BLUE:
I can’t seem to figure out the highlight of our tours in Bohol, Philippines. Is it my brave instinct of wrapping myself with a python? Ziplining? The Floating Restaurant? We get to see the famous Chocolate Hills and the highly-protected tarsiers. Is it dolphin watching on our way to Balicasag Island?Â
Or, is it snorkelling there? The incredibly beautiful beach view of Virgin Island can easily be the highlight. Balicasag is more or less 20-min boat ride away from it.
We hopped out of our boat full of great excitement, but with empty stomachs. It’s was so cool that we can select from the morning catch of fresh seafood and have it grilled while we snorkel. We rented the gears and camera cover for underwater picture-taking, wore our life vests, hopped back in to another boat and off we go with even higher expectation.
Sure, it is fascinating to watch marine life from aquarium tanks. However, having the aquatic animals right at the tip of fingers is even more wonderful, and an absolute fun. Darn great time being my first snorkelling experience.
.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Hands:
There was no specific highlight. The highlight of the trips is for the personal reason that I shared all these amazing adventures and beautiful travel destinations with the woman I very much love. I know romanticism comes out every time I post about my visit back to my motherland, and granted the kind of relationship that we are in, I can’t help but go back to that fact that I enjoyed it most because of the people close to me.
______________________________________________________________________________
We then had another diving experience. This time into a deliciously food. When we headed back to shore, our hot and ready fresh meal was already grilled and served.
  Â
Overlooking the beautiful water, we let our savage nature show and had the plate a fishbone finish.
Please check out my It’s More Fun in the Philippines blog post for pictures of me underwater, the fishbone finish and dolphin watching.
Last call …
I asked if it’s okay for me to sit in front of the boat going back to our lodging. I was tippy-toeing getting to it, but it’s fun to play navigator for a little bit.
_____________________________________________________
Going to Cebu?
FEATURED BLOG
Here is Arvee. He posts everything and anything about Cebu including travel spots, events (look for Sinulog Festival), hotels, to-do’s and how-to-go-to’s. A great ambassador of his birthplace, make him your virtual tourist guide of Cebu.
My favorite is his escapade to Santa FE, Bantayan Island.
___________________________________________________
Here’s more of the fishes, the snorkel and the island…
Categories: Animals, Nature, Philippines, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
The Sophomore Slump 
Philippines is the best place ever…I should know because it’s my birth country (not biased) I miss Cebu the most 🙂
Apir!
Amazing captures, Rommel! Frame-perfect photographs!
Super photography of this lovely place Rommel!
Wow, thanks for the honor my friend. It’s very kind of you to feature my blog here. Thanks for the compliment, I will do my best to live up to everyone’s expectations, hope I won’t fail them, if I do then at least I tried lol.
Glad you like my post about Santa Fe, I really like that place. Hope to come back there as time permits me to.
Great post, like always. Stay safe! 🙂
No problem. Having known your blog that represents Cebu so well, featuring you for this post is almost automatic.
Wow! Thanks for that recognition, I’m very honored! 🙂
Amazing pics… Just love the blue of the water…. I just love seeing and capturing the blues and greens of water in different places…
terrific places and great images of it Rommel
Thanks for liking Youtopiamedia.com Rommel. Your pictures are fantastic!
You always do a great job on your posts, Rommel. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Awesome shots again Rommel! Fab vistas and a meal that looks like a still life painting 🙂
I do eat art. Hahaha. Joke. 😀
I always always love blue. my god i am so excited to see these pictures. I love that picture where you are sitting on the corner of the boat. Congratulations
I know you’ve been traveling as well. I see you enjoyed your trip to Ipanema as well.
Yes that was really interesting and memorable one.
Love your photos! Saw Hundred Islands, but had no chance to take the boat there! I love to snorkel, too!
Have you been to Hawaii to surf and snorkel?
I would love to!!! I have a friend who’s been missing and bragging about the water in Hawaii.
great fotos!
Thanks! esp. for reblogging my posts. Go and re-blog away and spread the word of our beautiful country. Hehe 😀
sure!
Reblogged this on hapiread.
Great pictures Rommel, i love the waters around the Phlippines….so beautiful 😉
APIR! 😀
And who says romanticism is dead. What a great travel blog. Bravo, bravo.
Grazie, grazie. OH the person who said it’s dead was already dead. Bwahahaha
It’s amazing how this post never leaves my Top Posts. ???
Just been to Bohol myself about 3 weeks ago. My second time. And I’m still going for a third one later this year. Amazing place.
