Bohol Thread 21 **Check 1st page for Bohol Map and Ferry Schedules**

[melodymedley]

Going to Bohol (with family) soon.
We booked our tours using Kuya Tatsky/Ate Cathy. Hopefully all goes well.
Anyone who recently stayed in Dumaluan Beach Resort? We got Executive Double and Superior Deluxe rooms. Andaming negative reviews na sa Tripadvisor/Booking.com/Agoda but I still chose to stay here kasi I really really liked the shoreline when I stayed here in 2009. Food is bad, but well, lalabas na lang kami I think sa gabi for other options.

San pala kayo bumili ng water? Wala daw complimentary water sa Dumaluan eh.

[dolphine]

^^ Thank you so much for your recommendations Mama Squeak! Yeah, 2 new red cars ang meron sila And good choice ang Be Grand Nice and Quiet We enjoyed our stay sa room namin, what more pag nasa villa!!! I'm sure plus points yun kapag nag open na yung ibang restaurants and the complimentary shuttle

^ Sis, we bought water sa ICM mall. * Which we later found out na we don't need pala kasi may complimentary water sa Be Grand

[leihin]

^^Sis, I availed Kuya Tatsky's service and stayed sa family room ng DBR din recently. Dinaan kami ni Kuya Tatsky sa small grocery store on the way to Panglao Island. That's where we bought bottled water and snacks.

Here's what I think about DBR:

1) Room is spacious but basic and kinda old. There's refrigerator and 2 complimentary bottled water (in our 4 days stay, we weren't given additional bottles of water but we didn't ask for it anyway). No coffee or tea making facility, no hairdryer, no cabinets. Aircon takes a while to cool the room.

2) Food - I like that they serve breakfast as early as 5am. Sakto sya when you need to leave at 6am for dolphin watching. Breakfast is buffet style but they serve very limited variety. Fruits (watermelon, pineapple, banana), fried rice, plain rice, bread, butter, orange marmalade, scrambled eggs, 1 vegetable dish, 1 meat dish, iced tea, coffee and water lang everyday. Hindi ako nasarapan/natuwa sa breakfast. There was one night when we decided to eat dinner at Dumaluan instead of going out kasi my mom got sick. We ordered from their restaurant and nobody helped us bring the food to our room. They said the food was for take out, not room service. Plus, I asked them to boil dried guyabano leaves (I provided this) in distilled water for my mom. They charged me P50 for the water plus additional fee for the styro cup tapos they used tap water pala.

3) Staff - wasn't impressed with their service. I booked DBR via agoda and 1 extra bed is included in the booking. The receptionist didn't honor this, she said I need to pay extra for the mattress. Pinabayaan ko na lang because I didn't want to ruin the vacation. Check in pa lang, may aberya na agad.

Having expressed my disappointment sa DBR, my family and I still had a good time there kasi ang ganda ng shore. And oh, naenjoy naman pala ng pamangkin ko yung pool nila. Yun na talaga selling point ng DBR.

For meals naman, natuwa naman kami sa DBR grill, short walking distance from Dumaluan Beach Resort.

[ms.cat]

Hi mga sis, i booked with ms.kathy package tour, we're going to stay in DBR2, any recommendations kung san pwede kumain other that their resto? Ang dami ko nabasa bad reviews about DBR, sana maging maayos  na service nila. can someone let them know of all negative comments about their service. First timers pa man din mga kasama ko, Im worried baka hindi nila magustuhan. How many minutes going to BBF from DBR?

[yanah12]

@mamasqueak
what does no shoreline means sa be grand hotel? hehe. Wala silang sand and beach?
I'm considering be grand Sana kasi new hotel, kaya lang i want to have beach to relax and fresh environment.

[mama squeak!]

^wala silang natural beach like Alona's or Bolod's. Yung location kasi nila is on a short cliff tapos dagat na. Parang sa Amorita pero mas mataas lang cliff ng Amorita. So what Be Grand did is they created their own small beach where you can lounge. Then meron silang stairs to the water. You can still swim there yun lang medyo malakas ang alon.

[yanah12]

I'm torn between all these resorts:
Panglao Island nature beach resort
Be grand resort
Bellevue
South palms
Amorita

Any suggestions where to stay?
Price-wise, affordable, lots of eateries, not crowded, great scenic view?

[rocky]

^backread ka sis may nagpost na tungkol jan. yong PINR luma na yan

[melodymedley]

@sis leihin: Thanks for the feedback.  Pareho din pala tayo - Kuya Tatsky for tours and Dumaluan.

Dumaluan:
Stayed here in 2009. Andaming renovations na ginawa na since then, I saw new complexes. We got two rooms na superior deluxe and one room na executive double. Mas maganda talaga yung rooms sa executive double - may ref, although sana may phone and electric kettle sana. Wifi is good, but annoying that the password changes everyday. Hot water in the shower is for real. Aircon is also good. Yun nga lang, isang key lang ang pwedeng ibigay. We were given a spare card pero sa electricity lang yun, it didn't open doors. Improved but medyo "hilaw" pa rin sa improvement.

We didn't have any major bad experience naman with the service. If beach ang habol, I still believe that Dumaluan has the best beachfront in Bohol.

I also like it na laging may lifeguard dun sa pool area - since some part of the adult pool is quite deep.

