1. Loboc River Cruise Restaurant – Something not to miss for any tourist of Bohol, the buffet meals of the Loboc River Cruise Restaurant provide the ultimate unique dining experience. Sample all favorite Filipino delicacies on a floating raft along the river and be serenaded by a local band onboard.
2. Mira Villa Restaurant – For another unique dining experience, the Mira Villa Restaurant lets its guests choose their own seafood from a nearby seafood market and have them cooked inside their restaurants. Guests will be able to control the freshness of the seafood as well as the quantity and quality required of their dishes.
3. The Pyramid – Visitors of Alona Beach will find The Pyramid conveniently placed along the waterfront, giving its guests a great view of the beach and its cool sea breeze. Diners will then be able to taste the best of both the local and western type of cuisine.
4. Trudi’s Place – If you prefer a terrific ambiance with affordable budget meals, head on to Trudi’s place. This humble restaurant is located along Alona beach and is well-visited by both locals and foreigners alike.
5. JASZ Restaurant – One of the many dine-by-the-sea restaurants in Bohol, JASZ serves a fresh seafood menu amidst a tropical and homey ambiance. Dine by the candlelight in a nipa and bamboo hut for that romantic night out.
6. Chicken Ati-Atihan – Made popular by Bohol’s Tagbilaran City, their barbecued meals and flaming spicy sisig are reasonably priced, and come with the best buko halo-halo in town for dessert.
7. Hayahay Pizza – Wanting Italian food along the beach? Hayahay Pizza serves great portions of yummy pizza right along the Alona Beach. Choose to dine Italian in tropical style with their yummy thin crust pizza.
8. Garden Café – The interesting part of this café is that the waiters are deaf, which requires you to write down your orders on an order sheet from the menu. This western-themed restaurant serves the best mouth-watering steaks with extravagant onion rings on the side.
9. Payag Jo’s Chicken Inato – Payag Jo’s Chicken barbecue is a favorite among the locals in Bohol. The Chicken Inato here makes use of different Filipino methods of cooking along with seasonings to produce an exotic and delectable taste only found in Bohol. Make sure not to miss these local delicacies as the food is reasonably cheap.
10. Kusina’s Nativo Ihaw-Ihaw & Restaurant – For great-tasting native Bohalano grilled dishes, head on to Kusina’s Native to sample grilled seafood stuffed with locals herbs that are cooked in leaves. Also, taste native Filipino dishes cooked in coco milk for an even more exotic dining experience.

These ten restaurants have the best-tasting dishes in all of Bohol and they are located all around the city and even along the beach for your convenience. Make sure not to miss any of these to satisfy your eating and drinking in Bohol adventure.

A visit to the town of Loboc is never complete without having to experience a cruise along the river either on small bancas or on any of the famous floating restaurants. The river cruise can either begin at the Loay Bridge which can be found at a nearby town or at the Loboc town proper, where many river cruising vessels can be found. It usually takes about an hour to get back and forth along the river. Visitors can even rent a motorized or non-motorized boat (or a ‘banca’, as the locals call it) to enjoy the lush tropical vegetation and be one with nature while inhaling the cool breeze provided by the river bank. But for an even more unique experience of the river, take the floating restaurant and enjoy a unique dining escapade on board a water vessel.

Floating restaurants have become a major thriving business for the town as it has contributed much to the booming tourism industry of not only Loboc but the entire province of Bohol as well. A classic local dining experience is offered by the cruise restaurant where travelers can enjoy a sumptuous Filipino cuisine buffet for only 280 pesos per person. A spread of local delicacies and the best tropical fresh fruits can also be enjoyed by those onboard. Even better, dining guests are serenaded by an in-boat band that plays a variety of local songs and can even take in song requests of the passengers. Choose your boats wisely as each boat is dedicated to a specific music genre. That way, you can enjoy an unforgettable musical cruise down the river while indulging in a lavishing meal.

The river cruise in Bohol reaches a stopover point that brings its passengers to another unique musical experience by the riverbank. Guests will be able to enjoy a musical performance by a rondalla group with a sheltered floating cottage as its stage. The rondalla band plays Bohalano folk songs and other Filipino novelty songs mostly in Tagalog and Cebuano.

The great thing about the river cruise is that passengers will be able to notice how full of life the Loboc River is during the trip. Locals riding on small bancas flash their wide smiles to the passengers on board as they go about their usual activities. Brave children climb up surrounding palm trees and plunge into the river, often demonstrating rather impressive stunts. The floating restaurant definitely provides a good glimpse of how much the river provides to the daily life of the people of Loboc.

