Graphic artist and photographer Cliff Ramos explores Bohol, an island off the coast of Cebu, in eight hours.

“Bohol wasn’t part of the plan,” he remembers. Cliff and some friends were in Cebu for the Sinulog Festival, which happens every January, and someone suggested that they hire a van for a day trip to Bohol.

It was exhausting, says Cliff. “We arrived at the Tagbilaran port at 8 in the morning and had to catch the 2-hour ferry ride to Cebu by 4 in the afternoon.”

The group’s first stop in Bohol was the Sta. Monica Parish. “It was beautiful! Everything was picture perfect!” says Cliff, who started taking pictures as a hobby only in 2005, when he was first introduced to Flickr.

Cliff remembers being overwhelmed by the church’s dreamlike setting. “You need not be a pro. All you have to do is turn and look around and keep clicking your camera.”

It was his close encounter with the tarsier that he remembers the most. “They were so small, so fragile and fluffy. I was tempted to slip one into my pocket, but I was afraid to get penalized for doing so.”

Their eight-hour visit to Bohol was adrenaline-packed, as they, like Amazing Race contestants, hurried to catch the ferry’s last trip back to Cebu. “I was raining heavily. Our van was running at 120kph. The road was slippery. All of a sudden, another van cut in front of us. Thank God, the driver was in full control of the van.”

The behind-the-scenes story aside, check out Bohol as seen through the lens of Cliff Ramos.