At the beach for 6am wasn't all that bad. The sun rise crept up on our left and the water looked inviting as it crested over the white sand. The only people around us were bangkur sailors, scrambling towards tourists trying to get them to take up their identical day trip. One thing we noticed (which I applauded) was that when they realised you were already in negotiations with another banca owner they would walk away and leave you to it, not wanting to step on the toes of other sailors or steal away their fates. This was a far cry from other countries we have visited where salesmen have clambered over each others' corpses to make a deal.

On our banca, The Holy Child, we were accompanied by a Chinese couple and a group of Filipino youths that were in Bohol on holiday. The captain ominously started handing out life jackets which everyone put by there feet and refused to don, fearing that their street cred would be ruined.

Our first stop, once the heinous motor had started to pound our ears, was to dolphin watch a short way off of Alona Beach. Having seen dolphins once on our travels and a huge fleet of them on the cold waters of Weymouth we found that we weren't quite as keen as everyone else to get a peek of the graceful creatures. Captivating as they are to watch, we were both really looking forward to Balicasag Island where the illusive Green Turtle would hopefully be spotted!

Dolphins briefly seen and enjoyed, the booming engine kicked up a few more gears and chugged us towards Balicasag Island. The wind seemed to whip around the island and kicked the waves up making for a bumpy and noisy arrival, the previously discarded life jackets we're artfully and shrewdly pulled on. Balicasag is actually a marine natural reserve and only boasts a 600 meter diameter. It is described as a haven for snorkelling and diving enthusiasts and didn't disappoint in anyway!

When you arrive on the island you are pestered to pay for a small banca to take you to where the turtles are, this 'special' area is apparently where every single boat goes when it is filled with enough paying tourists. Having read about the island in others' blogs I suggested that we simply walk along the beach ourselves and pick a spot without a guide. This I would recommend as we avoided the crowded, netted area (where incidentally no one saw a turtle) and got what seemed like the ocean floor to ourselves.

As it happens, the turtles were grazing on the ghostly looking grass on the sea bed in sporadic but frequent bursts. I had feared that we wouldn't be able to find one and would be forced to leave disappointed, but here they were, seemingly unperturbed in the slightest by our presence. They were beautiful creatures. Their large fins, butter coloured bellies and mottled shells were something that I had only seen in pictures and to see them within touching distance a nonchalant foot away going about their day was extraordinary. Curiously, despite making no apparent effort they could glide away from you and disappear into the deeper water whilst you floundered behind, trying to keep up with them. One of the turtles we saw was particularly huge and about 5 foot in length, his shell was a deep brown compared to the younger shells that had a vivid yellow circumference. The turtles are said to have travelled a staggering two thousand miles to get here from the western coast of Brazil! I am glad that they made the journey, it was fantastic to finally see some!

After the excitement of swimming with the Pacific Greens and sharing my syrup pancakes with some local children we set out once more, this time for Virgin Islands. The island was basically a very small sandbar whose shallows waters had to be navigated with a long bamboo pool from the stern by our captain's son.

When we eventually got there through the labyrinth of rocks and weeds we we greeted by small gazebos that had been erected to house small barbecues and drink stands. We inspected them after we had ogled the hundreds of starfish that were warming themselves in the island's shallow waters and were horrified at what was going on. The barbecues were cooking solely locally caught sea produce and what they had on offer was utterly vile. There were people sucking things out of shells dangling brown slim into their chops - the whole thing made we want to gag. In various buckets there were sea cucumbers, various sea snails, whelks and sea urchins that, when cut open, poured out disgusting yellowy-green water and what looked like snot was scraped off the sides, placed in a paying persons' hand and they proceeded to slurp it up! With my stomach turning I marvelled at how the Asian people there were clambering over one and other to purchase the dwindling supply of horrors! Feeling myself going pale I ordered a deep fried banana and staggered back to our boat.