Photo’s are here or you can see each regions photos using the links in the relevant sections below..
1. Bohol Island:
Bohol Island photos are here.
After our arrival in Manila from Tokyo we spent 2 nights in the Hilton Manila Newport World Resorts to recover from the jet lag (it didn’t work!). It is a very nice Hilton in an upmarket casino environment with shops and restaurants and all the major hotel chains. The Hilton has one of the top international restaurants in the entire chain – Kusita Sea Kitchens which deserves its reputation for phenomenal breakfast and dinner buffets. We can’t tell you anything about Manila itself. We just hung out at the pool and the spa at the adjoining Sheraton Hotel – 2 nights when we arrived in the country and 2 nights at the end just in case of cancelations with our flight out of Coron on the final leg.
It was a slightly rocky start to our month in the Philippines on the UNESCO designated island of Bohol about an hour’s flight south of the capital, Manila! Bohol Island was designated a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2023 for its geological significance and biodiversity. February is in the middle of the dry season and the weather should have been … well … dry and sunny. It wasn’t. It was hot and humid with almost relentless grey clouds and hours of rain. I shudder to think what the weather’s like in Bohol in the rainy season!
We were booked into Amorita Resort, on the tiny adjoining island of Panglao, which is one of the top rated hotels in the area. From the infinity edge pool you can see over the expanse of Alona Beach renowned for its white sand and clear water – even though it had neither. There was a plague of seaweed strewn along the sand which hotel staff from the beach hotels struggled on a daily basis to drag to one end and bury. The water was murky and grey and right in the middle of the beach were 2 huge yellow digging machines which, it transpired, had been there for months on end. There was no end in sight to their task which appeared to be shifting sand from one place to another and back again. Alona Beach is not to be recommended. To be honest, although the rooms were passable in Amorita Resort and the pools were OK, I wouldn’t rush to recommend Amorita Resort either. The food was awful – especially for breakfast and dinner in the main restaurant, Saffron was average. Thankfully, they had Panglao’s first Chop House called The Lost Cow which served salmon which made up for the other culinary offerings. On the upside, the staff were friendly and generally helpful unless you were rude enough to distract them from scrolling through Instagram on their cellphones 😉 In researching hotels we hadn’t given much thought as to who our fellow guests in various hotels and regions of the country would be. Now we know better! it is a 2 hour direct flight from Seoul, Korea to Bohol and Amorita had found its way into the feed of various Korean Instagrammers with the result that 95% of our fellow guests were Korean millennials and families with small kids who like to make a lot of noise and splash wildly screaming at the top of their lungs all day long in the pool.
Not quite the luxury boutique experience we were expecting.
The purpose of our 6 night visit to Bohol was to explore the countryside and visit the Tarsier Sanctuary. I had pre-arranged 2 day trips with a private guide and driver with Ecotravellers Travels and Tours which are very professional and well-organized. We were lucky – we loved our guide and spent many hours in the van talking world events, politics and lifestyles. We learned that 95% of Filipinos lived day to day, pretty much hand to mouth. It was clear from our travels that poverty is a big problem across the islands. We also touched on the infamous Philippine War on Drugs crackdown instigated by the previous President Duterte which, of course received extensive press coverage due to its expansion into extrajudicial killings and vigilantism. We discovered that the reality on the ground for Filipinos was that without that crackdown, crime would be out of control and for the majority of the population it was welcomed to make their lives, villages and towns much safer. Filipinos are a notably friendly people – kind and always willing to help … life here is tough and certainly chaotic but it is clear that the nation is highly resilient, frequently dealing with devastating typhoons and flooding, picking themselves up again and starting over. A family with enough money to build a concrete house with basic services (as opposed to a shack) had family members living and working abroad in order to send money home. Filipinos are spread far and wide across the globe working in places like Florida and California in the USA, Australia and the Middle East.
