I scouted around Alona Beach to get on a tour with other people. Since I was traveling by myself, renting a boat would be too costly. Thankfully, there are numerous tour operators walking around the beach looking for tourists to join their tours. I booked a tour to Balingasag Island, Virgin Island, and Dolphin Watching.
Dolphin Watching
Since I was only using a point and shoot digicam, taking photos on a moving boat with moving subjects was a difficult task for me. I decided to to shoot a video of the dolphins I saw on the tour. It took a while before the dolphins finally showed up.
Balingasag Island
The first stop on the tour was Balingasag Island, the beach wasn't impressive but the highlight of the island was its underwater ecosystem.
I saw several brain-shaped corals beneath the waters of Balingasag.
I'm no animal expert so my description of the fish I saw on the island are limited to its color and size. There were plenty of small colored fish from orange to gray to black and some of them shimmered a bluish-greenish color. Some of the tourists I met that took the trip and the guide during the tour said that nemo (clown fish) were also found on the island. For someone who's practically blind and has no way of distinguishing between fish species, I didn't really find nemo at all.
Virgin Island
The last stop of the trip was the not-so Virgin Island. I was expecting more from this island, maybe it was the high tide that hid the sandbar that stretched out of the beach or the droves of tourists on it, I don't know. There was a resort that was being constructed on the island during the trip. Most of the island was being fenced to tell visitors that part of this island was going to be privately owned soon. The beach was so-so there are better beaches in mainland Bohol.
I paid P700 for the island hopping tour with snorkeling gear, there is also an additional and separate fee of P200 to snorkel in Balingasag. Take note the fee to snorkel and rent a boat to the snorkeling spots in Balingasag are paid separately. Most of the tourists on the boat to the island didn't know that they had to pay again once they got to Balingasag.