Till we meet again Camiguin! (Day 3)

On our second and last day in Camiguin, we visited the other remaining tourist spots.  Despite our bad hangovers, we woke up early for our half-day tour before we catch the ferry back to CDO.

We dropped by first at Walkway to the Old Volcano and Stations of the Cross. Here, you can see the life-size statues portraying the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are actually 14 Stations of the Cross but since we were pressed for time we just stayed in the first few stations.

Another groupie shot

Well, this picture still makes me laugh although it was taken roughly two years ago...haha Did it come true, TJ??!!!

Praying hard, I must say! 

Have you ever seen a sunken cemetery? Well, there is one in Camiguin. The cemetery have been submerged in water when the Mt. Vulcan erupted in the 1870s. It was said before, that during low tide the gravestones can still be seen. But the volcano erupted again sinking the gravestones deeper. 

A large cross has been built to mark the site that was once a cemetery. Quite surprising but this place is actually a popular and unique diving site.

Sunken cemetery

A few minutes away is the Catarman Church ruins or more commonly known as the old Spanish church ruins. It was a remnant from the devastating volcanic eruption during the 1870s. Up to this day, only the wall structures are existing.

We also spotted here one the largest trees we’ve ever seen! 

Feeling insignificant...

On our way to Sto Nino Cold Springs, we made a quick stop to view Tres Marias, one of Camiguin’s volcanic domes.

The water at the Sto Nino Cold Springs surely woke up every sleepy inch in me. It was ice cold on a cool September breeze.

Acting cool in the cool springs. hehe

There are fingerlings swimming in the clear water and they sometimes nibble our feet.  It was fishtantic! 

Fish-a-fish-a-fish

Because all good things must come to an end, our Camiguin trip ended with that. Two days of staying in the island wasn’t enough but it was just enough to make me adore Camiguin.

We traveled back to Benoni Port where we caught the ferry going to CDO. By noontime, we were back in Balingoan Port in CDO and our driver was waiting for us. We then have to catch our flight from CDO to Manila at 4pm.

Before boarding the plane

I wished we stayed longer, see more of Camiguin, and feast on lanzones and Vjandep pastel...

But that also gives me a reason to come back to Camiguin. 

I gotta see this island the next time I’m here!

Mantigue Island

Counting the days...

*One of my goals for my blog this year is to write all my travel posts since I started traveling. This is a backlog post. To the best of my memory, I've written this Camiguin post which happened in 2009. Better late than never!

Camiguin Escapade (Day 2)

It’s very usual for me to wake up early while on vacation. I don't wanna waste my time sleeping instead of preparing myself for the day ahead. So waking up early on this day wasn’t new to me. Well besides that, we had to because we will be traveling from Cagayan de Oro proper to Balingoan Port where we had to catch the ferry to CAMIGUIN! Yes finally Camiguin!

Ready for the day!

We rented a Toyota Vios taxi to bring us to Balingoan port which is a 1.5 hours drive. We paid Php1500 for the one way ride and we contracted the driver to fetch us the next day once we’ve returned from Camiguin.

The ferry ride took more than an hour.

We finally arrived in Benoni Port in Mambajao, which is the capital of Camiguin. The sight of the Sleeping Pregnant was a view to behold! See it?

Our first glimpse of Camiguin Island

Camiguin is said to be the island born of fire. There are seven volcanoes in the island and there are still several volcanic domes. Aside from its fine sand and white beaches, the island is known for producing the sweetest lanzones in the world. The Lanzones Festival is celebrated during October of the year and our timing was just right, it was the harvest season for lanzones.

We were fetched by our tour guide in Benoni Port. He drove us to our accomodation. We stayed at Enigmata Tree House Ecolodge. This lodge was highly-recommended by one of my backpacker friends who also stayed at the tree house.

Enigmata

Tree house

I say that we had the very unique experience in staying in a real tree house. What are the chances that city folks like us will sleep in a tree house for a night? We had the Eagle’s Nest Suite which is the topmost and largest room. It has a huge receiving and dining areas, a bathroom, small kitchen, and a room with two beds. What was really unique about our accommodation is that there is a small nook at the top room which you can open and you’ll see the canopy of trees. Really cool.

The bed is very inviting...isn't it?

