A Wanderers Musings: Panglao Island tour

My hammock on the beach.

Our second day in Bohol, we took a tour of some of the highlights of Panglao island. We visited the Hinagdanan cave--a small cave discovered years ago by an islander while clearing the land of underbrush.

The islander found two holes in the ground and threw rocks into them to see how deep they were. He was surprised to hear a splash. Further exploration uncovered a cavern with stalagmites and stalactites and a lagoon of brackish water 10-12 feet deep, depending on the tides. They used a wooden ladder (or 'hagdan', hence the name) to access the cave through the holes. Now there's a steep staircase leading down from another opening they found later. They no longer use the pool for bathing--just swimming. We didn't have an overwhelming desire to jump in the water.

The cave and lagoon--you can see the two holes the islander found.

Josh with stalactites.

The gang in the cave.

The area around the cave reminded me of China--souvenir shops had sprung up from the parking area to the cave, selling t-shirts, sunglasses and fruit shakes--and guys trying to sell us pearls.

Josh and Ken bartering for sunglasses in one of the ubiquitous tourist shops.

Next we visited the Shell Museum--a local resident's collection. It was pretty extensive, and Quirino Hora, the owner of the collection, enjoyed showing us around and imparting his vast shell knowledge. The rarest in his collection – named after Emperor Hirohito of Japan, and found off Balicasag Island, near Alona Beach - was a deep water shell that is so minute that we had to use a microscope to see it. Not sure how they found a minuscule deep water shell!

Josh and Ken perusing a few of the many shells.

Giant shells!

Josh jaws.

The ISP* finally caught up with me!

Moi at the museum.

We then went to Alona Beach--the most popular beach area on the island. We had lunch and strolled the beach, then headed back to our own quiet little beach and resort, where we went for a lovely evening dip in our cool infinity edge pool.

Ken and I at lunch--Josh playing with the settings on my new camera.

The water...the boat names are reflective of the very Catholic population.
( Holy Infant 1 and 2, in case you can't read them in the picture. )

Boys on the beach.

Kids on Alona beach.

We then went to Alona Beach--the most popular beach area on the island. We had lunch and strolled the beach, then headed back to our own quiet little beach and resort, where I read in a hammock while the boys tossed a frisbee and kicked a soccer ball around. After, we all jumped in for a swim in our lovely infinity pool.