A holiday is a fantastic thing... and one on the Island of Cabiloa is well worth braving Manila airport for. After an hour in the air the dark patches of land appear, ringed with coral reefs.
The flight lands in Tagbiliran, the only city on Bohol. The squat old building could be at home anywhere in Africa, ranging from Zaire to Zimbabwe. From there it is an hour to Loon (pronounced Lu-on). There a little boat took us to our holiday resort. It is a charming putter through the calm tropical waters on a narrow vessel that delicately balances on outriggers and is powered by a judderie diesel two stroke.
The air is warm and humid, and the sun a metallic yellow as it starts sliding down the firmament. Mary looks relaxed already.
Finally the huts and a-frame houses of Le Estrella Beach Resort come into view. It's palm tree but very little white sand. Cabilao is made from uplifted coral sea bed, and is very rocky and infertile despite the greenery.
We arrived just in time to dump the bags, crack open a San Mig (San Miguel - local beer) and watch the last drags of daylight leech away.
Day two, and we spend it decompressing. The island is surrounded by unspoilt coral reef just twenty meters out, with a drop off to 40 - 50 meters and encapsulated in crystal blue water - bliss. When we aren't snorkeling there is just enough energy to slump on the deck chairs, order a San Mig and recuperate. Then more of the same until the sun sets.
At night, when the tide is low the coral shelf is exposed. All kinds of amazing and bizarre lifeforms come out - things I firmly believed were the sole domain of privileged National Geographic photographers. Turns out they're pretty common, you just have to look (though no less spectacular - I felt like a pom seeing a lion for the first time).
An angry crab. Call it a remnant from my childhood that I never shook, but I love picking up sea crabs (please refrain from snickering), and Cabilao kindly obliges with a wide variety of flesh rending species. Luckily this feller was all bark and no bite, despite the evil looks.
Mary picks up a starfish. They are huge, colourful and varied beyond compare... oh, and also everywhere. I suspect that they wage epic battles with the urchins they prey on, only at the slowest of speeds.
Other finds on our night exploration included a zebra conch (still in shell) and an octopus. A dive master on the reef told us that blue ringed octopus are common on the reef and that the local children play with these deadly animals - only they don't have a bill with which to bite a human so they are virtually harmless. Hmm, think I'll wait for corroboration on this one especially since he was Swiss!
A walk across the island is just amazing. It is very third world, but charming because its dilapidatation lacks decay. The locals are house proud, friendly and very chilled. We liked them a lot... though not as much as the elderly German tourists did.
Among the sites was an old lighthouse, with a panoramic view of the main Cabilao reef, very unimaginatively dubbed the "house" reef. Dive boats gather constantly and offload their rubberized cargo. Mary and I spent hours each day underwater and still we couldn't get enough. The urge to drop off the face of the planet and become scuba instructors or sea hippies was very hard to resist. Then back to watch sunsets. They are event in the Philippines. The sun does not simply drop below the horizon. They are two hour events that keep you transfixed until every last ray has disappeared and it is pitch black. I have decided to bore you with a few of the cliched sunsets pictures, but rest assured that these are just a fraction of the ones we took. The ones you see here were all taken in one sitting.
