3 Weeks Island Hopping in the Philippines

The first stop on our trip around the world was the Philippines. We originally intended to start in Australia & New Zealand, the Philippines was likely not going to be a part of our path. But fate intervened, and we ended up starting here… So glad we did! Our route through the Philippines was based on islands we wanted to visit, coupled with the logistics of traveling to them via island hopping. We visited Manilla, Bohol, Palawan (Coron & El Nido) and Boracay.

Manilla December 6-7, 2022

With a one way ticket to the Philippines, this was our first official stop on our Round the World adventure. After a 13 hour flight from Minneapolis to Seoul South Korea and 4 hour leg to Manilla, we landed. We had an overnight layover, before catching our early morning flight to Bohol. Belmont Hotel was quiet and the bed was comfortable. We slept well & woke up to catch the final leg on our journey to Bohol.

Bohol & Panglao December 7-14, 2022

Philippine Air got us to the islands safely & without incident. Bohol & Panglao are two islands, connected by a bridge. We rented a car to explore the islands at our leisure, which was an excellent choice. Traffic wasn’t too crazy, signs mostly in english and the driving is on the right side of the road.

We had a week booked at Bird of Paradise, a small 8 room hotel with a fabulous huge pool tucked away in a quiet neighborhood in Panglao near Alona Beach. The first day we were feeling a little jet lagged, so we hung out at the pool, took naps, watched a gorgeous sunset from our balcony and ate dinner at BoP.

On day two we wandered into town to explore, strolled along Alona Beach & Jordan had his first Jollibee experience, a very popular fast food joint in the Philippines… Anthony Bourdain swore by the spaghetti with gravy.. Sorry, but no.. Never again Jolibee. We stopped at our neighborhood coffee shop Overgrown Cafe & Bar, met the owner Kim & had our first of many delicious caffeinated drinks. He gave us some great advice on places to visit around the island. After, we headed to Kim’s first recommendation, Bohol Beach at the South Palms Hotel to catch some morning sun & check out the water. We used our masks and snorkeled a bit before rain clouds appeared. We also discovered Toto e Pepino for dinner, such good pizza! It’s owned by some Italian guys, who are very passionate about the dough.. We ate and went to bed happy.

The next day we needed to work off the pizza so we went to Bob Fitness Gym. Very basic with everything we needed, a resident cat and open air which was nice. The weather wasn’t looking great so we decided to head to the Island City Mall to escape the rain & check out local life. Malls are definitely thriving in the Philippines (and everywhere in SE Asia as we would later come to learn). This one was quite large, 4 floors, food courts, shopping and tons of people. After wandering around, playing some arcade games and snacking on all things mall food, we caught a movie…

Jordan and I are avid movie goers at home, so one of our goals while traveling was to experience a movie in every country… Our first did not disappoint. On screen, Puss N Boots 2, mainly because it was the only movie showing in English at the time. Heading into the theater, there was a large ‘no spaghetti’ sign on the door… Apparently it’s acceptable to bring food into the theater, but not that messy spaghetti! Sorry not sorry Jolibee. As we waited for the show to start, several families with small children entered the theater. The screen came to life, and the national anthem began playing with images of President Bongbong in various heroic poses & grand outfits. Everyone stood up for the anthem, so we did too… When in Rome? After the majestic display of power was over, a very lighthearted commercial for industrial farming came on with baby chickens, oinking pigs, families at the dinner table and factory line workers in white coats all smiling along to a catchy jingle... Jordan and I just looked at each other in disbelief, were we in the twilight zone?? The finale of pre-movie entertainment was a preview for the movie ‘Megan’ which is about an Artificial Intelligence (AI) doll that comes to life and murders children in dark scary forests… The preview was quite graphic, and mind you, we were in a Puss N Boots movie so the audience was small kids.. Needless to say we heard some parents gasping and children’s whimpers from behind us. …Philippines Movie Experience - 90% Fresh Tomatoes! 🍅

After the mall we stopped at the Bohol Bee Farm because we’d heard the food was great, and there was a bit to see wandering around. This place was really cute, funky buildings, sculptures, on the ocean. We enjoyed wandering around and getting lost. We ended up at Toto again, early night, still jet lagged.

