Blogging Event in Anda, Bohol

That was 3 months ago when a notification was posted by Dalareich Polot on the Bohol Blogger’s facebook group about the Blogging Event which will be conducted in Anda. With the event to be conducted in Anda, I don’t have second thoughts to say yes in joining the event. If you are already following this blog site, I have already featured some of the beautiful places in Anda on my previous posts. Even if I have already gone to Anda 4 months ago, I signed up the invitation right away. Anda for me is a paradise which can offer a lot of its natural beauties. I have already stayed there for 2 days before but I think 2 days was not enough at that time.
Things to Do in Anda, Bohol
Exploring Anda, Bohol (Day 1)
Exploring Anda, Bohol (Day 2)
[Video] G-ANDA: Exploring Anda, Bohol

With the partnership of PIA-Bohol, US-AID Compete, LGU Anda, Chocoreich Cafe and other government offices, the blogging event was conducted last December 20 to 21, 2014. It was an event full of adventure, fun and excitement. The blogger’s team was composed of bloggers from Bohol and bloggers who came all the way from Cebu. The Cebu bloggers said yes to the invitation because they want to explore the beauty of Anda. With our 2-day stay in Anda, I can say that Anda has a lot to offer to its tourists. There are still a lot of wonders that has to be explored. According to our tour guide from PIA-Bohol, Sir Rey Chiu, they wanted to explore the caves more to find out if the caves are connected to each other or connected to the sea. With that, Anda offers a lot of promise to be the next summer capital of Bohol.

Location: a small peninsula at the eastern tip of Bohol, 99 kilometers from Tagbilaran City
No. of Barangays: 16
Congressional District: 3rd
Town Fiesta: 25th of January
Patron Saint: Sto. Nino
Market Day: Tuesday

The blogging event started with a getting-to-know activity at the Chocoreich Cafe where it served as the assembly area of the Bohol and Cebu bloggers. US-AID Compete provided the bus to transport us from Tagbilaran City to Anda. It was around 2 and a half hours of travel to get into the heart of Anda. Travel to Anda could take a lot of time but the ride was full of fun and information which was administered by PIA Bohol’s representative, Mr. Rey Anthony Chiu.

When we arrived Anda, we took a glimpse of the soccer event which was organized by Sir Rey Chiu at the Quinale Beach. After having a view of Anda’s white beach, we went to ANDAKIDZ community center. ANDAKIDZ is a non-profit organization which is currently managed by Estonian couple, Robin Gurney and Birgit Naur. We stayed at the ANDAKIDZ place for about 3 hours. We had volunteered for some activities that would help the development of their training center. Dalareich Polot and the bloggers also distributed some gifts for the children of Anda. With so much gratitude, the community also prepared some foods for the bloggers. They are now promoting their Tilapia chips and the Taro “pao” ice cream. Do you want to know the taste of those foods? You may drop a message below.

After the volunteering activity, we headed right away to the most awaited part of our tour, the Lamanok Island adventure. Lamanok island is a mystical island in Anda which can be reached through Baranggay Badiang. In order to reach the sail boats which will carry us to the island, we walked through the path made of bamboos. We need to be extra careful while passing the bridge since some parts were already old but it added to a more adventurous event. We stayed at the island for almost 3 hours since we had a tour at the island and visited different types of caves and mystical places of the island. According to our tour guide, the best time to start the tour is during morning and early noon. Late afternoon is not an ideal time to start the tour since the place would go dark as early as 5pm and it would be difficult to walk around the island. The adventure in Lamanok island made us to feel very tired but it left a lot of memories about how living during the ancient times was made possible.