What a peaceful setting. Just what I needed on this hot Sunday evening. Thanks for visiting my site and liking, “Bumpin’ at the Bagdad Cafe.”
It’s quite interesting place. Thanks for the visit as well.
By the way, i can’t seem to go click on your site and return. Try updating your link to your gravatar.
Wish I were there! ThanQ!
Hi! Thanks for liking my post “One Way to Rock and Roll…”. I really like your “Blue” post, the colors of the water and sky looks amazing.
Kind greetings,
Marianne
I’ve been to Venice Beach twice this year. I didn’t see that huge wall art at wall. I guess you have better eye than I have. Thanks for visiting.
Your killing me with these photos!! They are amazing and make me long to go there more and more every time I look at them!
You have great adventures and travel destinations yourself, thanks for the comment.
Great photos! The water looks so cool and inviting…can’t wait to go there one day!
If you do, the country tour is not to be missed, but the ocean tour is highly recommended.
Wonderful photos. It looks like a great place for a vacation.
Pictures are awesome! I lived in Southern California for 49 years . All these photos are places that are close to my heart. Thank You for showing them.
The marine sanctuary at Balicasag Island is one of the best places I’ve snorkeled so far. =)
Thanks! Always love to hear from adventure seekers! 😀
lovely pictures. i like the dolphin most. 🙂 well done..
Thanks, mein!
Thank you for visiting my site, rommel! Hope you caught my pictures of the whale sharks in Oslob. Yes, Bohol is a beautiful place. Your pictures are great! 🙂
Liked your blog a lot : )
and the subtitle too: “Read it, like it, reply to it, reblog it, or follow it. Just please don’t steal it.” congrats
Thanks, extaizi!
Beautiful, beautiful post Rommel. Makes me miss the ocean. Locked in the mountains now. Are you certified to scuba? NOW that is a splendid experience. D.
Bwahahaha! I only dove for just a little bit. I didnt even kniw how at the time. I only Nike just do it. 😀
Scuba certification is VERY important, Rommel. Why not sign up for a course in your area. Too many things can go awry when not fully educated…and companion divers can be VERY stupid.
Beautiful photos! I’m new to wordpress 😀 thnx for the like!
Thanks for the visit and more power to your blog. Keep it up! 😀
Great pics! Your pictures made me miss ocean. I got my scuba license in Philippines.
Stunning! It reminds me of snorkelling in the Gulf of Thailand. A former Californian transplanted to the south of France. Thanks for checking out one of my blogs.
Enjoyed you post. Your photos are amazing. Thanks for visiting my blog.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Great pictures! And I love your romantic side. You are a blessed couple.
Thank you for the kind words. Gotta have romantic side! 😀
Super exciting pictures and adventures. Thanks for giving me a like on post a week purple. I spent 6 1/2 in the philippines when I was in the navy but I never got do the things you did in these photos. Jim
Hi mhdriver. 6 and a half, Aye. That’s about the usual deployment length, eh. It’s okay, a lot of military servicemen have better things to offer to the country anyway. 😀
This post is surprisingly inching up as the most viewed and extremely most liked post other than my Freshly Pressed entry.
Thank You so much to everyone who viewed, liked and/or commented on this post.
Keep it coming! 😀
Love your pictures. Never seen such blues. Also love the layout
Thank you, Shiela. I think I’m keeping the layout for a looong time. I had over 100 likes on it now.
Sounds like a great trip – really like the photos.
So far, Bohol is the best out of all my Philippine trips.
It’s always better to share great experiences with someone you love. I’m glad you had a good time.
nice..bohol is my first out of town trip in 2006?…and your pictures make me want to go back there…nice shot..i would try to be a navigator too in my upcoming trips..=p
We have a driver. But I do good job finding my travel destinations… Hihi, only because I have GPS. 😛
I have went to Balicasag Island before and I wasn’t able to capture nice shots like yours! Great job!
Actually, most of the pictures are point and shoot esp. the underwater ones.
Aloha. Your post makes me want to add the Philippines to my list of places to explore.
Add it. Then just hope you get the chance.
Looks incredible!
Incredible, it is.
oh man , you travel a lot , and your photos are pursuing me to travel .
so wonderfully captured ….
🙂
Thanks for the kind words, shammee.
That blue sky is unbelievable. Not enhanced, right?
If it’s enhanced, I would’ve changed the gloomy parts of the clouds and made it all bright. If you look closely at the pictures in the slideshow, you’ll see how the sky is changing from having cotton-candy cloud to clouds of farrow. I can’t exactly remember but it might had drizzle just a tad. Thanks for noticing.
snorkeling is just the simple most amazing experience …
I only started recently and I scolded myself for not having done it sooner.
