Devotees of Back Door travel should consider a visit to Bohol Island in the Philippines. There are some truly authentic experiences on the Eastern Visayas island. Bohol is about a 1 hour, 15 minute flight from Manila with frequent service via discount airline Cebu Pacific. For truly adventure-minded persons with the time, there is ferry service from Manila to Tagbilaran, the main city of Bohol, but the trip takes about a day.
The highlight is swimming with whale sharks, the gentle giants of the Pacific. They are actual sharks, but pose no danger. There are dive centers in Taug, Lila, and throughout Bohol that outfit customers with equipment -- goggles with snorkels, skin guards, flippers and so on -- and quick training. After watchers are taken out in bangka boats, they get in the ocean. Another bangka drops krill in the water as it paddles by with the whale sharks swimming right behind so divers can see them. When I was there, I saw three whale sharks, the fin of one brushing my leg. Though divers are advised against making physical contact with the whale sharks, incidental contact by the fish itself is another matter. A Filipino friend said she was also brushed with a fin.
Another highlight was the chocolate hills, the majestic grassy hills that span into the horizon. There are 1,776 of them, a figure Americans should easily remember. They were formed when Bohol is under the ocean as a result of coral deposits and later effects of rainwater and erosion. Their surfaces look like chocolate chip cookies, though some have vegetation. Visitors can climb the 200 steps of a chocolate hill in the main parking lot, but it's a sweaty climb in the 100-degree subtropical heat.
Tarsier viewing at the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary was another highlight. The primates with their enormous, globe-like eyes and small bodies have the effect of being wary, alert and watchful. They are like owls. And they are peaceful. I felt a bit of guilt at disturbing their rest.
Baclayon Church near Tagbilaran fires the imagination. Started in 1596 by the Spanish, the church is composed of processed coral stones and mortared in egg whites. The labor force and processing of coral and egg white to erect such an immense church must have been on the same level as the pyramids of Egypt. Divine intervention might have kept the church standing. It suffered damage during World War II and a 2013 earthquake. The church is on the standby list to be UNESCO listed.
Other sites include the Blood Compact site, the manmade forest and the Loboc River for a lunch on the water with one-hour cruise. And hiring a driver to go among the sites and through the small towns of Bohol is definitely an enriching experience in itself.