Attractions
Mag-aso falls - naapektuhan ng earthquake. I recall I super enjoyed this in 2009 and we spent hours climbing and jumping off the falls. Hindi na ganun kaganda kasi hindi na ganun kataas yung falls.

Balicasag Island - I highly enjoyed this too in 2009. This time, maganda pa rin naman but I would say nag-deteriorate na talaga yung snorkelling area.  Hindi naman sira, pero parang nabawasan na ng corals. Still teeming with marine life though.

Virgin Island - I remember this as a very meh and dirty island nung 2009. Ngayon, wow! I think kasi nakita namin sya ng high tide. Ang ganda mag-picture. 

Chocolate Hills - may part ng viewing deck na under renovation kaya hindi masyado na-utilize yung view. If you have budget, try renting the ATV (Php 850 per ATV per hour, 1 person per ATV) para ibang view ng Chocolate Hills. Take note na sasabihin nila na malalapitan daw yung hills pero HINDI ganun kalapit. But close enough to offer an alternative view.

We didn't bother exploring Alona beach na kasi ang mahal ng transfer.

Tours
We got back from our 4-day Bohol trip. We availed the services of Kuya Tatsky/Ate Cathy. I never spoke to Ate Cathy, puro text message lang ang communication namin. We emailed once: I sent the scanned copy of the deposit slip ng downpayment and she emailed me the reservation codes for Dumaluan. There are instances that Ate Cathy cannot answer immediately but I let that slide kasi okay naman yung tours namin.

Our driver for the Panglao tour and Countryside tour was Eric and we give him a 5/5 rating. Very nice and accommodating. He can sense if you want to chat further or if you want some silence dahil pagod na kayo. I like that. For our Balicasag tour, medyo nakakaasar na na-late yung boatman kasi low tide kaya nahirapan sya makarating. Sayang yung aga ng gising namin. Other than that, he way okay naman.


Food
DBR Grill - buti na lang may cheap option na beside Dumaluan. They have meals na nasa Php 100 lang. Shakes cost Php 60-80.

Bohol Bee Farm is a nice place to chill for meals. Ice cream is a pricey Php 50/scoop but very good. They also have a branch na "Buzz Cafe" ang name, less than 10 minutes from the airport. We checked-in our luggage muna tapos nag-trike kami to the resort. Ang totoong fare (according to our driver) is Php 10/head lang but we were charged Php 40 for 3 pax (eh 2 trike kami).

[ms.cat]

Affordable po ba food sa bohol bee farm? Magkano po kaya per head pag lunch dun?  We're planning to visit there this April.

Sa countryside tour, mahal po pala ng Atv sa chocolate hills.

[melodymedley]

^Food in Bohol Bee Farm is around Php 200-300 per dish. One person per dish, pero malaki naman serving. Tapos yung shakes, nasa Php 60-80. One scoop of ice cream is Php 50. May buffet din sila pero namamahalan ako: Php 600 per head. Same rates yung sa Bohol Bee Farm and Buzz Cafe sa Tagbilaran. Yung Buzz Cafe nga, iba yung menu eh.

Mahal ang rental ng ATV pero meron kasi sa ibang province na Php 1,000+ per hour ang rental. Yung ATV rental ay ibang place from the viewing point, so tell your driver in advance if you want to do the ATV. I also advice to come early - mga 9am for the ATV kasi nauubos yun, madaming nagrerent. Get the 1 hour rental kasi yung viewing spot sa 30 minutes, medyo toinks yung makikita.

[mama squeak!]

^I haven't really noticed na magkaiba ang menu of BBF's mall branch (ICM and Galleria Luisa) compared to their main branch at Panglao. I'll be back next week and check ko nga. Their buffet prices also depends on the number of persons. I'll update here when I have their menu.

By the way, we had a new hole in the wall resto discovery last week. It's the La Familia restaurant right in front of the St. Augustine church in Doljo, Panglao (going towards Bellevue). We tried their burgers and they were really good and affordable. Huge servings especially their Ka Boom burgers (2 meat patties @200gms each). Pwede tatlong tao magshare sa Ka Boom burgers nila.

[hakunamatata]

Ok din ba mag stay sa Anda?

[matetreyes]

For me ok mag-stay sa Anda lalo na kung gusto mo na chillax lang talaga.

[yanah12]

^hi, what's Anda?

[shakeshake]

mga sis, worth it ba mag sea tour? meron kayang dolphins ngayong season?

[leihin]

^Saw a lot of dolphins when we were there last week of January. As in sobrang dami. At first I was thinking maybe wala na kami maaabutan na dolphins kasi around 6:20am or later na yata kami umalis sa Bolod Beach. But they suddenly started popping up everywhere. It was super nice. Yung island hopping, Balicasag island and Virgin island lang ang usually pinupuntahan kaya parang hindi sulit. Pero the snorkeling in Balicasag is really something, sobrang buhay ang marine life duon, daming fish. So the dolphins + Balicasag, worth it sya for me.

[rocky]

napanood ko sa reel time yong paggawa ng "asin tibuok" or seasalt. magandang i-sidetrip yon

[rowan]

I just tried booking with Sir Tatsky. No downpayment daw? Ok lang kaya? I fear baka bigla magkalimutan pagdating ko Bohol:(

[simang]

^di din ako nag down sa kanya. Everything was paid after my tour. sinundo naman ako ng tour guide ko sa airport hehe and wala naman akong naging problem.