Anyway, the first of our two private tours was on one of the rare days when it was actually reasonably dry and sunny so we headed out on a nearly 3 hour drive along the coast and through the countryside dotted with farms, water buffalo wallowing in ponds and rice paddies. Our destination was the Cadapdapan Rice Fields in Candijay where the sun shone on and off enough for it not to have been a complete waste of time! The countryside out here in the middle of nowhere was beautiful and peaceful. We balanced precariously on rickety wooden boardwalks and on the narrow concrete ledges of irrigation ditches trying not to slip into the thick mud of the fields whilst the local guide took us to the viewpoint overlooking the paddies.
After lunch at one of the high culinary points of our month at a tourist-friendly restaurant at Kinaiyahan Forest Park, we drove to another of the highlights of our month – an off-the-beaten path excursion to Dimiao Twin Falls (also known as Pahangog Falls) in an obscure village somewhere in the boonies. The only route down to the falls is a washed out dirt track pock marked with craters and thick with slippery mud from all of the recent rain. Since it was either a 30 minute hike in intense heat and humidity to the start of the steep descent down to the falls, or a hairy 5 minute motorcycle ride on a bike which looked more ancient than the Pyramids, we took a huge leap of faith and opted for the local transportation 😉 My driver was clearly no more than 12 years old and was dressed, in my view, completely inappropriately for maintaining control of a decrepit motorcycle on a rough track with his grandma riding pillion, in a pair of old flip-flops. Since we’re not ones to chicken out on an adventure I agreed to take the proposed transport but mounted the rickety, rusty, ride with some trepidation. I closed my eyes as we skidded and slipped through the mud plunging down into craters and bouncing over rocks … twice I told him I’d had enough since my kidneys were rattling inside my rib cage so I dismounted to walk the scariest parts and twice he forced me back on.
Once we’d reached the end of the track we hiked 250+/- steps down through the jungle undergrowth until we emerged at river. We crossed the raging waters on a bamboo bridge and dived into the waterfall for a swim. It was absolutely beautiful – an amazing peaceful place! Our young motorcycle riders stayed with us and were very attentive. They held my hand every step of the way in case I slipped on the rocks which was very sweet! Loved it … not so much the 250 steps back up but definitely worth the detour and the effort!
On the return journey an hour or so later (despite my continued protestations) my child driver refused to stop to let me off at all!
“You fine ma’am … you fine … all safe!” … cheeky little tyke 😉
The following day the weather was unpredictable and rainy (yet again) and became an ongoing battle with the oppressively stormy weather although we had brief gaps in the rain at the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary. Tarsiers are teeny tiny desperately cute primates.They are about the size of a closed fist with the largest eyes (relative to their body size) of any mammal. They are also irritatingly difficult to photograph even when the guides point them out because they’re quite shy, they’re nocturnal and they hang out balanced on a branch way up in the shade of leafy jungle trees. Hence the unimpressive photos!
The Chocolate Hills are a much hyped tourist attraction and one of the reasons Bohol was awarded UNESCO status – if you get a good day you can see these unusual conical hills stretching as far as the horizon – all 1,776 of them! They were formed 3.5 million years ago from marine limestone. The first time we reached them the fog was so thick at the viewpoint that we could barely see two or three of them in front of our noses which resulted in our having to return later in the day when there was a gap in the clouds, the sun peeked out and we could finally see that they literally did stretch for miles.
To keep us amused in the rain our guide stopped by Balilihan Public Market which we really enjoyed. We always love an indigenous market for an insight into local life (so long as we steer clear of the meat section). It was a very colorful and friendly place … the vendors smiled and waved and were fascinated by my skin colour and fair hair, both of which are apparently highly prized in the Philippines – who knew?! Personally, I was more fascinated by the lady selling tobacco. She was sitting in a yoga position on top of a table with her legs and feet amongst her tobacco leaves. She smiled for a photograph and then broke down into giggles with her friend. Equally fascinating were the unusual offerings for sale on the fish counters from iridescent bright pink krill to shiny blue and orange Parrotfish (which can be highly poisonous) and to muddy green/brown sea cucumber poo … yummy! 
