Glenn and I recently extended our "mode of exploration", usually including car, sail boat, SCUBA gear, or hiking boots, to bycicle saddle! An experience that definitely calls for more!

Preparing for our weekend get-away to Cebu we pondered the usual options: diving in the west, whale shark watching in the south, or island exploration in the north. Each of these options include a minimum of three hours in a bus... We simply didn't have it in us.

Instead, we decided to explore Olango Island, just off of Cebu. Not in a car and not by foot, but by bike! Through "bugobikers", a Cebu-based outdoor adventure organizer specializing on bike tours, we were quickly set up.

Sunday morning our guide Laurence picked us up from the hotel. Together we went to Mactan Island, where our bikes were already waiting for us. We plus our bikes boarded a small bangka over a narrow plank. (We thought we were brining special items on the boad... we changed our minds when we saw furniture pieces being loaded onto the boat!).

After a 15 minute boat ride we disembarked on Olango Island. What's great about the island is there are no cars allowed. The only motorized vehicles we had to bully with were motorcycles and trycicles.

Olango is a rather small island. It can be circumnavigated in less than 2 hours. Still, it's home to 25,000+ inhabitants. On top of the human head count, Olango is home to various bird species.

The Olango Wildlife Sanctuary, a 1,000ha area, is the summer residence for migratory birds, escaping the winters in their homes. Needless to say the Sanctuary is, at least once a year, an attraction for birdwatchers.

We had missed the migration season by a few weeks. Yet, we enjoyed walking out to sea to get closer to the mangrove-covered wetland, a perfect nesting place for birds. The tide was coming in so we waded through belly-high waters to reach the outlook.

After a refreshing coconut juice we paddled on along the well maintained asphalt road around the island. We stopped at a German-run resort for lunch and even dared to stick our heads underwater to explore the marine wildlife in the Mactan channel. Spoiled divers as we are we concluded this snorkel experience to be a great way to cool down.

From there we decided to bike along the roads less traveled. Slightly uneasy because he hasn't explored the area yet, Laurence prepared us we "might get lost". Well, it's an island.

We turned off road and found ourselves in the middle of small communities in the back of the island, away from the nice resorts facing Mactan Channel. Children greated us and chased our bikes. Clearly, not many bikers pass through here. We got a glimpse of a relaxed Sunday afternoon in the fishing communities.

25 kilometers later we were back at the pier, loading our bikes once more on a bangka. Our pick up received as back on the mainland and by 5pm, we were back at our hotel.

Our suggestion: if you really want to explore the Philippines (not the tourist hubs), go on a bike tour! You are faster than walking but slower than rushing through the place on a motorbike. It's a great exercise and a low carbon footprint activity!

Canoeing & kayaking!

I remember the whole day kayak trips we used to take as a family during summer vacation. Four people squeezed in a two-man kayak plus food supplies, blankets, and swim gear. We’d start of at our campground and meander from one lake to the other, passing through narrow channels rich with shy wildlife (which my sister and would try to feed along the way). We’d stop here and there for a swim or lunch break. I loved it!

All this memory came back to life when we explored the Oswego River in New Jersey. Glenn and Burke pushed down the river in a canoe while I glided through the shallow waters in my bright yellow kayak.

The river has an amber color. It’s something the roots of the trees in the area release into the water. Nothing bad, it just looks funny. At this time of year the river doesn’t carry much water. More than once we got stuck on a bed of pebbles, on a tree blocking the way, or the long river grasses flowing like green hair in the stream.

The slight current made the paddling easy. The scenery was just beautiful! And quiet! The highlight was a rope swing (which hadn’t been cut down by authorities yet). We swung and splashed – just like back in the days!