Since darkness already filled Anda when we finished our tour in Lamanok island, we also need to fill our tummies with the foods which were sponsored by the local government of Anda. The dinner was set at the romantic and silent seashore of Quinale Beach. As we were enjoying our dinner, there were chitchats and acquaintances with my fellow bloggers. As time passed by, Anda was filled with darkness. Disco bars, lights, restaurants and party people were not yet present in Anda at night. This only proves that Anda is a perfect destination if you want to experience the silence of the sea away from the noise of the city and other popular beaches. For the bloggers to take a rest, we rented the whole place of Seaside House Resort which is just a walk away from the beautiful beach of Quinale.

To start with our 2nd day in Anda, we greeted the morning sun by walking by the shoreline of Quinale. As early as 6am, there were already a lot of people at the beach. Since that was Sunday, more people were coming in groups to have their family bonding or even Christmas parties at that time. I stayed at the beach of Quinale for about 1 hour to experience the cool breeze of the sea and hear the laughter of the visitors who were already playing at that time. To prepare for the day 2 of our event, we had the breakfast still at Quinale beach. It was a good experience to dine at the beach at night and morning since you could totally experience the beautiful scenery of Anda beach.

The itinerary of the second day of our stay in Anda was mostly on visiting the cave pools. We visited first the Kabagnow Cave which was known for the location of the popular tv series before, PANDAY. According to the tour guide, the scene wherein Jericho Rosales jumped on the cave for Heart Evangelista was shot in Kabagnow cave. The cave was just like a hole in the ground. When you look at the cave, it feels like the cave is pulling you down. The fastest way for you to take a dip at the cool waters of the cave is to jump. If you’re afraid to jump into the cave, you don’t have to worry since the cave has a ladder on one side. While looking at the cave, it seemed so scary but the waters were very tempting. The cave also stretch to around 5 to 8 meters from what we have seen at the hole of the cave. Due to time constraints and the difficulty of going into the cave, no one was able to try to take a dip at Kabagnow cave.

Around 100 meters from Kabagnow cave, a beautiful but not yet developed cave of Tibao is situated. Unlike Kabagnow cave Tibao cave is easy to access and has a beautiful view. Without hesitations, some of the bloggers immediately jumped into the cave. It seems like they were enjoying the brackish water of the cave. The cave is a perfect venue for those who would love to take pictures of the cave due to the beautiful rocks around the cave. Some of the bloggers commented that the local government should have to regulate the place in order to maintain the cleanliness of the cave.

Since Anda is blessed with a lot of caves, we visited another cave which is already popular to some tourists, the Combento Cave. The place is called combento since it has a platform that resembles into an altar. When you arrive at the location of the cave, you would not immediately notice the cave. You can’t measure the area of the cave unless you would go down on the stairs to the cave pool. Some of us immediately dip into the water to experience the clear brackish water of the cave. You may refer on my post here for my Anda experience months ago.

To wrap up the itinerary, we visited 2 of the popular resorts in Anda. The first one, J&R Residence was rated as a middle class resort. The place looked so cool with the presence of the clean pool, beautiful view of the resort and the accessible shoreline. They have a limited number of rooms so they could surely attend to all your concerns if you decide to stay at the resort.

The second resort that we were able to visit was FloWer Beach Resort. The resort’s main adventure to offer is its diving courses. The place has more rooms to choose from. They also have a beautiful and clean pool. During our visit, there were children who were playing at the pool. We were also lucky enough to talk to the owner of the resort, Maam Florencia. She assured to us that the resort could offer a lot of activities and comfort to all its guests.

It was already dark when we arrived Tagbilaran City from our 2-day blogging activity in Anda. The event was a good venue to explore the hidden treasures that Bohol could offer. With that blogging activity, Bohol Blogger’s Club became more united and organized to conduct more blogging activities.

For the succeeding days, I’ll be posting more details of our experiences on the 2-day blogging event in Anda. Here are the topics that I’ll be posting on the upcoming days.

The Fun in Helping at ANDAKidz
Journey to the Mystical Lamanok Island
Quinale Beach: Dine by the Beach Experience
Seaside House Resort in Anda
Caving is More Fun in Anda
J&R Residence in Anda
FloWer Beach Resort in Anda