We also drove through Bilar Man-Made Forest where the main road is planted either side with towering mahogany trees for a 2 kilometer stretch. The tunnel canopy effect creates a popular backdrop for instagram photos. We were rather nonplussed. This is a reasonably busy thoroughfare with distracting white, black and yellow painted Chevron signs indicating bends in the road for the entire 2 kilometers. Cars and tour vans were pulled over and abandoned at all of the danger hotspots whilst their occupants run out into the centre of the road to take a quick shot before another car ran over them. Needless to say, we didn’t add to the traffic chaos by stopping.
Time to leave Bohol and head to the island of Cebu. Our ferry from Bohol Island was canceled just as we were being dropped off at the ferry terminal by our hotel transport. After 45 minutes of stress during which I guarded our luggage whilst Geoff stood in the beating heat and humidity outside the main office of the ferry company (alongside 150 other abandoned travelers) he pulled off a minor miracle and managed to talk the staff into finding 2 available seats on the next ferry. This was despite their earlier absolute insistence that the next 2 ferries were fully booked and we might have to sit there for half a day in the poorly air-conditioned ferry terminal. I don’t know how he managed it and, frankly, I don’t care! I’m sure it involved a couple of backhanders and that was absolutely money well spent as far as I was concerned 😉 😂
2. Cebu Island:
Cebu Island photos are here.
After our two hour ferry ride we arrived in Cebu City – the capital of the Visasyas region. Our 5 nights on the island didn’t quite go according to plan either! We were met by a taxi van which was pre-arranged with our hotel. The driver had a distractingly wispy beard and looked more like an ancient Chinese scholar than a Filipino. He didn’t speak a word of English (which is unusual) but sang his heart out to every Scorpions song ever written. I am a fan of the Scorpions too but 4 hours on constant replay was a bit much for Geoff’s sanity. We crossed over mountains and through villages and after 4 long hours of listening to our driver crooning Winds of Change we pulled up outside our hotel. My initial thought was to pay him to take us straight back to Cebu City 😉 I had booked 3 nights here to visit the allegedly unmissable town of Moalboal which is about as dilapidated as we’ve ever seen in Southeast Asia.
Moalboal is considered one of Cebu’s must-do highlights … OMG … 
Perhaps if we were 18 year old backpackers, or rufty-tufty divers, or budget travelers who don’t care where we hang out it might have been OK … however, we’re 3 times that age and used to the finer things in life 😂 Moalboal is totally chaotic, disorganized, hanging on by a thread and definitely doesn’t qualify as somewhere we belong.
However, we were there specifically to do the famous sardine run which is located just offshore from the landmark Chili Bar … so bright and early after a sleepless night in the not very appealing and inappropriately named Secret Paradise Hotel (the top hotel in town) we wandered down to Panagsama “beach”. By beach I mean tiny strips of sand covered in backpackers and trash. We rented a couple of pairs of fins from the first rental store along the strip of businesses running parallel to the shore and waddled out across the shallows of an utterly destroyed coral reef. Within maybe 60-70 feet the reef shelf drops off dramatically into the abyss and you are immediately surrounded by millions of tiny juvenile sardines (a dull green colour as opposed to the silver adult sardines we swam with in Mexico in the Sea of Cortez). Moalboal town might be a bit grim for our taste but the experience of swimming with the swirling sardines was magical. They darted and swirled around us creating huge organic shape-shifting patterns in the sea. Fantastic! The photos are underwhelming compared to the reality of the experience … it was far more impressive than it looks! We swam with them a couple of times for an hour or so – firstly early morning around 7am (but the light was too diffused to photograph them) so we returned around 11am when it was far busier with tour groups bobbing around in orange lifejackets (but at least the sun was overhead in order to take a few photos). For dinner we caught a brightly-painted tuk-tuk (which are always fun although here in the Philippines they are so rusty I was in fear of falling straight through onto the dirt road) to the main drag. Kugita Fish Restaurant was good so we returned the following evening too – it served great sushi and cocktails. On our second morning we caught a tuk-tuk to Lovegan Cafe for breakfast which served yummy Smoothie Bowls in an environment clearly popular with backpackers and the great unwashed. Either way, I liked it for its bohemian vibe.