We signed up for a free diving course with Blue Freedom Apnea for our 4th day. This was such a cool experience… Classroom theory to start, then some ‘dead man float’ pool practice (I held my breath for 2 minutes 28 seconds!), and finally off to the ocean for real free diving. …The water was definitely not as calm as the previous day, so I struggled (along with the others in the class) to go down and hold. Jordan however was an absolute rockstar and made it to 40 feet (13 meters for our Metric friends). After a long day, we went to Lemon Garlic for dinner, then back to Overgrown Cafe for an espresso martini with Kim. We were buzzing from great conversation & the espresso martini and headed to Bamboo Place for a few more drinks and music. We met a couple of fabulous frenchies, Camille & Paul, who were also going to Coron the following week. We drank, laughed, played cards and made plans to meet up in Coron.

Woke up the next morning with a slight hangover, but managed to drag our asses to Hinagdanan Cave. We swam snorkeled in the deep cave lagoon with birds swarming everywhere above us. It was a little creepy, a little bird poopy, but such a cool experience. There was a woman selling the best mango smoothies and some sort of crunchy fried bananas next to the parking lot.. Delish. On the menu that evening was yet another Toto e Pepino dinner, cacio e pepe for me this time… Side note, we were NOT huge fans of traditional philippine food so pizza was a nice option. Turned in early so we were prepared for a big day.

Bohol is known for waterfalls, so on day 6 we set off for a hidden gem Camugao Falls. We paid the farmer/land owner a small fee and he led us through rice fields and down trails to the falls. There was only one other couple (from Madrid) with us. We cliff jumped, floated and swam under the falls for a an hour or so before heading back up to our car. Along the way back, the farmer asked me if I was always ‘this big’ and how much I weighed.. I laughed so hard at his bluntness. I’d read about Philippine men being very matter of fact, but this was next level. What was also hilarious was all the men in the Philippines would tuck their shirts up into crop tops, especially guys with big bellies… So every time we would see someone with their shirt tucked up, Jordan and I would sing, belly-belly-elly-elly like a couple of rappers. After the waterfall, we headed to the Philippine Tarsir Sanctuary to check out the tiniest, cutest, oddest and sometimes suicidal creatures that are only found on the island of Bohol. We had to be very quiet and make sure no flashes were on for pictures or video.. If they are stressed out, they will bang their heads on the tree until they die. Not on our watch! We quietly watched to ensure we left with no blood on our hands. We said goodbye to our little manic friends and headed to the Napaling Reef for some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever had. Nemos (clownfish), jellies, blue starfish and crystal clear water.. The best. After a quick snack at a little place near the reef, we went back to Alona Beach to watch the sunset and little local kids running around. Dinner time we decided to mix it up and went back to Bamboo Place for a salad and some Prosecco. Thank you Simone’!

Last full day on Bohol, time for some serious touristy shit. We drove through the Bilar Man-Made Forest (a road that winds through a bamboo forest), and headed to the famous Bohol Chocolate Hills. We weren’t here in the right season for full chocolate colored hills, but they were still impressive. From the viewpoint at the top, the hills reminded me of the scene in The Neverending Story with the turtle Morla, but without the swamp of sadness and Artax death. After the hills, we moved on to one of Overgrown Kim’s favorite places (lol), Sikatuna Mirror of the World. This place was soooo corny but we loved it. Famous landmarks from all over the world, Eiffel Tower, Christ the Redeemer, Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Golden Gate Bridge to name a few. We wandered around and got our fill of cheesy photos and left. Last tourist activity of the day was a Loboc River Cruise complete with a lunch buffet (had oxtail soup, yum!), band and beautiful scenery. We stopped at a house with a stage on the river & watched local men & women dance to music and jump over bamboo sticks with a hop scotch double dutch vibe. After a full day of sights, we headed back to town for a final stop at Overgrown Cafe and a final pizza at Toto… We attained ‘regular’ status because the owners let me go behind the counter to film some serious dough work & brick oven goodness.

Final day, we headed to the port to catch the ferry to a larger neighboring island, Cebu for our flight to Coron. We had a minor freakout moment when one of Jordan’s airpods malfunctioned and we thought his bag was left on Bohol. But all was good, just a delay in frequency. The weather was great so the ferry ride was smooth. Once at Cebu, we grabbed a taxi and headed to the airport. The area around the ferry port was a stark reminder that we were in a 3rd world country.. Little kids running around half naked, sidewalk as a toilet and people everywhere. A stark reminder we were in a 3rd world country. Upon entry to the airport Jordan shrieked with delight when he spotted a Shakey’s Pizza… A beloved pizza restaurant in Minnesota when we were kids, and apparently the first franchise pizza chain in the US. Over the years, it disappeared from Minnesota but apparently is now thriving in the Philippines. The pizza was good, not 10 year old memory good, but good. Farewell Bohol, you delivered just what we needed and a lot more than we expected to start our Round the World adventure.

