Map, Journey and Costs

Note: prices are for 2 adults with baggage

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From	To	Mode	Duration	Cost
🇵🇭 Panglao, Bohol	🇵🇭 Tagbilaran Ferry Terminal, Bohol	Taxi	00:25	£7.47
🇵🇭 Tagbilaran Ferry Terminal, Bohol	🇵🇭 Larena Pier, Siquijor	Ferry	02:30	£22.95
🇵🇭 Larena Pier, Siquijor	🇵🇭 San Juan, Siquijor	Taxi	00:30	£8.22
🇵🇭 San Juan, Siquijor	🇵🇭 Siquijor Port, Siquijor	Taxi	00:16	£5.23
🇵🇭 Siquijor Port, Siquijor	🇵🇭 Tagbilaran Ferry Terminal, Bohol	Ferry	02:00	£28.10
🇵🇭 Tagbilaran Ferry Terminal, Bohol	🇵🇭 Pier 1, Cebu	Ferry	02:00	£28.10
🇵🇭 Pier 1, Cebu	🇵🇭 Ania Rooms, Cebu	Taxi	00:40	£5.42
🇵🇭 Ania Rooms, Cebu	🇵🇭 Mactan-Cebu International Airport	Taxi	00:08	£1.51
🇵🇭 Mactan-Cebu International Airport	🇵🇭 Francisco B. Reyes Airport	Plane	01:00	£143.61
🇵🇭 Francisco B. Reyes Airport	🇵🇭 Ken's Inn	Taxi	00:40	£7.28
🇵🇭 Ken's Inn	🇵🇭 Coron Port	Taxi	00:06	£2.87
🇵🇭 Coron Port	🇵🇭 El Nido	Ferry	05:00	£91.50

Our watery adventure continued in Siquijor, Coron and El Nido.

Buckle up for a rapid post.

A curiosity persisted during our time in the Philippines.

They are a nation captivated by the use of kitchen roll.

Staff would encircle our cutlery in kitchen roll before handing it over.

Want a beer? The waiter will plug the gulf from removing the bottle cap with a bespoke kitchen roll crafted cork.

It stuck out for how ubiquitous it was. Kitchen rolling was practiced at classy establishments and local eateries. From Manila to far-flung remote isles.

It’s like a successful Plenty salesperson retired there. Bizarre. I was very on board with it. As a tissue magpie I can’t relax unless I have the best part of a roll in my pocket, and it provided ample supply. But Laura is in charge of pre-laundry pocket checks after a few disasters, so was less in favour.

Siquijor was our tropical base for a few days. Rumour had it that turtles hung around the beach near our accommodation. So we spent a few days snorkeling by day and supping cocktails whilst taking in the sunset by night. Ideal:

Laura got a brief sighting of a turtle, but alas they didn’t hang around much. The snorkeling was top notch, and it was great to see some healthy coral.

We popped to Coron after that, Philippines answer to Hollywood:

It was a slog up the hill to go see the sign:

But worth it for the sunset:

The main event here was a trip to the surrounding lakes and lagoons.

Most people do this as part of a group tour on a proper boat. In our independent wisdom we decided to visit by hiring a kayak. It was a great adventure, meant we could visit the stops on our own timetable, and slashed the cost by at least half.

Here are some pics:

It was hard work on the way back. The giant Coron sign provided an excellent navigation aid though 🥸

Our final stop was El Nido. Buoyed on by the success of our previous boat bout, we got involved with another self-guided kayak trip:

It was great, but we wanted more. There were many islets only accessible on a group tour, so we booked ourselves onto one.

Here are some pics:

The crew took great pride in pineapple carving:

On our penultimate night we got very involved in a happy hour, and found a live band pumping out lots of classics:

Confession time, we tried very little Filipino food. We discovered there were scores of restaurants that made incredible Western food. What’s more it was super-duper cheap.

Laura is the biggest Parmigiana fan outside of Italy, and has sampled many in her time. She didn’t expect to have the best ever near Cebu airport, and is still talking about it a month later.

The Philippines were exceptional. They preside as our top destination thus far. It’s a literal paradise, and we’ll always remember it for our first turtle encounter.

Our advice for anybody tempted to visit is to stick to a few spots only. It takes a lot of time, money and energy to get between the islands. And make one of the spots Moalboal - it’s even accessible by land from an international airport!

Tune in next time for our jaunt into Indonesia, and find out what on earth happened here:

I failed to get a photo where you can see the whole Coron sign. Coron skyline image by Matt Kieffer used under CC BY-SA 2.0.