We couldn’t bear to stay in Moalboal longer than absolutely necessary so we checked out a night early and headed to the first decent hotel of the trip (at that stage): Crimson Resort and Spa in Mactan which was a self-proclaimed 5* spa hotel catering to tourists who needed to return to the first world for a couple of nights 😉 We already had 2 nights pre-booked and as luck would have it they could also squeeze us in a night early. It is popular and was fully booked for our entire stay. It was just as popular with weekenders flying in from Korea with their noisy offspring as Amorita Resort in Bohol had been. There’s absolutely nothing to do in Mactan unless you want to go to the mall but at least we enjoyed the more familiar, relatively luxurious surroundings, together with the two Michelin nominated restaurants, a pretty decent breakfast buffet and the posh spa facilities for 3 nights. We were both massaged twice, I was pedicured and buffed, and we both had facials so we were soon sufficiently pampered and relaxed. In between spa appointments we read our books in the shade by the pool sipping Cosmopolitans and coconut water from freshly harvested coconuts and we ate Poke bowls for lunch whilst we glowered at spoilt unruly Korean kids who just love to scream and kick up pool water until it froths around them.
It was finally time to catch our flight from Cebu to Palawan which was the real reason we were in the Philippines at all … the rest was just background stuff so I really wanted Palawan to be spectacular to justify flying halfway around the world from the eastern seaboard of the USA!
3. Palawan:
Palawan is one of the most famous provinces in the Philippines and is comprised of 1,700 islands spread over a very wide area. It is a huge and spectacular archipelago – photos are here.
– First destination – Bacuit Bay via El Nido –
The flight from Cebu to El Nido went without a hitch. Air Swift (Cebu Pacific) didn’t lose our luggage which (if you read the Philippines traveller Facebook posts) was almost guaranteed. Since we were booked for 8 nights into Pangulasian Island Resort (a private island hotel in Bacuit Bay) our bags were tagged with Priority labels and Pangulasian labels and, as a result, we wouldn’t have to deal with collecting them or hoisting them about again until we had to unpack them in the villa. That was more like it! 😁 We were transported in their clean and well-polished van from the tiny airport for a few minutes across the peninsula to their outdoor lounge on Lio Beach where we were offered drinks, snacks and forced to endure an excruciating native welcome song!
After a short time waiting for some fellow passengers to arrive at the lounge (long enough for a stroll along Lio Beach) we were driven the length of the pier where we boarded the hotel’s speedboat shuttle from Lio Beach. We were whisked away with 2 other couples bouncing across the waters of Bacuit Bay as we marveled at the famous islands of Palawan en route to our hotel. Pangulasian Resort is a lovely 5* hotel on a private island. From the moment you dock at the beach and are greeted by the hotel manager and his senior staff you know you’re in a different world. Arriving at the beach we were helped down the makeshift steps from the boat onto the sand … not quite the Bora Bora Conrad arrival experience but this is utter 5* luxury for the Philippines and we were more than delighted to put some of the more ropey accommodations of the last 2 weeks behind us! It’s not inexpensive at anywhere between $1,000-$2,000 per night but the villas and the laidback luxury are worth it. The staff to guest ratio is roughly 4:1 which guarantees constant and consistently excellent service (something not generally strived for in this part of the world). If you’re too lazy to walk along the sandy track back and forth to your villa and the restaurant then you can ask to be driven in one of the golf carts. Your every whim is attended to expeditiously and the staff learn your name as soon as you arrive. They know which day trips you are booked onto and pretty much everything you ate for dinner the night before 😉 The beach is reasonably long for a small island and is a combination of sand, pebbles, shells and corals depending upon the tide. The villas are absolutely beautiful, large, well-appointed and beautifully designed with fabulous views over the beach and surrounding islands. They stand on stilts surrounded by verdant jungle teeming with wildlife. Monitor lizards scuttle through the undergrowth and Macaque monkeys swing across the canopy high above you from palm to palm. They are also known to bound across the villa terraces chancing their luck that a hapless guest might have left a shiny trinket on their sun lounger for them to steal. It is not unheard of for them to run off with a guest’s cellphone left incautiously unattended. The real prize is to find a sliding door to a villa carelessly left open. Apparently the Macaques learned a long time ago during a “raid” on one of the villas that there are delicious free snacks for the taking inside the villas – fresh fruit and glass jars of cookies and dried mangoes. They move silently in troupes looking in and pawing at the glass sliders. They will happily file past you lying sunbathing on an outdoor lounger on your terrace which, I can assure you, comes as an unexpected shock when you suddenly come face to face with a family of macaques a few inches away!