Coron Palawan December 14-18

We were both very excited to visit Coron, the pictures we’d seen made this place look like something out of Avatar… And it was. We stayed in a private room at the Outpost Hostel Coron, the best food & a rooftop infinity pool with stunning views over Coron Bay. We spent our first full day relaxing in the pool, taking in the views, and chatting with other travelers. We also made fast friends with one of the bartenders, Jazz, who was also a divemaster with Umali Dive Center and hooked us up with an amazing wreck dive experience. That evening we wandered into town to get fitted with our dive gear, and after we went into the town square where a huge Christmas market & sporting events were happening. We tried all the foods, and watched local kids play basketball games, and an intense volleyball match.. The crowd was so into it, screaming and cheering. It was awesome. Singing is huge in the Philippines, everyone will tell you their dream is to be a singer in Vegas, or on American Idol. There was singing coming from one of the buildings, so we wandered in and there was a choir of ladies, dressed in Santa hats singing Christmas songs. After that we heed to The Brewhouse, which was basically a stall in a food hall style place, for some beers and food. There was a cover band playing a mix of 1990’s songs, they were good! Took our first Trike ride, which was an adventure… They are basically motorcycles with an enclosed sidecar attached. They fit 2-4 westerners or 5-10 locals. 🤣 Fun first night in Coron.

The next day, Jazz took us wreck diving in Coron Bay through Japanese ships that were bombed out by the US in 1944 during WWII. First we entered the Moravian Maru, a 300 ft passenger cargo vessel. We navigated through the ship slowly, and exited through the blast hole. The next ship we dove was the Teru Kaze Maru, a 90 ft anti submarine craft. There were a few more people around this one so we stayed on the outside of the ship. We also loved the incredible colors of the reef and the cute little clownfish, have never seen coral & colors like these anywhere else in the world. We were fortunate to have good conditions and visibility for these dives, which made for an amazing & eerie experience. Thanks so much to Jazz and Umali for a safe and fun dive! Check out our full WWII Wreck Dive reel here on Instagram.

Freshwater lakes & bright blue lagoons are the highlight of Coron, so we booked a private boat tour with our frenchie friends from Bohol, Paul & Camille. That morning started off with an amazing sunrise, I was the only one up to see it that day. We started off at the market buying fresh fish and chicken the crew would grill for lunch, then headed to the boat (Bangka as they are called in the Philippines) which was in a neighborhood of houses built over the water.. Plumbing was pretty much a hole in the floor (remember this for later). We set off and visited Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake, Coral Gardens, had lunch at Vivian Beach and the Twin Lagoon. These places were absolutely INSANE. I’ve never seen anything like them, pictures don’t do justice to their beauty. The day was perfect, and definitley worth the extra few dollars to book a private boat… These places got very busy so it was nice to have freedom to go where we wanted when we wanted. As we were finishing the day and pulling the boat back into the neighborhood harbor, the crew man lost his footing while trying to tie up and fell into the water… The captain laughed so hard, ewwww. This water was NOT the kind you wanted to fall into. We tipped a little extra because we felt bad. Back at the hostel, Jordan was wiped out and went to bed. I stayed up and joined a Kamayan (or Boodle Fight) at the hostel with Mia, a fun girl we met on the first day. This is a Philippine tradition where a TON of food (rice, whole fish, pork, fruit & veggies) is laid out on a table in a decorative style and we all gather around and eat with our hands.. Very primal & delicious. After the boodle fight, with a solid base of food, several rounds of games were on tap, along with lots of drinks. Rowdy and fun.

The next morning I needed to shake off the night before, so I climbed 721 steps to the top of Mount Tapyas for a gorgeous sunrise set to the scene of locals watching TikTok & Instagram without earbuds… Apparently the cellular service is the best at the top? We spent the day at the hostel relaxing by the pool & reading. That evening was the final match of World Cup football (or soccer for us Americans). We went up to the rooftop early and played cards, and to grab a good spot for viewing. Camille & Paul joined us at the Outpost Hostel to watch the big France-Argentina match up, Viva la France! The rooftop was packed, and the game was intense. The hostel was set directly above a neighborhood, so the resident security guard kept jumping in front of the crowd when we’d cheer too loudly and ask us to keep it quiet… Good luck to you sir. The match was pretty slow for the first half, but oh the drama during the end. Camille had about a 10 second head start on the game with her phone, so we knew when Paul was gonna lose his shit when France scored, hilarious. Sadly France lost (sorry Paul), but we still had a blast & ended up going out into town for some post match celebrations & partied until 3am at a few of the nightclubs. We said farewell to our French friends, and turned in.

