I'm sure some of you are wondering why the beach was called "Alona beach" or should you call the beach Panglao?
I had to ask myself the same! but to give you a trivia, Panglao Island is composed of 2 municipalities: 1. Panglao 2. Dauis and Alona Beach is part of Panglao that offers white sand and pristine water.
The Journey
We came from Cebu and did a little research and asked locals on how to get to Bohol. Honestly, this isn't part of the plan because I was assigned in Cebu for work and I only had 2 days off.
I thought it was impossible to travel and relax in 2 days. After changing my mind for several times; we then decided to conquer Bohol.
The day started at Saturday, 9am. We took a cab from Mandaue Cebu going to Pier 1.This is where you'll buy your ticket for a fast craft.
Luckily, the next schedule is 20 mins away when we arrived. We booked an Economy Class for 350 php each for a 1 way ticket at Supercat by 2GO bound for Tagbilaran plus an Environmental fee of 20 php per person.
FastCraft
It took us 2 hours and 30 minutes and I made a mistake booking an economy class because the seat was very uncomfortable and since we were seated in the middle, it was scorching hot and can barely feel the air. So I advice, book a seat with an aircon.
I forgot the name, but they offer 3 types during day time. The Economy, the aircon one and business class.
We tried the aircon type going back to Cebu and I swear, it was very comfortable and the seat won't hurt your ass. Much more if you book the business class.
It was around 12pm when we arrived at Tagbilaran port, upon reaching the exit hall, there's a lot of people offering package tour. That's when I realized that you can avail tours without the hassle of commuting and fear of getting lost.
One of my friend from Cebu told me that I should rent a tricycle If I want to tour around Panglao since it's on the way going to Alona Beach.
After haggling, we agreed to pay 1,000 php for a tour going to Hinagdanan Cave, Bohol Bee Farm and Dauis Church which I will share on my next post.
TIP:
The tricycle we rented offered us 1,500 php including a tour in Loboc and Chocolate hills; but I opted to get the Panglao Package and the Chocolate hills only since we only have 2 days and we wanted to relax on the beach for the whole day and tour the next day.
ITINERARY
12:30 PM Tagbilaran Port; availed tour package for Hinagdanan Cave, Dauis Church
and Bohol Bee Farm
3:00- 3:30PM After the tour, we headed to Alona Beach where we plan to stay overnight
We stayed at Acquatica Resort just infront of the Beach.We took the Non-aircon room for 1,000 php overnight.
I failed to take a photo because our phone was dead and we had to save our battery for the beach. That 1,000 php room is fair enough, it was clean and big.
Tip: Its cold at night so you don't need an aircon besides you'll be out exploring the beach so you really won't use it at all.
I was very disappointed when we arrived because there's a lot of boats in the beach front so we had to talk few meters away for a perfect swimming spot.
(Just like in Boracay, from Station 1-2) Other than that, everything was perfect. It was like Boracay but with less crowd and more peaceful.
We played with the sand the whole afternoon and watch different races as they explore the beach.
How about a refreshing mango shake on a sunny afternoon? By the way, you can also try Banana boat, jetski and a lot more water activities.
They offer complete adventure package that you can share with other groups so the cost will be divided. Unfortunately, because of our limited time, we failed to avail the island hopping. I'm sure, I'll be back on this beautiful island.