Even in Perfect Palawan the weather was still all over the place but we had a handful of beautiful sunny days too during which we took full advantage of the complimentary excursions from the hotel. We left the hotel by bangka boat early one morning to beat the crowds at the famed Big Lagoon. We were lucky. Our arrival was timed well for some peaceful, occasionally positively serene moments kayaking through the lagoon! Next was a choppy stop to snorkel at one of Palawan’s gems – Entalula Beach – utterly spectacular even with the crashing waves which made snorkeling pretty energetic and almost impossible!
Over the course of our stay we took advantage of 4 more day trips from Pangulasian exploring the surrounding beaches and islands in between loafing aimlessly, day-dreaming at the views from the terrace and sunbathing 
Normal service was very much resumed!
Normal service was very much resumed!We took another boat trip to Secret Lagoon (neither secret nor particularly impressive but the small adjoining beach was very pretty with towering palm trees and rocky outcrops). Small Lagoon was serene and even more beautiful than Big Lagoon (thankfully, we caught it between boat loads of other tourists coming and going which was perfect timing!). Small Lagoon boasts superb clear turquoise water and is surrounded by limestone cliffs and verdant jungle. Snake Island could, however, have been far better timed since the aim is to visit at low tide when the teal water either side of the lagoon parts in the middle leaving a narrow snaking strip of sand which creates a walkway between 2 islands. In our case we waded through 2 feet of water across the submerged sandbar towards an island covered in mangroves. As we arrived the guide told us it was infested with venomous mangrove snakes (I’ve never waded back to a boat so quickly in my life!).
We had a choppy but reasonably successful morning snorkeling trip to Shimizu Island and I hung out at Cudognan Cove on the beach while the other guys on our excursion clambered through Cudognan Cave. I’m up for most things but I’m claustrophobic so I’m not up for clambering through a dark, spooky cave … eek!
We met many interesting people at our hotel and bonded easily over various boat excursions … a British couple from London, Spanish honeymooners from Madrid and we hung out for the last 4 days of our 8 with a lovely couple from Italy (all young enough to be our own offspring of course but they didn’t seem to mind!). We touched upon everything from world politics, lifestyles across the nations, economics and cultural differences and we all had a great laugh. It made me think, wouldn’t it be a far better world if all of our various nations sat around a pool bar in the sunshine with a few cocktails or sipping freshly harvested coconut water and thrashed out the world’s problems to a satisfactory conclusion just as we’d been doing all week?!