Loboc offers daytime and nighttime cruises which are equally spectacular in experience. There is no doubt that the Loboc River Cruise in Bohol provides a wonderful time to travelers who want something to look forward to when visiting the region.

Below is a list of the must-do dives of the various island chains in Bohol:

1. Balicasig Island – This island is internationally famed due to the great variety of marine life that can be sighted in the surrounding waters. The cascading coral wall is the ultimate dwelling place of many marine species, which is what has made this isle so famous.
2. Pamilacan Island – Rich in various types of schools of fish such as the mackerel, tuna, surgeon fish, groupers and snappers, the Pamilacan Island is also a great spot for whale and dolphin watching.
3. Puntod Wall – The Puntod Wall is the perfect site for shallow dives and underwater photography. Located at the eastern edge of the Puntod Island, this dive sanctuary is celebrated for its coral walls, great slope dives and amazing sea life.
4. Duljo Point – The Duljo Point is generally calm but there will be times that diving may be accompanied by strong currents. Divers will be mesmerized by attractive sponges, beautiful corals and huge sea fans. Some instances may even find divers swimming with pelagic fishes, bat fishes and surgeon fishes.
5. Kalipayan – Also known as the Happy Wall and located in the Panglao Island, the Kalipayan is an excellent diving spot for amateur divers that want to reap a rewarding experience. The site boasts of its biodiversity and gorgeous limestone and coral reefs.
6. Habagat Wreck – Located off the Panglao Island at the Danao beach, the Habagat Wreck is characterized as an easy dive that is ideal for snorkeling. The diving site is home to interesting cardinal, lion and bat fishes. If divers proceed down the slope, a boat wreck can be seen that sank as recently as the year 2000.
7. Cabilao Island – The Cabilao Island is a few hours’ boat ride away from the Alona Beach. The island is well-protected by palm trees with well-preserved coral reefs making up the thriving sanctuary of underwater creatures.
8. Napaling – This dive site is perfect for snorkeling activities and underwater photography. Divers will be amazed by the magnificent overhangs and the dazzling caves filed with squirrelfish and soldier fish.
9. Cervera Shoal – The Cervera Shoal is also known as the Spaghetti Reef or Snake Island due to the abundance of sea snakes in the area. The farthest Bohol dive site found south of Panglao, it has a steep slope with a 300-meter wide shoal and is a haven for sea snake colonies.

Exploring the nature island of Bohol can be done in limitless opportunities, may it be on land or in sea. The rich marine life that encourages scuba diving in Bohol is a reflection of how blessed the province is.

The best spot to go whale and dolphin watching in Bohol will be surrounding areas of the Pamilacan Island. The small island is located at the center of the Sea of Bohol and can be reached by boat about an hour away from the Baclayon Church. The island is famous for proficient whale and dolphin hunters that have now turned into whale and dolphin guides. Most of these whale guides have proven to be experts as evident in the skeletal remnants of whales and other marine mammals mounted on their house walls. Indeed, the whaling industry on the island prevailed for several generations. In time, established laws were strictly enforced to preserve the marine life and forbid any form of dolphin and whale hunting around the Pamilacan Island. Local dolphin and whale hunters still continued to grab opportunities related to their level of expertise, and ended up as guides instead. They have become extremely skilled in locating underwater mammals with accuracy even without the aid of any GPD equipment. The now marine sanctuary is well visited by foreigners and continues to be a main attraction of the town.

The best time to go whale and dolphin sighting is during the months between April to June when the waters are calm and clear. The activity also makes it safer and more convenient to tourists. All the whales and most of the dolphins are mostly active during night times and in the early mornings, which means the best schedule for the trip is at dawn. Dolphins are usually spotted at any point of the day. Whales, however, are much harder to find as they come out irregularly. Among the smaller-sized species of whales, the melon-headed whales, the pygmy killer whales and the short-finned whales are usually spotted in groups around the island. The bigger types of whales such as the Byrde’s whales and the sperm whales can only be sighted by a few lucky ones.

Whale and dolphin watching in Bohol is a fascinating and unique activity that should be part of the itinerary of every visiting tourist. Travelers may avail of packaged whale and dolphin watching tours from travel agencies found in Tagbilaran City and in the beach resorts of the Panglao Island. These packaged tours are usually reasonably priced and include the trained and experienced guides of the island. Going whale and dolphin watching is an exciting way to marvel at the underwater life as it surfaces, and it will surely lead its visitors to develop a more caring and compassion attitude for the creatures who share our earth with us—under the waters.