Tuesday, October 18, 2016





Island Hopping


Pamilacan island

 Some of the dolphin and whale watching operators bring their guests to this island so that they can further enjoy their tour. It is nice place to go strolling, swimming and snorkeling. On this island you can find a small chapel and a dilapidated Spanish-era watchtower. Depending on your package deal, you can enjoy your lunch here. Furthermore, you can buy locally produced souvenirs from the locals. If you want to stay in Pamilacan to enjoy the peace and the white beach, there is a resort on this island.


Balicasag island


 Balicasag island is one of the well-known dive spots in Bohol. You can enjoy snorkeling and scuba diving around this islands with its marvelous coral reefs, and spectacular drop-off (underwater wall) up to a depth of 60 meters. The island is surrounded by a white-coral beach, which consists of a lot of big-coral fragments washed ashore. In the middle of the island are two light-houses, one is an old square tower, the other a modern, solar power operated mast. On the South-west of the island, you can stay at the government owned resort.


Virgin island 


Virgin island is an uninhabited islet where you can enjoy a long string of white beach. During low tide, you can enjoy kilometers of white beach but during high tide, much of the beach disappears under the sea. On the island you can find some (wild) cats, they say that originally a fisherman brought some cats to the island, left them behind and feed them when they come back. On this island you can find some trees like mangroves and Pandan trees (Pandanus fascicularis).


 Cabilao Island 




It is located at to the north-west of Tagbilaran. This island is one the diving destination on Bohol. You can enjoy snorkeling and scuba diving around this islands with its marvelous coral reefs. There are three resorts on the island.









Hingotanan Island


Hingotanan is one of the coral islands dotting the north-eastern coastline of Bohol in Central Visayas. It is one of the bigger ones though and the most densely populated. In the late 1970's, due to its swelling population going over 5,000 of about 700 households, a move to split the barangay into two was initiated by the late MR. APRONIANO PADEN who was then a setting municipal councilor of Bien Unido, the island's mother town. The plan of course bears the blessings and concurrence of the local council and the entire Hingotanan populace. The painstaking task of holding meetings and caucuses among the people in getting a consensus to split the barangay hurdled numerous bumps on the issue. Eventually, the sincere efforts of those who were behind it, paid off and a decision was reached. Hingotanan was officially divided into two separate barangays which are now known as Hingotanan East and Hingotanan West.
The unprecedented demand of this product from industrial countries like Japan, Europe and the US reached a fever pitch that eventually opened up the floodgates to a more promising and lucrative industry for the people of Hingotonan who used to depend a lot on fishing as their means of livelihood. More often than not, the daily catch is not always enough to survive them for a week or two of daily sustainance until the next catch. Basically, life in the community was being carried out on a "hand to mouth" existence by most families during those hard times. This seaweed phenomenon has dramatically elevated their lives economically in total contrast with what they used to do and have in fishing. Every able family member of any household in the community are either directly or indirectly involved in the overall cycle in the cultivation of the product, of course with monetary considerations as to labour being invested from its preparation prior to planting, to harvesting and drying for final delivery to the buyers. Consequently, the limited earning capacity of the people on fishing had been satisfactorily augmented and practically made easy and tenable by the advent of this industry. 

Seaweed is a primitive sea plant belonging to the algae family with origins dating back millions of years. It comes in four popular varieties (scientifically known as: cottonii, agar-agar, spinosum and eucheuma). It is an important food in many Asian cultures. Japanese cuisine employs different varieties (such as kombu, laver and nori) for many uses including soups, vegetables, tea, sushi and as general seasoning. It is also a rich source of iodine, an important nutrient. Many seaweeds also provide alginic acid, a jellylike substance that's used as a stabilizer and thickener in a wide variety of commercially processed foods such as ice creams, puddings, flavored milk drinks, pie fillings, soups and syrups. The second largest producer of seaweeds in the world after China is the Philippines where the cultivated varieties are vastly produced in commercial quantities and accounts for 30% of the world supply. Hingotanan and Dawahon share about 35% of the country's total production. The most common variety being cultivated here are Cottonii (Kappaphycus alvarezii) and Spinosum (eucheuma denticulatum) which together provide about three quarters of the world production. They grow at sea level down to about 2 metres. Seaweed is normally grown on nylon lines strung between bamboo floats and harvested after three months or so when each plant weighs around 1 kilogram. The shallow waters along the Dawahon Reef was found to be perfectly suitable in the cultivation and farming of this marine plant commercially.

After harvest, the seaweed is dried, baled and sent to the carrageenan manufacturer. There the seaweed is ground, sifted to remove impurities such as sand and washed thoroughly. After treatment with hot alkali solution (e.g. 5-8% potassium hydroxide), the cellulose is removed from the carrageenan by centrifugation and filtration. The resulting carrageenan solution is then concentrated by evaporation. It is dried and ground to specifications. On top of these God given bounties, the island is also blessed with intellectual abundance in reference to its numerous professionals who are mostly successful in their individual fields of endeavor locally and abroad. Some are in high places in the government, numerous managers in different private companies and many are successful private practitioners in the field of law, medicine, engineering and entrepreneurship. 

Jao Island 



The biggest of the 13 islands of the municipality if I'm not mistaken. It's in front of Talibon port and only 15 minute ride on a motor boat. And GV Beach is actually the part of the island that faces Talibon port. It has white sand that looks very nice when approaching the island on a motor boat. Though the beach is not really a classy kind of beach, locals still hangout on the place.

The beach is on its best during
 high tide that the sea even touch the cottages. And I would not suggest going there during low tide because of the condition of the seafloor in the area. It suddenly goes deep because ships regularly pass by the front of the beach making the seafloor going down. This creates a great sea current that's very dangerous for the people swimming.So better watch the children swimming and those who don't know how to swim because the sea current is still there even in high tide.










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