– Second destination – Coron Island via Basuanga Island
After 8 delightful nights at Pangulasian Resort it was time to fly onwards to the island of Busuanga which lies further north within the region of Palawan. We would spend our final 5 nights there before returning to Manila. Arriving at the highly-rated The Funny Lion hotel just outside Coron Town it was obviously a very different kettle of fish from the posh island resort of Pangulasian off the shores of El Nido. We booked their premium room which was located in what amounted to a corrugated iron ISO container. The room itself was nice inside but it was as dark as a cave (not my favorite obviously!) since it was surrounded by tall bamboo and the private plunge pool on our deck was built over a mangrove swamp which smelt of raw sewage or rotting undergrowth (or both!). The hotel was mainly frequented by divers on travel tours and backpackers pushing the boat out. The food was kinda awful again with the exception of the tiny Mexican restaurant which was surprisingly good with excellent margaritas! You’ll not be stunned to read, I’m sure, that we bailed on the ISO container after 2 nights and moved up the road to Zuri Spa Hotel which thankfully had a large family suite available for 3 nights with a balcony overlooking the pool and views as far out as Coron Island. Back to dismal food again but at least it was only 200 yards or so to walk back to The Funny Lion for dinner every night at their bijou Mexican restaurant, Cinco Grande!
Coron Town and its manically busy port is the hub of the region and is best described as a necessary evil if you want to see the famous lagoons on Coron Island!
To cover the best of the Coron region I arranged 2 full-day private boat excursions which could not have been more different – the first was almost laughable and the second was fantastic!
I’ve never used “Get Your Guide” before but I took a risk which I almost immediately regretted. We paid handsomely to an unknown entity online for a massively chaotic and poorly organized trip on a traditional bangka boat. These are the colorful hand-painted outrigger boats which chunter along the fabled Coron coastline in their hundreds every day.
The morning did not start well. We were picked up late from the hotel by JY Tour Company (our designated tour operator) in a smelly dirty bus with 20 other people from various hotels (although we had paid for private transport). We were deposited at the port where we were herded with dozens of other flustered and confused people who were waiting to catch the big public tour boats. Finally we were greeted by a harried-looking woman with a clipboard full of hand-written pages of columns and names. We were checked in and shuffled over to the filthy facilities at the covered dock seating area where we sat in the hot, sweaty humidity waiting for our boat to receive authority from the coast guard to set off. At this stage we were already 30 minutes late despite booking an early departure to avoid the inevitable crowds which would gather in their hundreds during the morning. Ultimately we left the dock over an hour late … but it could have been far worse judging by the crowds. Stress levels started to recede once we had left the chaotic, noisy, polluted port …
The two most famous stops on the Coron Island Super Ultimate Private Tour are totally underwhelming (with the exception of the famous viewpoint over Kayangan Bay which is reached by a warm and clammy steep climb up 367 steps). Once you reach the viewpoint you can expect to line up for 15/20 minutes or so for your 2 minute photo shoot slot at the fence overlooking the viewpoint (which is effectively where all of the tour boats moor up). It is an iconic view for this region. Kayangan Lake itself was jam-packed with people bobbing about in orange life jackets which you are forced to wear in order to swim in waters calmer than a mill pond. For the avoidance of doubt this is absolutely impossible. We gave up after a few minutes since we were being garroted by our oversized life jackets and more in danger of drowning than if we hadn’t worn them at all. A few minutes putter down the coast and you will reach Barracuda Lake which is much more impressive with its saw-tooth jagged grey limestone rocks surrounding the lake. It was slightly less busy than Kayangan Lake but there was still the ridiculous rule about wearing life jackets.
The next stop hopping further along the Coron island coastline was at the fabulous Twin Lagoons. Thankfully by the time we reached them we’d outrun the crowds and enjoyed them pretty much to ourselves which was perfect 😊 We had paid our guide company extra for a “crystal kayak” which is a mistake we’ll never make again. Whilst the view of the corals passing under the transparent kayak is unique, there aren’t any seats moulded into the body of the kayak to wedge your butt into so you’re effectively rolling around in a transparent floating bath tub with no support whatsoever. The kayak was unsurprisingly extremely unstable, very uncomfortable and absolutely impossible to navigate in a straight line.
