MikeLigalig.com

Written By STEVE LOHR
Manila Bureau Chief of the New York Times
Published on September 22, 1985

When the beach resort on Panglao Island in the Philippines was founded last year, the idea was that it would be mainly a dive camp - an outpost for seasoned and aspiring scuba divers and snorkeling enthusiasts.

Within a half-hour boat ride of the alabaster beaches there are a dozen diving spots where the colorful diversity of the coral formations and sea life is stunning. The elaborate formations, often shaped like cabbages or intricately branched bushes, are found in green, blue, orange, brown, yellow, beige and other hues, and there are schools of iridescent fish.

It didn't quite work out that way, however, as the resort's management admits. Plenty of people, it seems, are content to bask on the beach, read, relax, swim, play tennis or tour the countryside in this idyllic setting without feeling any overpowering urge to don a mask and flippers. Nondiving Europeans, in particular, tend to stay for several weeks at a time. ''Look,'' one Italian woman explained, ''the place is like paradise.''

That seems only a mild exaggeration. And while the Philippines has its problems these days, Panglao Island, a dot on the map about 400 miles southeast of Manila, is not one of them.

Panglao Island lies at the bottom of the cluster of islands in the central Philippines known as the Visayas. These islands occupy a central place not only in the country's geography but also in its history. Ferdinand Magellan, the first Westerner to find the Philippines, landed on Samar in 1521 by accident, looking for a Pacific route to the riches of the Indies for Spain (Magellan was killed shortly afterward in a battle with tribesmen). In 1565, the Spanish adventurer Miguel Lopez de Legaspi landed briefly in Bohol and signed a blood compact with Datu Sikatuna, a local chieftain. Then Legaspi proceeded to Cebu and claimed the whole 7,100-island archipelago for King Philip II of Spain - and named the country after him as well.

Panglao belongs to Bohol province and is connected to the main island by a narrow bridge. This means that the island's resort, the Bohol Beach Club, is just a 30-minute ride by van along a dirt-and-gravel road from the provincial capital of Tagbilaran. And Tagbilaran is a 20-minute trip in a low-flying propeller-driven plane from Cebu, which, in turn, is a one-hour flight from Manila. So Panglao is a couple of hours, counting the stopover time in Cebu, from Manila, not a couple of days including boat trips, as are some of the other remote islands of the Philippines.

There is a good bit more than the setting and travel convenience to recommend Panglao and the Bohol Beach Club, however. The accommodations are far better than at most other provincial resorts in the country, especially compared with the places on far-flung islands, which can be bracingly Spartan. By contrast, the Bohol Beach Club has electricity and it is on for 24 hours a day, except for occasional brownouts that are common almost everywhere in the Philippines. There are no telephones at the Bohol Beach Club. Some might consider that an advantage - if you've got phones and television you're not in a certified island paradise. The resort does have a two-way radio link to Cebu. So, if an emergency develops, you can get in touch with the outside world.

The 40 double rooms, in 10 thatched cottages, are simple but comfortable. Each room has twin beds, some light rattan furniture, a dressing table, a ceiling fan and a bathroom. The cottages are made of native woods, mostly bamboo and coconut palms. The beach is dotted with parasols fashioned of thick cogon grass hung on conical frames supported by a palm-tree post stuck in the ground, like orderly toadstools. The dining room is open on three sides, overlooking the pool and the beach. The chairs are rattan and the ceiling is a latticework of coconut palm. The dinners are usually buffet style and the food, kept warm in locally made clay pots, is labeled. Three recommended dishes: Adobo, the principal dish of the Philippines, is chicken or pork stewed in vinegar, garlic and soy sauce served with rice. Kinilaw, the Philippine version of sashimi, is raw fish marinated in a vinegar and onion sauce. Lapu-lapu, a type of grouper, is a fish with light, delicate flesh.

The amenities include a tennis court, swimming pool, sail boards, sailboats, diving gear and certified instructors, and two miles of that extraordinary beach with hardly a soul on it.

Panglao is also outside the main typhoon belt of the Philippines, so that even during the rainy season, from late June through August, the downpours are usually confined to evenings and usually last less than an hour. The chances of a vacation, even one of just a few days duration, being ruined by bad weather are extremely slight.

One reason the Panglao beach area now occupied by the resort remained undeveloped for so long is that during World War II, when Japan occupied the Philippines, it was used as a burial ground for Japanese soldiers killed in battle. Fearful of disturbing the spirits of the dead, villagers preferred to settle away from this particular stretch of shoreline. But a Japanese invasion of another sort - by tourists, this time - is under way in the central Philippines, with nearby Cebu as the main staging area.

To many, one of Panglao's great assets is that the Japanese package tours have not yet found it. More accurately, Tokyo tour operators avoid Panglao because the runway at Tagbilaran is too short for the larger planes needed for big tourist groups. Late this month a private airport a mile from the resort will open. Its longer runway will make the island somewhat more accessible. But now, and perhaps for a while, Panglao is a tranquil haven. As a diving site, Panglao's great attraction is the diversity it offers. Along the reef off nearby Balicasag Island, for instance, are giant fan-shaped corals up to 12 feet across - so big some divers play hide-and-seek around them. One coral arch, just a few minutes' boat ride from the beach, is a 15-foot span called the Cathedral. To this novice snorkeler, the surprising thing about an underwater excursion, besides the sheer beauty of the terrain, is that everything seems to be alive and moving. The spines of prickly sea urchins wave at you. Starfish twitch an appendage here and there. A big grouper swims by, trailed by a school of fingerlings known locally as clown fish.

