Scouting the Low-Tide Coasts of Libaong

My view while sketching

The Amarela Resort main house

I went back again to Amarela after 2 years of absence.  This time I had my sister and niece in tow, and the trip is purely leisure.  I planned day 1 for exploration of the resort, for my companions.  My niece donned on her swimsuit and swam at the pool while my sister lounged at the deck area. I spent half of the day sketching but when it was nearing sunset, I went down into the beach to witness the Bohol low tide. A little Boholano lesson: they call low tide as hunasan and high tide, taob. 

The more secluded wing of Amarela

The far view of extended beach

Exposed grass beds

The sandy beach at Libaong, Panglao is white but not as wide and granules not as fine as in Boracay.  But I would prefer Libaong's pristine and unexploited state anytime over Bora.  The beach is partly developed but much more quiet. And at hunasan, the sandy grass beds adjacent to the beach become exposed upto 50 meters off the coast.  At this time a few residents get out into the exposed beds and explore what they could collect like small fishes, shells, clams etc. It was quaint and rural.

Locals walk the edge of the hunasan coast collecting shellfish 

Crab hole

The Libaong coast is full of sea grass

I myself was tempted to step into the expanded beach area to see what is hidden under water in the daytime. At hunasan, an extended white beach is revealed, trapping a few fishes and invertebrates in shallow sea water pools.  Personally I could see small butterfly fishes and damsels stranded along with sea urchins. Starfishes and crabs also abound, creating weird shapes and patterns into the fine white sand. 

There were numerous holes made by crabs and other creatures

Sky turning into orange and purple

Exposed starfish

The sunset was enchanting eventhough you can't physically see the sun going down into the horizon.  At this point the bluish sky turned warm with orange and purple hues. Even the slightest ripple in the white sand was casting very long shadows, creating a contrast of dark and light. I would have stayed longer if only that moment would not have been too fleeting. Eventually the ephemeral low-tide beach was slowly eaten up by the impending darkness of dusk and eventually night time. In the morning, the blanket of darkness will be lifted, but taob would have already eaten up the whatever was previously exposed by hunasan.  The extended hunasan coast would be already under water, to be enjoyed again by its usual sea residents.  

The lush silhouette against the warm sky

The next day, there was even something out of the usual that broke the countryside calmness.  Some excursionists, staying beside Amarela resort, brought along their portable karaoke machine and shouted tunes out loud on top of their lungs.   The serenity posted by the calm hunasan landscape the previous afternoon was long gone.  Its echoes were further wiped out by the shrieks and the amplified noise created by these urban visitors.  It was a good thing I scheduled our Bohol sightseeing that day as we were gone practically the whole of the morning and the rest of the afternoon.  But when we arrived the group was still not tired hearing their exasperating voices, completely ruining that afternoon's hunasan.  And when they finally got tired, it was already too dark to enjoy the same warm atmosphere painted by the previous day's low tide.   It was a shame not to see the hunasan coast once more.  But at least its memories and the pictures would linger in my mind and in my sister's cam's memory card.   

On a bad note, I dropped my camera at the start of the trip, but my sister had her instamatic with her.  Good thing or else we did not have any pictures to cherish and share.