Once underway again en route to our lunch stop at beautiful Sunset Beach we discovered that the company had totally messed up our pre-booked food order. All they had was chicken instead of fish (oh dear!). We went for a swim whilst the 2 crew and the guide attempted to rectify the error. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to locate 2 tiny mackerel from somewhere in the bowels of the boat so that was a bonus. Best perhaps not to know where from or how … unless they dangled their rods into the sea and got lucky 😂
After lunch we snorkeled at Skeleton Wreck which is very much on the tourist trail. It is a shallow-lying wreck of a Japanese supply ship sunk in 1944 during World War II. The sea was murky and it was difficult to see the wreck itself in the mass of flailing legs and orange life jackets but only a 2 minute ride away Coral Garden was empty and much more beautiful!
So our first day exploring Coron was a mixed bag! Iconic places pretty much swamped with people but we enjoyed the day out on the traditional boat and our guide was very cute. He made sure the “old people” (apparently we were shockingly old, which is always great for your ego 😂) were safely guided through the waters by transparent bath tub and helped on and off the rickety ladder on the boat … bless him! 🤗
Our best day trip was actually our penultimate day before returning to Manila. It also departed from Coron Town on the island of Busuanga and didn’t cost that much more but was flawlessly executed and absolutely amazing!
Kajy Tour Company did not mess this day up as JY Tour Company had done the day before – it was professional, well organized and we had the perfect day! We were collected by private car (no stinky old crowded bus this time 😉). Scheduled to leave the port at 8.30am, we actually left at 8.20am rather than an hour late! We had booked a private speedboat to take us flat out across mirror-like waters for 40 minutes to the top beach in the region – Malcapuya Beach. To make the same trip by traditional bangka boat would have taken almost 2 hours so obviously we paid the premium for the speedboat.
We glided onto Malcapuya Beach over waters so crystal clear we could see corals 30 feet below us on the sea bed. The beach was paradise at 9am … we were totally alone other than our crew and a guy selling coconuts and beer under the shade of the swaying palm trees. By the afternoon it would be busy since it’s a famous beach but first thing in the morning it was all ours! Geoff snorkeled amongst the sea grasses and saw a Blue Spotted Ribbontail Stingray and schools of fish darting in the shallows whilst I pottered about on the sand for an hour and a half, swung on the swing beneath the “I ❤️ Malcapuya” sign (which I did! 😉 ) and floated in the transparent water enjoying the solitude and the endless views across Coron Bay to the surrounding islands.
A few minutes’ cruise over the bay and we docked on Banana Island where we snorkeled for another hour or so amongst colorful corals while an aquarium of fish drifted past us. Neither of us have ever snorkeled anywhere as spectacular. It is obvious why this region of Palawan attracts so many divers to its pristine waters. The lunch prepared by our crew on Banana Island was one of the top 2 meals of our month … no emergency minnows served for lunch here! It was fabulous – lots of veggies, salads, spicy shrimp and a grilled jackfish followed by fresh mango and watermelon.
Finally, we stopped at Bulog Dos Island for another hour or so. This is a tiny strip of sand bookended by 2 very small hills, where the snorkeling in the offshore reef was even more spectacular. We’ve never seen coral in such excellent shape. We swam through schools of multi-colored fish and pink, orange and purple corals. We even spotted a rare Black Feather Star! It’s not easy photographing underwater and the fish simply refuse to stay still long enough to focus on them but you probably get the picture! At low tide there is a narrow sandbar at Bulog Dos which we missed. Our final stop was a quick return trip to the “beach store” on Banana Island so Geoff could restock on beer and buy a couple of beers for all of the crew.