I mean right here in the Maldives, we are surrounded with all this beautiful ocean full of colorful creatures and I have been living on land most of my life. the underworld is amazing.
Nice post and picture 🙂
We’re on the same boat, so to speak. 😀 I’m not really fish, I meant, a water person. I long to go places where water is good to swim at and where the views are beautiful to look at.
Thanks, amira! 😀
You’re one lucky soul Amira 🙂
I was able to spend several days in Maldives but I didnt go snorkeling, and I regert it now. Wish I could go back to one day.
… Wish I could go back to Maldives one day
This made me want to go to Bohol right now.. Amazing pics.
Do take the ocean tour if you do. 😀
I will go there soon, just waiting for the weather to calm down 🙂
L O V E your photos! 😀 And of course i envy you sooooooooooo much! 😛
You have many travel destination yourself! 😀 Oh well, thanks for the compliment.
What an amazing blog you have it’s amazing! You have been to so many wonderful places. I am a traveler myself, nice to see and read other people’s traveling stories. Glad I cam across your page!
What a cool place to travel. 🙂
Hi, I’ve nominated you for the Adventurous Blogger Award. Please follow the link for more info: http://reenareigns.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/adventurous-blogger-award/
Thank you, thank you. This one’s new and exceptionally special.
Thank you for touring us to Bohol! Fresh fish and rice, yummm. Love the “last call” shot!
Thank you Amy for taking the time to look at my blog. 😉
These pictures are gorgeous! It doesn’t make me want to snorkel, but I’d be happy to sit on the edge of the boat. 🙂
Ahihihi I do look like a voyager there. I was looking for Pleasure Island. Hahaha. Joke. My girlfriend would’ve killed me there.
Well, just get to a wooden boat and ask if you can sit on the front. It would be the most amazing if you do it in the Philippines. Hehehe 😀
Beautiful!!!!
Thank You!
Wow!! Amazing pics! 😉
Thank you!.
Beautiful pics! What camera do you use?
Canon DLSR and a Canon point and shoot. I switch lens depending on the subject.
The PI. Truly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever lived, with the most wonderful people. I am proud that it is part of my heritage.
MABUHAY! : D
Beautiful pictures! You always capture them well.
Thank you so much! And your blog really shows so much nature and serenity.
Been here 2 year ago, Balicasag is the best snorkelling place for me so far! nice blog 🙂
I apologize for the late reply, jenice. Loved Balicasag and would be so so thrilled to go back. Thanks for commenting.
amazing pic, especially the one of you sitting at the tip of the boat, amazing one! we will be in Philippines helping kids soon, maybe you can drop by!
That is amazing, what you will be doing. Glad for the awesome invitation. But sadly, I’m in California now. How I wish to do the same thing you are doing. Have fun and travel safe.
Your bloglink?
Awesome photos! Welcome! Thank you for subscribing to follow my blog. I hope you are encouraged, inspired and enjoy the photos I take of life events as seen through the lens of my camera.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Sorry it took me awhile. I will catch up. Hehe. Your images are awesome as well. Thanks for the support to my blog.
have family ties … great photos ! more photos of food please …
The photographs are simply disarming. I so envy you, ROM.
Beautiful photography. I’d like to visit there someday. And thanks for the likes on my blog. Much appreciated.
hi, rommel. thank you for sharing.
Guess I left the PI too early (1970); I don’t think these destinations had been “discovered” yet. Baguio was the “top” destination for me….and I hear you can’t even rent motorcycles at Burnham Park anymore. Sayang…
Beautiful images… I was supposed to go to the Phillipines years ago, but was in the military at the time and due to regime changes the trip got cancelled… I think perhaps I will put it on my bucketlist after seeing your beautiful images. Thanks for visiting and liking my blog recently as well!
Awful! I guess because of the kidnapping issues. It dissipates now, but still possible. I, myself, don’t plan in those area where terrorism is high, Mindanao area.
This one is terrorism free area.
Your experience sounds and looks amazing! Have you been to Boracay, by any chance? I’ve heard amazing things about Boracay and am wondering how it compares.
Boracay is popular, and for a reason. No, I haven’t gone there. I like it here because we have the beach right outside our hotel and we have it for ourselves. Any Philippines common summer spots is good anyway. 😉
One of my dreams, to one day go back to the many beautiful islands of the Philippines. Snorkeling opens a magical world under the sea and now that my son is bigger, I wish to share that adventure with him. Amazing images Bro. You have a gift and we are lucky to see them through your blog. Happy New Year. Best wishes to your family.