BOHOL: Loboc River Cruise

After the Hanging Bridge experience, we went directly to the Loboc River Cruise 'coz we are so H-U-N-G-R-Y. We had breakfast that morning but we were really hungry that time. Considering that we've only seen 4 out of 12 spots and we still have 8 more to explore but we feel already exhausted and hungry. I think it's because of the excitement, nakakagutom talaga!

dock

When you arrive there, you have to choose your floating restaurant first. There were, I think, 4 restaurants there. We chose the Riverwatch Floating Restaurant. After that, you will register and pay for the Buffet (300 pesos for adults and 250 for kids). They will assign you to a certain table. There are different schedules from 11:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m. We were lucky to catch the 1:00 p.m. schedule. After that, you have to pay 100 pesos each for the entrance to the port where the floating restaurants are docked (kids are free). So that would be 400 pesos for adults and 250 for kids (up to 10yrs. old). 

buffet area

When we reached the Riverwatch, the people are already lined up for the buffet and the table assigned to us were the last one left. When we left the docking area, the band started to play for the crowd. Everyone's busy in the buffet area. People are patiently waiting for their turn in the buffet as the cruise starts. 

loaded

As I told you earlier, we were really hungry, so when we reached the buffet we got everything from the table. They food were; soup (chowder), green mangoes with bagoong (shrimp paste), rice, pork barbecue, fried chicken, chopsuey (stir-fried vegetables), a squid dish, giniling (ground pork dish with potatoes, carrots and peas), grilled fish, pansit canton (asian noodles), watermelon, pineapple, banana and puto. I think i missed something but that's all I could remember. There's also a one-serve-only drink. Either softdrinks, iced tea or bottled water. They don't have service water there so bring your own drinking water just in case. There's nothing remarkable about the food (except for the fried chicken, it's really tasty) but it's not also bad. Sakto lang. It's buffet so you can go back anytime as long as there's still food in the buffet table. 

There was a stopover to watch a performance of the locals. From the kids up to the elders, they all performed different folk dances and people can actually go to their balsa and dance with them. You can give them a tip for their performance. It lasted for 5 minutes.

Because of hunger, we didn't have time to really enjoy the view. We just ate until the boat returned to the dock. It was a solid 1-hour eating and we feel like it's fast. Given that I really eat slow, we felt that it the cruise was fast. They should've let the people eat first (while they're on dock) and enjoy the view after. What they did was the cruise and the buffet both started at the same time. 

the "waterfalls"

I didn't really see anything magnificent in the river. There were trees, old houses, and a "waterfalls". Don't expect a grand waterfalls, it's just a 6-foot something in height and it's the end of the line and the signal that the boat is about to go back to port. The water during that time was kinda muddy because it rained for five days the week before. But usually, they say that the water here is jade green.

The band played American Country and Love songs all throughout the ride. We passed by another boat and the people there were dancing and singing with the band. Different genre huh. And there was a lady who went around the boat to take free shots with her own camera. We kindly ask her to take our photo using our camera and she obliged. Before the cruise ended, she kinda told everyone that she can print the "free shots" a while ago for a certain fee. I dunno how much but the nearby table gave her 200 pesos for a 1 printed photo. I didn't see if she gave a change for that. 

Museo de Loboc

So the cruise went by so quickly (for me) that we're still having our fresh fruits for dessert when we arrived at the port. Just across the port, I saw a structure and asked a local if that's the Museo de Loboc and he said yes. I wish I asked kuya tatsky to make a quick tour there to see the museum but because of too much eating, all I think about that time is to chill inside the car. Next time I will not miss the museum anymore.