Honestly, it was the day trip of the month! 💙
A few observations on traveling in the Philippines. It’s a country which presents some challenges to anyone other than the most intrepid traveler: there are the complicated logistics of travel around the islands which are spread far and wide; the highly unpredictable quality of accommodation (whatever the price tag); the general chaos and disorganization which comes from exploring a country with decaying infrastructure and a general lack of maintenance; the variable standard of service you might otherwise be used to unless you’re paying for 5*; and the terrifyingly dubious standards of hygiene. Don’t ever use a public toilet here whatever you do – there’s no toilet paper anywhere because, if provided, it gets stolen, there is a big bucket and a ladle to flush the loo (if the flush won’t work … because it probably won’t) and the chances of finding running water to wash your hands in any of the sinks is hit or (mainly) miss. This lack of basic sanitary facilities extends to the toilet facilities of cafes and restaurants which is kinda scary. if you’re caught short you either pee in the bushes or find an outlet of the Jollibee fast-food chain which was decidedly more first world.
So, whilst we’re always up for an adventure a month was far too long for us.
I would add that Filipinos are exceptionally friendly, courteous and very sweet. Even better, despite dire online warnings from previous travelers to the country, none of the tinpot airlines we flew with lost our luggage and we didn’t get food poisoning which is nothing short of a miracle!
Filipino food is, generally speaking, absolutely abominable (it’s not even that great when you’re paying exhorbitant nightly rates in a 5* hotel with a trained chef catering to the well-heeled international guest). We’re still haunted by Steamed Lapu-Lapu (grouper) which is a whole fish (bones and eyeballs included) in a ginger, garlic, scallion, soy sauce steamed in a pot until the skin is thick, slimy and has the consistency of rubber (repulsive on all levels). A local delicacy Sinigang na Bangus (milkfish) was even worse – again served whole – this fish is stewed in a clay pot until you could re-sole a miner’s boot with it. The milkfish floats in a watery sour broth amongst lumps of greasy vegetables – the whole ensemble tasting exactly as if it had been strained through a sweaty sock. Utterly inedible …
Delicious meals were few and far between – fried banana blossom, pickled bamboo shoots, jackfruit with vegetables in a ginger/coconut milk sauce and candied local fish at the tourist restaurant Kinaiyahan Forest Park in Bohol, which appeared to cater for tour buses and many private day tours, were all unbelievably good! Food and Fables Cafe at Fox and the Firefly Cottages in Bohol was also one of a tiny handful of excellent meals – specializing in vegan and vegetarian food with an emphasis on curries and local delicacies. The young guy serving totally messed up our order and we ended up with 3 appetizers and 3 main courses but they were absolutely delicious so we didn’t mind at all! And lunch prepared by our 3 crew members on the speedboat ride to Malcapuya Beach, Banana Island and Bulog Dos which was served to us under the swaying palms on Banana Island was excellent. This should tell you pretty much all you need to know about Filippino food. I do have fond memories, however, of the mouthwatering yellow Carabou (or Champagne) mangoes (the world’s sweetest mango) and dried mangos from Cebu! We were also quite partial to Salabat – a traditional sweet ginger tea made from boiled fresh ginger, honey and calamansi (a citrus fruit hybrid similar to lime). Yummy!
During our month here, we saw some cool natural wonders and explored some beautiful places in between the less beautiful. The Tarsier monkeys are cute, the Cadapdapan rice terraces were pretty and, of course, the hair-raising motorcycle ride to Dimaio Twin Falls in Bohol was highly memorable; snorkeling with waves of sardines in Cebu was fun but Moalboal was otherwise an absolute dump and Bohol’s beaches are awful. Snorkeling in Palawan was awesome and gliding silently by kayak through the various turquoise lagoons was breathtaking.
With the benefit of hindsight, 2 weeks in Palawan would have sufficed! We’re grateful, of course, to have had the time and money to spend a month exploring in the Philippines, but honestly Palawan is really where it’s at unless you want to go a very long way off the beaten track!
A week in Pangulasian Resort (off El Nido on Pangulasian Island) and a week in the Two Seasons (off Coron) would be just perfect! 
Categories: Bohol, Busuanga, Cebu, Coron, Coron Town, El Nido, Kayaking, Mactan, moalboal, Palawan, Panglao, Snorkelling, The Philippines, Travel
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