Aside from being a lodge, Enigmata Tree House is an artsy-fartsy place. They have an art gallery, library café, and a garden. It is an artist’s haven.

Every nook is interesting

Enigmata Tree House only serve vegetarian food and we had veggies, brown rice, and pizza for lunch.

Our no-meat lunch

After eating, we were picked up by our local guide to finally start with our tour. Since we only have half-day to go around Camiguin, we decided that we'll go to Katibawasan Falls, White Island, and Ardent Hot Sping that afternoon, as suggested by our guide.

Camiguin map of interest

Our first stop was Katibawasan Falls. The water from the falls was flowing thinly and kept being blown by the wind.

Obligatory group shot :)

I found a big pumpkin which I almost wanted to take home!

Pumpkin me!

Then, we were off to the famous White Island. We rented a small boat that would bring us there. We paid Php700 for the roundtrip transfers for six persons.

We conquered the island!

White Island...One of my fave places in PINAS!

White Island is a small piece of sandbar that formed into an island. It has no vegetation nor any plant life. It was formed from dead coral reefs that piled together forming into one tiny island.

The White Island offers a great view of the Sleeping Pregnant.

with the Sleeping Pregnant in the background

I can’t describe how much I was awed by the simple beauty of the White Island. So go ahead and see the photos..

Sandbar

I love it here!

We made the most of our time in the island, even with the scorching weather. You can just imagine how dark I was after I came back from this trip. With no shade to hide under except your hair!

with constant travel buddies. we're counting places!

Power 4!

Ahhh, this was pure beach bliss! I wish I'd never leave Camiguin.

Camiguin is LOVE!

We left the island around 4pm and then we proceeded to Ardent Hot Springs.

The warm water from the spring was just exactly what we needed. Having done rafting the day before left us with aching bodies. The temperature of the mineral pool can reach as high as 400C. It was soothing just soaking in the hot spring with the cool night breeze :)

Soaking in the warm water

After a quick dip, we had dinner this time at Vjandep Restaurant which is famous for their pastel - soft buns with filling.

I can't remember what I ate but I'm sure I finished it.

No leftovers please.

We surely love drinks after a meal.

Kampay!

Before we could finally rest, this gecko kept on pestering us by its croaking sound.

Tukooooooo

I must say that night was a blur. I only remember beaching at White Island and sleeping soundly in our tree house, only to wake up the next day with a thought that it was time to leave Camiguin.

Our session in blur

But hey, not just YET.

*One of my goals for my blog this year is to write all my travel posts since I started traveling. This is a backlog post. To the best of my memory, I've written this Camiguin post which happened in 2009. Better late than never!

High Five to White Water Rafting! (Day 1)

After our canopy walk and zipline adventure at Macahambus, we we’re off to white water rafting!
 
If there’s one thing which Cagayan de Oro is famous for, it’d be this. This is a must try for fun-loving and adventurous people. So that's why my adventurous friends and I didn't give a second thought booking our white water rafting with Kagay.

There really is nothing quite like rafting down the Cagayan de Oro River...12.34 kms with 14 major rapids ranging from class 2 to 3 with a total run of 2-3 hours depending on the water level. And that's just the basic course.

 
Welcome...cry me a river.

As soon as I saw the river, I panicked. I am afraid of deep water and to add with, it’s mud-colored rapid flowing water! I never thought that this was what we signed up for. I’ve seen pictures of white water rafting from friends' albums and boy this doesn’t look like this! What a luck, our guide told us that it rained hard the night before so the water flowed with mud from the mountains.

We had an orientation first and you can sense from the voice of the guide that white water rafting is serious..and fun? He demonstrated some basic instructions like paddling, rafting techniques, and safety precautions. And then we’re off..




See the shock in my face..tulala

We had to go through 14 rapids. And I was really feeling nervous. We met our rowing guide and we immediately boarded our rafts. I think there were around 10 rafts along with us. I saw one raft as it passed a rapid and I was feeling more scared. It was like floating inside a washing machine.

As we paddle close to the first rapid..



Here we go!



Danger is coming!

On our first rapid, we felt that our raft was out of balance and the guide gave us some instructions but it was too late. Our raft turned upside down and all of us were thrown in the whirlpool.



Yes that's us!

