August 24, 2012. We flew to Cebu via Cebu Pacific. We arrived at 9:15--five minutes earlier than the scheduled arrival. We took a taxi to Pier 4 for our commute to Bohol via Supercat/2Go. We were lucky there was a new schedule for the trips. Ours was 11:25 am and our TOA was 1:35 pm.
At the Tagbilaran Port, we were flocked by several tour guides/car drivers. We chose Mr. Eduardo who gave us the cheapest rate at P1,000.00 for a half a day of Panglao tour. Since we were booked at the Casa Nova Gardens, we no longer had to worry about where to stay the night. So we toured Panglao Island first before going to Casa Nova.
First stop: the amazing Dauis Church. There, we got two bottles of Holy Water from the miraculous well for some donation. A few steps from the church is a lovely park beside the sea and an old building that houses a souvenir shop and cafe called the Cafe Lawis Handumanan.
Next stop: Bohol Bee Farm. The view is great. It is located by the sea. There is a restaurant that serve organic food and their famous ice cream that costs P80.00 each. The ice cream cone is made of cassava and contains two scoops of organic ice cream. I tried the ginger and ube flavors while my sister had the mango and malungay flavors.
Next stop: Hinagdanan Cave. Entrance Fee: P15.00, parking fee: P15.00. Here, there are several guides to accompany tourists exploring the cave. The guides are good with cameras. Our guide, Elmer, even taught us how to operate our own camera such that we could take better pictures.
Next stop: Nova Shell Museum. Smallest, most expensive, rare, common, imported, colored, big, small shell collections are found here. A very accommodating usher guides tourists through the different shell collections.
Next stop: Panglao Church and Watch Tower. It was almost dark when we got here. We took pictures outside since the Church was already closed. My sister just stole pictures on the interior of the church from the small opening at the front door. Luckily, there was a caretaker inside who noticed her attempts and who very accommodatingly opened the doors for us to take a closer look. In we went to once again see the awe-inspiring view of the interior. Similar to that of the Dauis Church, the ceiling was painted with Biblical scenes.
Finally, we went to Casa Nova Gardens to check in. My first impression of the place was that it was eerie. It was almost isolated. Going to the reception area, the feeling got stronger because there was no one there. And then this young man ran to the counter and got our name. He was not informed of our arrival but it was remedied with just a phone call. I was a bit relieved but then when he informed us that the restaurant was not operating since there were not so many guests, I was again dismayed. So that was why they specifically told me in the e-mail to indicate whether we wanted breakfast or not. We settled in our cottage--it was a duplex cottage. Since there were no other guests, we practically had the garden all to ourselves. The receptionist said that there were other guests in the other cottages at the other side of the garden, but we didn't see them while we were there. Having settled at the cottage, we went out once again to explore the beaches and to see where we could eat. The receptionist told us about the short cut to the beaches where the restaurants were located. It was a five-minute walk that lead us to the edges of the beach. At the end of the path, we saw ourselves on a rocky cliff. Walking further, we saw a stairway down the beach. It was there: the Alona beach--white sand, and a lot of restos. We settled at the outdoor restaurant that served seafood and some chicken and pork barbecue. While waiting, my sister browsed the internet--it was a good thing the beach wifi enabled--and I took a dip at the very shallow waters at the beach (I think it was low tide).
When the food was served, we ate only to scramble in the middle of the meal into the covered part of the resto because the rain decided to surprise us with a visit. Plus it had along with it some less than subtle wind.
When the world came back to its proper order once again, we headed back to our cottage. This time, we took a habal-habal since I no longer trust the short distance but dark way back. Of course, we bought some food for breakfast the next day. It was good that we took the habal-habal because the path to our resort was really dark. And then it was lights off for us. End of the day.
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