The resort has two instructors certified by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, a United States-based organization that sets standards for scuba diving and instruction. The Bohol Beach Club requires divers to have certification cards showing that they have taken a training course and passed a standard test.

For those interested in learning to scuba dive, the resort's instructors give a one-week course and are authorized to issue certification cards. The cost of the lessons, equipment rental and license is $300. For scuba diving, the rate is $30 a day a diver. Many other places in the Philippines will issue scuba gear to anyone with foreign currency to pay for the rental. And the scuba equipment at Bohol is excellent; some diving camps around Cebu have been known to send neophyte divers into the surf with cracked masks and one flipper to a customer.

The natural attractions underwater for more adventurous divers are plentiful. The Cerrera Shoals, a 30-minute boat ride from the resort, is known as the home of black-and-white tiger-striped sea snakes. The snakes are poisonous and the current near the shoals is strong, about eight knots. Along the reef off Pamilacan Island, 35 minutes from the Bohol Beach Club, is the home of manta rays and sting rays. Sharks, barracuda, mackerel, lapu-lapu, angel fish, parrot fish and other varieties can be seen at several of the dozen diving sites close to the resort.

There is one other attraction that carries a strong personal recommendation: the countryside tour. It takes about three hours by Jeep and, considering the roads and terrain, those given to car sickness need not apply. Yet it includes not only some memorable natural landscape, but also a glimpse of what provincial life in the Philippines is like. The trip traces a route marked by a handful of sightseeing spots, highlighted by Bohol's Chocolate Hills. After crossing the bridge to the island of Bohol, the first stop is the Hinagdanan Cave, an unusual underground limestone cavern with stalactites. At its base is a pool fed by a natural spring, which makes an ideal sheltered swimming hole for the local children. In the early 1500's, when the Spaniards arrived, they thought, according to local legend, the spring might have youth-preserving properties.

The next stop, on a rise overlooking the Mindanao Sea, is a roadside plaque that marks the blood compact between Legaspi, the adventurer, and Sikatuna, the native chief. Their agreement, according to the plaque, is ''the first treaty of friendship and alliance between Spaniards and Filipinos.'' In fact, a great deal more blood on both sides was spilled in the more than three centuries of Spanish colonial rule that ended in 1898, when the Americans took over.

The next stop is the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which claims to be the oldest in the Philippines, having been built in 1595. In fact, Roman Catholicism, the religion of 85 percent of the population, is the most lasting evidence today of the Spanish period. The walls of the high-arched interior, now dappled with watermarks and age, are finished with a plaster-like amalgam made of sea mud, lime and egg whites.

From there, the Jeep proceeds into the countryside through several small villages. The villages in this part of the country are supported by agriculture, mainly coconut and rice farming. The province, though undeveloped, is comparatively well off.

On the way to the Chocolate

Hills, you pass through hill country with dense stands of mahogany and another area of untouched tropical forest that is the home of the tarsier, considered the smallest monkey in the world. It measures four to five inches, has large eyes and a triangular-shaped head. It looks like a tiny version of Yoda of ''Star Wars'' fame.

The Chocolate Hills are a collection of 1,001 natural mounds averaging more than 300 feet high that dimple a broad plateau in Bohol. These formations, composed mostly of limestone, reputedly get their name from their appearance during the dry season when their grass covering turns brown. The rounded humps are closely spaced, but stretch out as far as the eye can see. On the plateau from which they rise are scattered stands of coconut palms, and villagers have planted rice paddies, as though oblivious to the strange mounds in their midst.

The top of one of the highest hills has been flattened as a viewing site for tourists. A road snakes up to near the top and stops beside a small restaurant. From there, a stairway of more than 200 steps goes the rest of the way. At its base, a wizened old gentleman approaches with the question, ''Do you know the legend of the Chocolate Hills?'' And the designated legend teller then continues with the story of Anob, the giant who once inhabited these lands. One day, for reasons unexplained, his wife, a local woman, disappeared. Distraught, the giant wandered the countryside looking in vain for his vanished spouse, sobbing. His giant tears became the mounds of the Chocolate hills. If you go Getting There For travelers going to other East Asian destinations, Panglao is an accessible and rather inexpensive side trip of a few days. To make arrangements from Manila to go to Panglao Island, ask the concierge at your hotel to book you, through Philippine Airlines, on what is called a PALakbayan tour. The cost of a recent three-day trip for two people on one of these tours - including all meals, a day trip by Jeep through the countryside and round-trip plane fare from Manila - came to less than $400.

Brochures and other information on the Bohol Beach Club are available at the sales office of the Bayview Plaza Hotel in Manila, where you can also book a PALakbayan tour or make independent arrangements at slightly greater cost. The phone number for the sales office is 58-07-85. The number for the hotel is 50-30-61.

There are direct flights to Cebu from Tokyo. Round-trip tickets on Philippine Airlines range from $350 to $950. The mailing address for the resort is Bohol Beach Club, Panglao Island, Bohol Province, the Philippines.S. L.

source: www.nytimes.com

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