We caught a ferry to leave Siquijor very early in the morning. Since there weren’t any ATM’s on the island, I was crunching the numbers to get to Bohol province. I settled up our scooter bill with dollars – it was so early that the woman just asked me what the exchange rate was and took my word for it as I handed over some dollar bills. At the dock, I forgot to calculate in one last charge – the port fee! I used my last dollar bill to pay for this and we boarded a ferry to Bohol.

Once on Bohol, we took a tricycle taxi to the mall. I know this sounds lame, but after being on fairly remote islands in the Philippines for the past couple weeks (some with no power throughout the day), it was nice to just bask in the all the mall’s commercial glory (and use the ATM as we were now out of cash). After a ride to Alona Beach, Shannon posted up at a beach-side bar while I went to find a place to stay.

Most places on the beach were all booked up for New Year’s Eve, but I managed to find a room with a balcony that looked out on the beach called Trudi’s Place (my mom’s name is Trudi too!).

We dropped our bags and hit the beach for some sun and snorkeling.

Here’s a couple pics from snorkeling just off shore.

At night, fresh seafood restaurants set up their tables and catches on the sand.

We had a delicious dinner to end a wonderful first day here.

Here’s some maps for a little context to see where we are now.