Recalling this experience always gives me chills. I remembered that I was under the toppled raft and I was trying hard to get away from it. I struggled to keep afloat but found it hard because of the strong current. I closed my eyes and thought I am about to die already..while on vacation. Yes, I can be overly dramatic sometimes!! I held my breath as long as I could as I waited for help. I was able to drink some muddy water..It felt like forever floating there. I got suffocated by my life vest and helmet and the silly me tried to take them off. Good thing, they were fastened tightly or my stupidity could have left me dead. Lots of things were going through my mind that time. First thing, my parents didn’t know I went to CDO and we did rafting. And now I am submerged underwater and struggling for my life. I got a bit distracted when I felt that my strapped flip flops were (which is my fave slippers btw) slipping from my feet. I thought this was really really my end..

And then I heard a voice shouting “lie down, lie down”. I shouted back that I can’t. Then finally, he grabbed me out of the water. Whew, I’m finally safe. Something funny happened. I saw my flip flops floating after me and I told the rescuer to get it. Haha demanding! The rescuer turned out to be the photographer of Kagay. And before he helped us he was able to capture moments of our near-death experience. Haha. That's why we had our near-death experience documented.

All of us were rescued. The rafting of the other groups was temporarily delayed until we have fully recovered from the incident. I really thought that we would just called the day off and wait the other rafts finished the whole rafting course. But that was just wishful thinking. Since there was no other way to get out of the river, we had to ride our rafts again and flow downstream and paddle our way.

After surviving that almost near-death experience, we felt tougher. As they say, what can't kill you can only make you stronger.

The bolder, confident, and adventurous us!




 
There were still times that we were almost on the verge of getting into a mishap again. In fact, one my friends, Gyles, was thrown into the water when we unexpectedly had a bumpy ride near the big rocks. But we were able to help him by reaching him using the paddle.



So after 12.34 kms, 14 major rapids, and 2 hours, we survived our white water rafting!!


 
High five!! A+ for teamwork

Don't we just looked all so happy and proud of ourselves? This experience strengthened my bond with my friends -- well I call them kaladkarin friends. Because we always travel together.  

I wouldn't hesitate a bit to try white water rafting again. Though we met a small accident, I felt that our tour organizer, Kagay, was very professional and highly-trained to deal such kind of situation. It's funny that I'm writing this entry almost exactly the same time we had our rafting, two years ago.

HIGH FIVE to WHITE WATER RAFTING!!!




*One of my goals for my blog this year is to write all my travel posts since I started traveling. This is a backlog post. To the best of my memory, I've written this white water rafting post which happened in 2009. Better late than never!

Touchdown CDO and Canopy Walk and Zipline (Day 1)

I’ve always wanted to go to Mindanao and I’m happy to say that my first time in Mindanao was in Cagayan de Oro in Misamis Oriental. As always, we got a  promo fare from Cebu Pacific for a MNL-CDO flight which costed us Php1500. Not bad eh?!

We took the first flight to CDO at around 4am. I was surprised that plane was not full and we literally had the plane to ourselves. Well, at least the front rows.. As soon as the ‘fasten seatbelt’ signed has been turned off, we transferred to other vacant seats. After almost an hour, we finally landed at CDO Airport.

Touchdown CDO

We checked in to our no-frills hostel, Mass Specc, and left our luggages. We got the family room complete with four single beds, bathroom, aircon, and TV. We booked our zipline and white water rafting adventure with Kagay Adventures. We paid Php900/each for both activities and transportation. Our time is 7am near the plaza.

Our adventure started with canopy walk and zipline at Macahambus Adventure Park.

Gearing up

First on the list is canopy walk. Canopy walk is actually walking in a suspension bridge connected between trees. These very tall trees are said to be hundred years old. If you look down, you will realize how tall the trees are.  

Canopy walk

Feeling confident

To go back to where we started, we had to zipline. Well, this is the part I wasn't feeling confident!

Bombs away!

The ride took less than a 30 seconds! So before I can even shout, I was already in the platform. Canopy walk and zipline: Check!

Obviously, this activity left us unscathed. Little did we know that we're off to a greater adventure - white water rafting!


*One of my goals for my blog this year is to write all my travel posts since I started travelling. This is a backlog post. To the best of my memory, I've written this CDO post which happened in 2009. Better late than never!