We relaxed pretty much the entire next day, and set out in the evening for an orientation for our Buhay Isla Adventure. Instead of taking flights or a ferry to el Nido, we decided to join a 3 day 2 night island hopping excursion that would take us from Coron to El Nido. I was super pumped for this excursion, but when we arrived to the orientation the representative informed us (in a super long drawn out way) that our tour would be delayed due to weather. We were all pretty bummed, the guide looked at one of the guys in the group, (Tim) and said ‘Please don’t be so sad’… Tim responded without missing a beat ‘I’m not sad, this is just my face.’ Everyone laughed, it was great to break the awkward tension. In the end, you can’t control the weather so most were flexible & agreed to wait a day to go the following when the weather cleared up. That night, we went into town for some ramen & sushi, and headed back to our hostel thinking we’d be spending another day on Coron. Expect the Unexpected is the motto of Buhay Isla...

That morning we decided to hang by the pool, catch up on editing videos and sort the hundreds of photos I'd taken so far. At about 11am, the Outpost front desk rep told us that someone from Buhay was trying to reach us.. The Coast Guard called off their cancellations, our Buhay expedition was leaving in 30 minutes! We packed up quicker than I think we ever have, and scrambled our asses to the departure point where everyone was sitting around in some extreme heat waiting for next steps. We grabbed a few beers and snacks from the market next door and awaited departure. Farewell Coron!

Buhay Isla 3 Days 2 Nights December 18-20, 2022

We met our captain, team & shipmates for the next few days.. Team Wind!

After a safety briefing, we boarded the boat and set out on the journey and were told we’d need to skip all the regular stops along the way because of our late departure. Most of us were ok with this because we’d all done the day tours to see the lagoons and lakes of Coron. That day was a little rough, the swells were moderate in places but we all managed. Met a bunch of fun people, in particular 3 guys from Switzerland; Tim (it’s just my face), Silvan (#1) and Sylvan (#2).. We now refer to them as the Swiss c*nts, a term of endearment. After several hours of cruising, we arrived at the island we’d be spending the night on.. It was dark, the crew dropped anchor about 100 yards offshore and our captain told us to jump in and swim to shore… Umm ok? It was a little creepy getting into the water, but all good, a part of the adventure. Our chef & #2 whipped together some dinner while we all set up in our bamboo huts for the eve. We were exhausted, so after a delicious meal & a few Red Horse beers, we huddled under our mosquito net & crashed almost immediately.

I slept great & woke up early the next morning and watched the sunrise on the beach, gorgeous. Breakfast, then onto the boat for a full day of island hopping. Weather was perfect. While getting back on the boat, I took a step and slipped & fell directly on my ass & wrist… Real nice. Ended up with a massive bruise a few days later. A new running theme, me slipping and falling on my ass. First stop was a little village, we stocked up on more beer (we actually emptied their beer cooler), wandered around the village, made friends with stray puppies, and watched some kids play basketball. On one of the stops, there were some young kids jumping off an anchored boat in a bay. Me, Tim, Jordan and Janco swam over to say hi. They were all very sweet kids, the girl was super nice.. Language barrier but laughing and jumping into the water are international languages. A series of more snorkeling stops, lunch on the boat and finally into our stop for night 2. Apparently it was a different site than usual but it was nice. We ate, gave each other shit, stayed up playing cards, drinking beers and watched the palms sway under the stars, a gorgeous night. Jordan and I went to bed before it was too late, which turned out to be a good choice because the next day… sweet baby Jesus.

We woke up to some intense wind & weather but we needed to get to El Nido so off we went. The swells were about 10 feet, and everyone on the boat was ‘feeling it’. I stayed up top with Jordan, #1 and Tim to keep the fresh air coming. The crew was down below singing, smoking cigs and kept smiling & laughing each time a giant wave hit, while we stared at the outriggers fully expecting them to snap off at each impact. It was quite the journey. We later learned the coast guard shut down all the boat tours for the day, but we were the exception. El Nido is close! (IYKYK), once we saw the cliffs, everyone took a sigh of relief. We stopped at one beach, but most folks were still recovering from the intense ride so it was a short stop. Jordan and I jumped into the water and swam to shore. It was nice to be on land for a bit. We ate lunch and set off for our final stop, El Nido. We all took the ‘kayak ferry’ over to shore, and were pleasantly surprised when the company rep came and refunded us half the cost of the tour. It was a nice gesture since we basically missed out on 2 days of ‘island hopping’ due to weather. We ended up giving all of the refunded money to the crew as a tip. They were incredible, and definitely earned every penny. Buhay Isla was a wrap.. We exchanged contact info with everyone, made plans to meet up with the Swiss c*nts and set off into town to check into our hotel.

