea grasses. He was using homemade wooden flippers, not different from what the Badjaos use, to dive deep down. He had a kayak with him for his gear and to take him back to shore. He set up his net to close in on the fish he needed to make bulad (dried fish). I watched him for some time, fascinated with how he speared the fish and then hooked them in his line. I proceeded to swim further as not to disturb him.

I chatted with some of the guys in the white boat just anchored nearby. They said theirs is a diving boat and they just wait for summons from resorts around Panglao if guests wanted to go on a diving trip.

I realized that swimming from the shore to the diving spot is uber tiring so I really needed a boat or a kayak. This affected my ability to dive since my oxygen intake is already compromised. Note to self: hire a small boat to spare me all that swimming and to use a spot to rest in between dives. There’s a reason SCUBA divers rent a boat even though its just shallow diving. This is not Anilao where you can have enough depth for diving.

I came ashore about noon, as the water became more violent, with the waves rising as the tide came in. I panicked for a moment but got hold of myself. But what the waves did to me was it just made diving more tiring and swimming to shore is double the hassle.

Had lunch at the resort’s restaurant. Food was ok, but be prepared to spend around PHP 400-PHP 500 for a meal/pax. You are a captive market. For other options, you need to travel further, either you hail a tricycle by walking a few hundred meters and hope that a tricycle pass by to take you to Alona Beach or in the opposite direction. Or you rent a motorbike for PHP 500/day.

The pool was tempting to help me cool off. I think I already turned brown after just a few hours in the sea.

They have a couple of kiddie pools, which I think will amuse my girls for a bit. But since they’re intermediate swimmers and good divers, they would opt for the biggest pool, which was over 6 ft at one end.

I thought I’ve had enough diving for the day; I didn’t want to fight with the waves anymore and just relaxed by the pool and by the shore.

I arranged for a boat trip to Balicasag the next day with the front desk, which was PHP 2,500, which included dolphin watching at 6 am.

I am in love again with Bohol.