Pagsanjan Falls Boat Ride – July 12, 2009

From Lake Caliraya, we proceeded to Pagsanjan, Laguna to find a place to stay and schedule an early morning boat ride to Pagsanjan Falls.

The last time I passed through Pagsanjan with Jasper in May, we couldn’t figure out where and how to arrange a boat ride, so we skipped it. I wasn’t gonna miss that opportunity this time. Now remember that this wasn’t really in the plans. Then again, this entire road trip wasn’t planned.

View Pagsanjan in a larger map

 

We tried to locate a small resort I saw when we passed the area in May called the Pagsanjan Palm Resort. My main reason for the choice was that 1) it was near the river, and 2) there was a sign that they arrange boat rides.

We got up early. We found out the night before that all the boat rides are now standardized. Meaning, the resorts can’t just have their own. Anyway, this is good, I guess to protect the tourists. The standard fare is P1000/pax. There are signs all over Pagsanjan warning against forced tips from the boatmen. You are of course encouraged to give tips… but you can’t be forced to give a specific amount. Use common sense.

The P1000 pesos covers the boat ride, some fee, rental of Life Vest and Cushion.

Now that its standard… boat rides begin at 8am… no earlier. So we made our way, with the help of the resort, to the nearest jump of point just before 8 am. We got to a nearby resort by the river where there was a “counter". We “registered” and they called for a boat via their efficient walkie-talkie system. We got picked up right at the “curb” so to speak… they laid down these cushions (which apparently is part of the P1000).

What was next was interesting…

From the pick up points we are towed to the edge of where the first rapids begin (see above). This was fascinating… which of course made sense. Mapapagod din ang mga bangkero if they paddled all the way to to where the fun begins. It was also kinda far.

When we get to the first set of rocks, the motorized boat lets us go and they “park”nearby till we return to tug us back.

The entire boat ride takes about 45 min to an hour each way. With the “going there” being much longer. Why… because it is going upstream and against the flow.

An interesting thing though, while no one refers to this as “white water rafting”… maybe because we aren’t in a raft to begin with… the water you will notice isn’t white… it’s brown… a sort of coffee color. And it is this color all up to the falls themselves.

It was always referred to as “shooting the rapids”. My sister reminds me of a story when she brought my then 4-year old niece Michelle there and she cried saying “don’t shoot the rabbits!”

As you can see the boatmen do their tough job of bringing us upstream. They get off the boat and with the help of designed hand-holds, they pull the boat up rocks and raging water. In some areas they literally need to carry and push the boat up these pre-laid pipes.

At this stage Kent and I are discussing that perhaps our original tip amount was too small… perhaps we their effort should be fairly compensated.

We stopped at some designated and pre-determined stop along the river. When we got off… a guy came up to us and was offering us some Coke and barbecued chicken. Telling us that this would be out only chance for refreshments as there was nothing available at the falls itself. When I said we weren’t interested, he tried to guilt us by asking if we wanted to buy some water for our boatmen. I was a victim of this “style” of suggestive selling before. But over and above anything else… I didn’t have any spare cash with me.

I only brought money for the boat ride and our pre-determined tip. I packed it in a small zip lock bag which I had in my pocket. Granted that we weren’t expected to pay for the boat when we registered as the resort made the arrangements for us. Still, I didn’t think these folks would have any change for a P1000 bill and us being the first group of the morning.

The falls you see in the above and below pictures are not Pagsanjan Falls. But we were told that when the waters are too violent (due to rains) sometimes the boats go only until here. It was a nice little waterfall and at least this one is white.

We stayed maybe around 10 min here as our boatmen rested.

The path along the river is full of lush greenery. This alone is a worthwhile sight. Kinda reminds me of those scenes in movies along the Amazon River or from the movie Anaconda (yikes!)

So we got to the famous Pagsanjan falls. The boat stopped at these big rocks just before the falls. We could hear the water thundering through the canyon walls. The sound was like heavy rains.

We walked over some rocks and got to the falls. My thoughts were… 1) Strong and mighty 2) Ooo even the falls water is brown  3) it’s short.

Yeah… after ravishing in its majesty… uttered to myself… “it seems smaller than I remember”. The previous water fall was much higher.

Under the waterfall there is a hole which is what that raft looking thing is for (see
below). You can go under the falls and into the cave under it. We were told earlier that we pay extra to get on it. But because we had a cash flow problem… we obviously didn’t. Not sure how much it costs… we were told originally it was P120.

After a while we decided to head back. Truth be told this is the epitome of the saying “It’s not the destination… it’s the trip.” Not to put down the majesty of the falls… but once there and looking around, there wasn’t much else to do except take pictures and stare at the coffee-colored water.

 

The trip back was fun. This time, the boatmen didn’t have to leave the boat because it was downhill from here… err… down stream. The boatmen would now navigate the waters through the rapids. We were given one instruction… keep our fingers inside the boat. Obviously the boat would ram up quite violently to some of the rocks!

 

As mentioned earlier, it was fun… which of course explains why the trip back was faster.

Luckily… we were indeed the first boat of the day. As we left the falls, two boats of 4 friends was coming up.

In the photo above we see a group of nuns at that “tourist trap” I mentioned earlier. They taking pictures as what look liked their mother superior was sitting in the boat. They were in full habit and I was wondering how wet they would be at the end of the ride. Interestingly at this point they still looked dry… maybe they same power working to keep them dry.

As we reached the end more groups of people were making their way up the river. Luckily with Kent and my anti-social nature… we got up early to avoid the crowds.

We got back to the area where the tugboat was waiting. We leisurely rode back to where we jumped off. Then as expected, one of the boatmen uttered “ser, bahala nalang kayo sa amin” which of course is their subtle way of asking for a tip. Originally I thought P100/each was sufficient. We both agreed that all things considered, we gave them both a P1000 bill to spit between them. Yes… as far as local rates go, that was kinda high… just chalk it up to the saying… “tulong nalang sa kanila.”

We walked back to the resort where we took a bath and readied our things to leave.

It was a great way to spend 2 hours… and well worth it.

Notes:

For anyone interested in taking the boat ride, here are some tips.

1. You will get wet. Wear a bathing suit under some board shorts. That said… flip flops are recommended. Don’t be arte.
2. Because you will get wet.. be sure to bring protection for your camera. A Zip Lock bag would be quite useful.
3. If you are coming from and to directly to your resort (or car)…. leave your valuables behind.
4. Bring some cash just in case… and make sure you have small change P20s, P50s P100s if you plan to buy drinks at the tourist trap or take that raft up to the cave under the falls. And of course tip for your bangkeros.
5. The first ride is 8am… so depending on how early you can get up take note.
6. If you don’t intend to patronize that little snack stop… have a big breakfast. Personally I don’t believe in making baon for environmental reasons. So please leave that water bottle.

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