Summer Camp at Camp Tara Na!

Summer Camp at Camp Tara Na! (Baclayon, Bohol)
Rochelle Bonifacio-Prado, Smart Parenting
(accessed 25 March 2010)

Want to give your kids a unique and memorable summer meeting new friends, having new adventures in a new place and learning new things? Why not go to summer camp?

CAMP TARA NA!

Camp Tara Na! is an ecology and culture camp in Baclayon, Bohol. Camp Tara Na! offers unique and enriching experiences to young people aged 8-13. Activities fuse discovery and adventure with learning of local Filipino culture and heritage.

The summer camp is centered on outdoor games and excursions—familiarizing kids with traditional Filipino games such as luksong tinik and tumbang preso, and showing them awesome local sites like the Chocolate Hills in Carmen, the man-made forest in Bilar, Tarsiers in Corella, a fireflies tour in Loay, and dolphin and whale-watching in Pamilacan, among others. Professional guides lead the way for the safe and smooth running of activities.

Read more @ Smart Parenting

Baclayon Church: A Long Walk Away

Photo: StoicPassion

By: StoicPassion (27 February 2010)

If you’d go to Baclayon with no tourist guide, you wouldn’t be acquianted with the colorful history of the church. Baclayon Church is considered as one of the oldest church in the Philippines dating back to 1717.

The church was actually made by the locals, with the use of coral stones quarried from the sea, cut into square blocks and held together by a mixture of shells, lime, and egg whites to cement the blocks together.

The church also has an adjoining detached tower which serves as a bell tower. During the olden days, the tower also served as a vantage point overlooking the Bohol sea to warn the locals of marauding pirates.

Typical of any Spanish era church, Baclayon Church also has ornate ceilings, altar area and colorful stained glass windows.

Read more @ StoicPassion

Experience Pamilacan

This post is a collation of information by nodarcdam, apparently a Pamilacan island resident, which was shared in the website Virtual Tourist in December 2005.

Going to Pamilacan

Pamilacan Island can be reached by boat. You can hire a boat which will take you the island and back either at Baclayon or Panglao Island.

In Baclayon, there is a wharf near the Baclayon church. The boat ride going to the island is about 45 minutes and the regular charge is P1,200 to 1,500 depending on the size of the boat.

In Panglao Island, there are many boatment offering their services. The ride is about one hour and the regular charge is between P1,500 to P1,800.

The laidback western tip of Pamilacan

The western tip of Pamilacan Island is the more popular side of the island. The beach is somewhat undeveloped, though the white fine sand is evident despite the dried seaweeds covering it. It has no restaurant but the locals will cook for you and for P200 per person, you can have lunch along the shore complete with rice, vegetable, fish or chicken and bottled water.

There are some stores which display bones of dolphins and sharks, a reminder that once, the islander was engaged in catching those creatures. The marine sanctuary is the ideal place for snorkelling.

The old Spanish watchtower still stands.

Catching big fish

We all know that big fish like tuna, jackfish and snapper are caught through big nets. In Pamilacan Island, the locals could catch big fish even without a net and they do it by fish hooks. They make their own bait which resembles a squid.

Slaughter of the manta rays

The eastern tip of Pamilacan Island may not be included in the regular island hopping tour because of the seeming unpleasant sight and smell. The coast is lined with small huts where manta rays from Surigao are slaughtered. This is one of the big sources of income for the locals. Make sure that you can withstand the sight of mangled manta rays before venturing on this side of the island.

All photos by nodarcdam

Pamilacan Fort

Photo: Travelog Philippines

In Pamilacan is found a small triangular fort made of rubble with cut coral blocks lining its portal and windows.

Round buttresses support the three corners of the structure. Embedded trusses and a triangular pillar in the centre indicate that the fort may have had a second floor of wood. There is probably a balcony that ran around the second floor linking the buttresses which also served as lookouts.

Photo: Bohol Wonders

While no dates have been established for the fort, it may have been built in the 19th century. An indication is a large hardwood cross, now housed in a modern chapel nearby, with an 1800s date carved on it. This cross stood near the fort. The fort formed a network with the towers or forts at Loay, Baclayon, Tagbilaran and Panglao.

Text: Panubli-on

Pamilacan Island

Photo: Lakbai

Found almost a straight line from Baclayon’s wharf is the low coral island of Pamilacan.

The island’s name comes from the Cebuano-Visayan word “pilak”, or harpoon, which was used in the past by island residents when they went out whale and manta ray hunting.

Photo: Bohol.ph

Pamilacan is an island barangay (village) of Baclayon. There are three sitios (sub-villages) on the island – one facing Baclayon, another amid island, and the third on the southern coast. There are 242 families (2000 census) living in the island’s 140 hectares.

Pamilacan can be reached in 45 minutes from Baclayon wharf via a hired pumpboat. The island is famous for dolphin and whale watching, beaches and its marine sanctuary.

Text: Panubli-on

The Baclayon Stone Church

Photos: Artkitekto

By: Artkitekto Blog (11 December 2008)

Homecoming gave me a chance to do a round- bohol trip once again with my family. it was fun and I got tons of pictures with it too. Baclayon was our first stop.

The Baclayon Church is the oldest Catholic stone church building in the Philippines. It was constructed during the Spanish occupation and the first Spanish missionaries (called doctrineros) settled in the area in the late 15th century. Today you can still see the original stone structure of the Baclayon Church in the City of Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines.

There are other preserved church buildings in the region but the Baclayon Church is the best preserved among them. The church itself is Jesuit, but the Baclayon Church (the one we see today) was completed in 1727. The erected church building known today as the Baclayon Church is formally known as The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

The area where the Baclayon Church now stands was home to the Spanish Jesuit missionaries when they arrived in the Philippines. The Jesuits were forced to leave and move their headquarters to Loboc. This was due to fears of being mobbed by Moro marauders.

Read more @ Artkitekto