Cebu Island Stay: Bohol Island Trip 2024

I went on a day trip from Cebu Island to Bohol Island. Since a friend was visiting Cebu, I took them to some wonderful tourist spots.

This was my second time visiting Bohol Island. My friend Jeff, a taxi driver I hit it off with last time, lives there. I contacted Jeff right away, asked him to take us on a full-day tour, and we had a great time.

How to get to Bohol Island

It takes two hours by boat from Cebu Pier 1 to Tagbilaran Port on Bohol Island. I'm writing this note as a reminder of how to buy tickets for this boat.

Purchasing tickets in advance online

Things are different from Japan in many ways. If you go to the port to buy tickets in person, they won't sell them to you if it's too close to departure. By 'too close,' I don't mean 5 minutes, but rather an hour. Since the local work culture isn't exactly diligent, Japanese common sense doesn't apply to anything here.

I recommend purchasing in advance online for an efficient boarding process.

I used a boat company called OceanJet. There are several boat companies, but Filipinos have told me, 'OceanJet is the most convenient because they have the most departures.'

Purchase here ↓
OceanJet Ticket Site

You can pay with QR codes or credit cards. Since standard Japanese QR codes don't work, you are effectively limited to credit cards.

At this point, you may sometimes need mobile phone authentication for your credit card. Since I use a SIM card with a Philippine phone number, I cannot use my Japanese phone number. I have to swap out my SIM card to authenticate the credit card.

For this purchase, I paid using my friend's credit card who was traveling with me. With my friend's card, we were able to purchase it easily without any mobile number authentication. I wonder if that's due to a difference in credit card settings?

Check-in on the day

The process to board the boat requires the following four steps.

1. In advance: Purchase ticket on mobile (credit card payment) 2. On the day of departure: Pay terminal fee at the port (P30) 3. On the day of departure: Check-in 4. Boarding: About 15 minutes before departure

1. In advance: Purchase ticket on mobile (credit card payment)
With this advance task, you keep a ticket like the one below on your mobile screen.

On the day, various ticket vendors will call out to you at the port, but you can safely ignore them completely. Even if they follow you and call out, if you say, 'I already have a ticket,' they will shift their attention to other customers.

Next, people soliciting for Bohol Island tours will swarm you. Just say, 'I've already booked our tour.'

Now, the screen I saved on my phone in advance is as follows.

Port staff will ask you to show this screen about twice. There is no way they can read that much information on a phone screen, so just pretending to show it is fine.

I went with a friend, so I had round-trip tickets for both of us, totaling 4 tickets. It is impossible to read the outbound ticket with my name on it in an instant.

But it is okay. As long as it is conveyed that you have an OceanJet ticket, you can easily pass through port entry and security checks.

2. Day of arrival: Paying the port entry fee (P30). There is a counter somewhere in the port that says to pay 30 pesos as an entry fee, so find it and pay. If you cannot find it, go to the check-in counter, and they will kindly tell you, 'You haven't paid the entry fee yet, so pay it first. The location is over there.'

3. Day of arrival: Check-in. The ticket notes say, 'Check in 1 hour in advance, otherwise it may be canceled,' or 'Show your ID at check-in.'

The travel site also stated to bring your actual passport, not a copy.

In reality, I was never asked to present my passport either going or returning. Also, I checked in 1 hour early on the way there, but 30 minutes early was fine on the way back. The locals were clearly checking in at the last minute (5-10 minutes before).

However, this is only if you have purchased in advance.

When I bought tickets from Bohol to Cebu port at the counter instead of in advance last time, Jeff, a taxi driver living in Bohol, told me to buy them 3 hours in advance.

Private Taxi Charter

I chartered a taxi this time as well. The main tour is as follows: Tagbilaran Port -> Baclayon Church -> Chocolate Hills -> World's smallest tarsier -> Lunch at a stylish restaurant -> Man-Made Forest -> Loboc River -> Panglao Island -> Alona Beach & Henann Resort -> Tagbilaran Port to Cebu Port.

The advantage of a full-day charter is that you can talk a lot with the driver. They tell you about the history of Bohol and Cebu Island, and explain each landmark.

They will tell you things like, 'There are 1,776 hills scattered across the Chocolate Hills, spanning four areas,' or 'They are called Chocolate Hills because they turn green in the rainy season and brown in the dry season.'

Jeff told me, 'There are 7 direct flights a day from South Korea to Bohol Airport (Panglao Airport).' No wonder Bohol Island is full of Koreans.

Could it be that South Korea even built the airport? Unfortunately, there are zero direct flights from Japan. I felt the difference in economic growth as national power from this as well.

Even though it was a charter, it was 2,800 pesos for two people. That is about 3,000 yen per person. Even including the 4,000 yen round-trip boat fare, it is quite cheap.

Looking at tour application sites written in Japanese, they cost 20,000 to 25,000 yen per person, and they don't even take you to this many places.

Negotiating in English is necessary, but the benefits of a private charter are very significant.

Photo

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