Alona Beach and the Bohol Divers Resort in Panglao Island

Alona Beach, Panglao Island

Now that I’m almost done writing the travel journal for my recent Bohol tour, I am saving the best for last. I will now talk about the place where we stayed during this four adventurous days in Bohol.

I always had this impression that Alona Beach is the most scenic beach in Bohol. This well-developed portion of Panglao Island has powdery white sands, crystal clear water, and has lots of hotels, restaurants, and bars surrounding the beach. So what have I observed after staying in this island?

First of all, we came in Bohol during its off-peak season. The island was still beautiful but since it has been raining and sometimes, typhoons hit the island every now and then, it somehow affected the cleanliness of the surrounding. The long stretch of powdery white sand was filled with sea weeds. Maybe I just have high expectations. After all, Panglao Island beaches are one of the most popular beaches in the Philippines. And my masseuse explained this to me - the beach was only highly maintained during summer. But what about the other months? As how I observed it, even on off-peak time of the year, there were still lots of tourist visiting the island – most especially foreigners.

There are so many resorts, scuba diving shops, sand bar and restaurants in Alona Beach. Most restaurants there offered grilled dishes, especially fresh sea food. On weekends, bars and restaurants there added attraction by including bands that played live music.

Dolphin Watching at Panglao Island

It was really hard to take pictures of them...

One unforgettable activity we did in Panglao Island is touring the sea for the exciting Dolphin Watching. The sea tour started as early as 5:00 am, just in time when the dolphins were being fed. The motor boats brought us to the area where lots of dolphins normally showed up. It was really hard to take pictures of them up-close. They bobbled everywhere - mostly on spots where we were far from them. I think they were easily distracted by the coming of the motor boats. Timing is the key here. Anyway, while waiting for the dolphins to show up, I also took the chance to enjoy the rising of the sun, feeling the air touching my face, while in the middle of the sea. It felt like a blessing!

Bohol Diver’s Resort

We booked at the Bohol Divers Resort. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the biggest resort in Alona Beach. We stayed at their chateau rooms. The resort itself is huge and beautiful. I just have some findings on the way they manage the hotel (I have not seen the other rooms, by the way). Unfortunately, the place where my husband and I stayed, left some not-so-good impressions on us.

One thing I'm very particular about the accommodation aside from the room itself is the service. I checked this with the hotel and they confirmed they don’t have telephones connecting to the front desk or to their restaurant. Meaning, if you need anything, you need to go down using the stairs and personally talk to them. Which reminded me, Paul and I were both tired and hungry after our sea tour, and we wanted to order some food. Since they don’t have phones, we personally ordered at the restaurant, and since it would still take time preparing the food, I asked the lady serving us if they could deliver the food to our room. She candidly said they don’t do room service. Okay, so we waited for the food to be cooked and brought it upstairs to our room where we wanted to eat. And yes, the plates? We need to return it to them, I guess. There were other things I observed which I intend not to blog anymore. I just hope the resort would still improve in terms of hotel management and services. Anyway, that’s just my two cents worth.

Bohol Divers Resort Pool Area

On the other hand, the resort was really huge and have lots of potential. I may understand because my friend Tina, told us that it was not like that when they first stayed in Bohol Divers Resort. Which made me ponder, the management might still be in the process of upgrading their hotel.

Beach Fronting Bar

I personally like the pool, the beach-fronting bar, the playground which I thought the kids would really love, and the restaurant where we tried eating our breakfast one morning fronting the beach. By the way, food here are around P150 a set meal per person.

Here’s the contact information of Bohol Divers Resort

Alona Beach, Tawala, Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines
For Reservation, call (+63 38) 502-9047, 502-9085
Email: boholdiversresort@yahoo.com

Alona Beach