This is the third time I have come to Bohol. The first was in 2007, with my cousin, her husband, my husband and my mom. We stayed on Panglao Island and did the Countryside Tour. The second time was last year (2010), with a group of tour guides, attending the First National Tour Guides Convention. We stayed in Tagbilaran, did the Countryside Tour, and opted to take the EAT Danao Park excursion as our convention tour. So here I was again, staying in Tagbilaran and attending a 4-Day Travel Agency Course (my second time, sort of a refresher course for me).
This was, however, my first time to come on my own. I don’t normally travel alone unless it’s to Manila (where I had lived for 10 years during my schooling days). I have traveled alone before – to Cebu – but for some reason, I did not feel comfortable there. I was always looking over my shoulder and feeling as though I was being watched. But here in Bohol, even on the trip over, I had no such thoughts or feelings. Let me tell you about my trip.
I took the Ocean Jet from Cagayan de Oro Port to Jagna. The Ocean Jet is the ship that replaced the Paras Seacat just last October, in time for the Lanzones Festival, and looks like it is here to stay.
Because there weren’t many people on board, I was able to have the whole row (A-D) to myself, but because I wasn’t really paying attention, I almost missed the island sandbar that I have only since seen from a very, very afar – Agutayan Island, location of the largest giant clam sanctuary in the country.
The Ocean Jet made a half-hour stopover at Benoni Port in Camiguin and then proceeded on to Jagna. The movies on board were pretty good, except for the third one: 21, The A-Team, and something. It reminded me of the movies shown on buses during long trips.
It quickly went from being a nice day to a cloudy day, but once we were out of Camiguin waters, the skies cleared and the trip became uneventful. Jagna was no different, except that it was very hot. But as the van I was riding neared Tagbilaran, it began to rain, a little at first, then in earnest.
As I sit on my single bed, in my single room, in my chosen hotel here in Tagbilaran, I ponder and amaze once again.. that I really, really like this province. I think it’s because there seems to still be an air of honesty blowing through every nook and cranny in this growing tourist destination.
Life in the Bukids 