With an early start of 5am, we were ready and down to the beach front by 5.30. It wasn't quite as busy as we'd thought, and there weren't as many Filipino men trying to sell the Island hoping tours we thought there would be. Eventually, one guy asked us if we had booked a tour, he offered us the complete tour for 400 pesos each which was cheaper than the previous offers so we took it. I liked the vibe of Alona beach, there was one main strip of cafes, restaurant ...

After a great nights sleep, we woke to scrambled eggs and fresh bread, with endless tea and coffee. The hostel price included breakfast and unlimited pure filtered water which was pretty good really. Matt was keen to hire a moped and see a bit more of what Bohol had to offer. We packed our bags up with all the adventure essentials and headed into Alona beach in search of a reasonably priced moped. We dropped our 3kgs of laundry off at a launderette but were inf...

We both had a much needed lie in, before I got up and headed back to the centre where we'd had dinner the night before. We'd managed to find an ATM that didn't charge as most of them charged £3.50 per ATM transaction which would obviously add up eventually. I took out 20,000 pesos which is around £340 so that I also had enough for paying my PADI course in Bohol. On the way back to the hostel, I found a lovely little coffee shop where I bought Matt and myself so...

An early start to a fairly drizzly morning! The weather was still pretty bad but not awful. We didn't need good weather for what we had planned anyway. We were off to swim with whale sharks and I couldn't contain myself with excitement. Alex and Rose were a little reluctant to go at first as they weren't sure if we'd be able to see anything but Matt and I were going regardless, we'd come all this way! Philip had offered to take us to the beach at 5.30am and he ...

Waking up to the ferocious sound of heavy rain thrashing down on the room ceiling kept me awake from about 4am onwards. Why was it raining? I thought it was meant to be the best time of year to come?! On realising Matt had thrown away the last of our water the night before but not thought to purchase any more, he sheepishly got ready with all the waterproofs he owned and headed out to find the nearest shop... what was he like?! The weather looked just awful, wi...