El Nido Palawan December 20-26, 2022

Originally I’d booked us in the Frendz Hostel, but since we’d be in El Nido over Christmas & we’d been roughing it for a few days, I changed plans and we splurged on the Last Frontier Beach Resort. We checked in, unpacked our clothes and went to Bella Vita El Nido, a yummy little Italian restaurant that was right next door and on the water. Italian food is definitely an international thing… Almost everywhere we’ve been, pizza is available. We were absolutely exhausted so we crashed for the night.

It was raining when I woke up, so I left Jordan at the resort and went into town to find a coffee shop where I could use the wifi and edit some video footage. I stumbled across Hama Coffee El Nido. It was perfectly minimalist, with great coffee, gorgeous views and fast wifi. After that I swung by the Frendz Hostel to grab a bite to eat and ran into #1.. We chatted for a bit and made plans to meet up later that night. Bella Vita again for dinner, then back to Frendz Hostel to meet up with the guys. After kicking Linus & #2’s asses in a heated game of beer pong, we wandered over to a little karaoke bar and met up with a few other guys from Texas. A chorus started when Sweet Caroline came on, I signed up for some Bohemian Rhapsody and we ordered Red Horse beers by the bucket. Full of beer & karaoke, we all wandered over to another club for more drinks and dancing. Tim & Jordan did a suicide shot (snort the salt, shoot the tequila and squirt the lime in your eye). More drinks, music and dancing & the night started getting hazy. We said our goodbyes, made plans to rent a boat for lagoon tours, joked about meeting up in Switzerland and hopped into a trike back to our resort. Based on a hazy memory & partial video that Jordan took in the trike, we were home by 2am?

The next morning was rough, I woke up half drunk looking like Andre the Giant (IYKYK), keeping it classy here. It was Christmas Eve so we had no problems laying around, getting a takeout pizza from Bella Vita and watching movies. Jordan was starting to feel an ear infection coming on, likely swimmers ear from all the free diving on Bohol. We tried to book a private boat tour with the Swiss guys, but the weather was still crap and the Coast Guard had everything shut down. The shit weather continued the entire time we were in El Nido.. Thankfully we were in a nice resort with plenty of places to relax.

Christmas Day Jordan attempted to see a doctor but they were all closed and/or non-existent. Advil would do. I took a trike into town to grab our laundry, I was now known as Heaven…. Fitting. We FaceTimed our families, wandered the beach, laid by the pool and went to Cala Restaurant for dinner. Delicious food and a great view. The Swiss took off for Siquijor to try some skydiving & scuba, so we vowed to swing by their hometown in Switzerland on our way home… At the time I don’t think they believed we would, but we stayed in touch over the next several months and yes, we did finally make it to Switzerland… That insanely fun time is a whole other post, coming soon.

The next day I was feeling pretty ill (not related to the food), and could barely function but we were off to Boracay. I masked up, took some Advil and hoped for the best… Farewell El Nido, you are a fun town even when the weather sucks.

Boracay December 26-28, 2022

We’d planned to only stay for 2 days, and chose this destination what we thought would be the ease of getting to our next, Vietnam. However, this island was a serious pain in the ass to get to… Flight, taxi, ferry, taxi queue, crowds. Maybe it was because I wasn’t feeling well, maybe it was because I wasn’t as excited for this island due to the overly touristy vibe.

After what felt like a hundred hours, we made it to our cute little hotel The Strand. Great space, with a beautiful pool and at the far end of the White Beach away from most of the crowds.. I was still feeling like garbage, so I laid down & Jordan set out to explore the world famous Boracay White Beach. After admiring the amazing blue water & sand, he stopped at Kasbar & some of the best baba ganoush ever. After a while he returned to check on me, alive, still super sick. Time for bed.

The next day, I was still rough, so Jordan went to Fairways & Bluewater to play a round of golf. First experience golfing in SE Asia. All courses require a caddy, who are always female… His was an older gal named Janie with braces… These are/were apparently a fashion trend, too funny. She didn’t speak a lot of English, but was very blunt if he hit a bad shot, saying ‘oh you hit the ball too far’. Too funny. Later that day I managed to drag my ass to the beach briefly for a swim & some baba ganoush. It was a very pretty beach, but the vibe of the island wasn’t my scene. Felt a little like the Cancun of the Philippines. After an evening around the bonfire at the hotel, it was time to pack and sleep before we headed off to Vietnam.

Farewell Boracay, I’m glad we visited you, but likely won’t be back.