For the next part of our trip, we planned to meet up with our friend, Flo, who was coming to the Philippines for a couple of weeks to meet&visit her extended family, and vacation with us.
Our flight from El Nido to Bohol was scheduled to depart at 8:30am but when we arrived at the airport just after 6am, the hall and walkways were packed with unhappy people waiting around with their luggage, amidst chaos. We found our way to an AirSwift agent who explained that all flights since yesterday morning had been cancelled because one of the planes broke a wheel and was stuck on the runway. Result: small airport, 1 runway = NO flights going in or out.
All of the Manila flights were being redirected, so those passengers were all waiting around to be sent (5 hours) by minivan to Puerto Princesa. Our flight had been tentatively rescheduled to later in the afternoon, so we all sat anxiously waiting and watching to see if the mechanics would be able to repair and move the broken plane from the runway, in time for our rescheduled departure. Lucky for us, they managed to move the plane at around 11am, so we were able to fly out later that afternoon 😥
Flo arrived in Bohol a couple of days after us and we stayed on the touristy island called Panglao.
Most of our time was spent around Alona beach, but we did venture out and explore Dumaluan Beach on one of the days.
Dom snorkelled at Alona Beach and manage to find some unique marine life: a colourful sea urchin, a big jellyfish, a sea snake, and a really shy blue fish with white stripes (maybe a Blue Koran Angelfish?). He also saw clown fish, angel fish, star fish, sea urchin, etc.
Compared to other countries, there weren’t many touristy restaurants serving local food here, but we did find some good international restaurants and loved how awesome they were at presenting their food. We discovered "smoothie bowls" which was new for all of us, and we absolutely loved them!
