Island hopping in the Philippines

From above, they look like little creatures – the flotillas of bangkas that crowd the shallow waters around Philippines shorelines. With their distinctive double outriggers – two wooden floats, one either side of the main hull, supported by three struts on each side – they perch, insect-like on the water. They have free rein between beaches, skimming across the sheltered seas around the thousands of islands that make up the Philippines.

There are bangkas across the Philippines – and in many places, these lovely, open boats do a roaring trade carrying visitors on snorkelling and sightseeing trips. You can even spend three days on one on our Philippines island-hopping holiday. But there are also places where bangkas go, but fewer tourists tread. Because bangkas have a history that long predates their use in tourism. These were the world’s first ocean-voyaging vessels; thought to have been used 5,000 yars ago to settle islands from the Philippines to Polynesia. That’s a lot of islands; there are 7,641 islands in the Philippines alone, making it the second largest archipelago in the world after Indonesia.

Only around 2,000 of the Philippines’ islands and islets are inhabited and expedition cruises are a way to reach remoter places in the archipelago. Our Asian island-hopping cruise does just that – it was the first expedition ship in the world to make a stop at Polillo Island, a large island east of Quezon province, which is served by ferry but rarely a tourist trail stop.

“It made our itinerary through our long association with one of our special guides,” says Aaron Russ, commercial director and an expedition leader at our expert cruising partner, Heritage Expeditions. The guide in question is well-known mammalogist, conservationist, author and scientist Professor Tim Flannery, who joins expeditions to look for new mammal species. Guests can help with naturalist work whilst on board and collect data and wildlife sighting information that can contribute to conservation research.

The Philippines is as awash with nature as it is with islands. “Polillo’s lowland forests are now protected in two reserves, reflecting their importance for some significant wildlife,” says Aaron. He lists the Philippine cockatoo, endemic Philippine brown deer, warty pig and large rufous horseshoe bat among them. There’s also the rare Butaan dragon, a large, tree-dwelling monitor lizard that only lives on a few Philippine islands and was thought to have been extinct until spotted again in the 1980s, and dugongs.

The king of island-hopping destinations in the Philippines is El Nido, gateway to the Bacuit archipelago. A few days here after a tour of Luzon or Palawan is the perfect way to wind down. Switch from sightseeing to just… seeing. Float your boat between impressive white limestone islands, and above astonishingly clear turquoise water. There’s lovely snorkelling and sunbathing.

Second in the running is the Visayas, an archipelago that includes the oft-visited resort island of Boracay. Then there’s Bohol, famous for its Chocolate Hills and little Pamilacan Island off its coast, known for dolphin-watching.

For something a little different, look at expedition cruising: from Taiwan to the hard-to-reach Babuyan Islands, north of Luzon Island to Polillo Island to its east, then down to Bohol and on to Bucas Grande Island in Surigao, Mindanao in the south. You can then continue further south to Indonesia.

The Philippines is big, and hopping between its biggest archipelagos is usually done by plane; Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan is a 90-minute flight from Manila on Luzon. These big journeys don’t live out anyone’s fantasy for what island hopping should be. It’s moving between the smaller islands in individual archipelagos that gets people interested.

“Getting around the islands is easier than people think!” says Jessie. “Flights and ferries are the main ways to travel between them. Major airports like Manila, Cebu, and Puerto Princesa serve as great starting points, with smaller flights and ferry routes connecting you to more remote spots. Once you’re on an island, you’ll find trikes, minivans, and public coaches are the most common ways to get around.”

“We use local guides to support the local knowledge base and economy,” says Aaron. “We are intimately aware of the many issues that confront wildlife and their habitats, the world's oceans, and isolated ethnic groups.”

No more apparent is the local knowledge base than at the tarsier sanctuary on Bohol, which many of our Philippines trips visit. Here, Carlito Pizarras, the so-called ‘Tarsier Man’, has taken it upon himself to singlehandedly improve the animal’s chances – doing so much that their Latin name was changed to honour him: from Tarsius syrichta to Carlito syrichta. But the local knowledge base is everywhere when you island hop – from the places you visit, and the foods you try, to the very bangka on which you sit, wind in your hair, looking to round the next limestone headland.