Camiguin (Day 1) – July 30, 2009

Erick, a friend of mine who currently resides in Cagayan de Oro City, arranged an outing with fellow friends. The plan was to go overnight in Camiguin then another night in Cagayan de Oro  This was planned two weeks earlier and we were uncertain of weather conditions. Normally, if it was raining in Manila, this meant nothing if you were travelling to the south… it would be nice and sunny. Well that is what we were hoping for.

View Camiguin Island in a larger map

Cebu Pacific

While I normally fly Philippine Airlines, I decided to go Cebu Pacific this time. I hadn’t flown Cebu Pacific in around 2 years – since they degraded service to offer budget flights — and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of service. Plus… I wanted to join their Travelling Juan contest

Erick picked us up at the airport in Cagayan de Oro. After we dropped off his son at school we then proceeded around 1.5 hours away to the town of Balingoan to hop on a ferry for Camiguin.

I don’t remember how much we paid. Erick was doing all of the transactions for us. All I recall is that it was a small fee.

The ferry had a lower deck for cars, and the upper deck was for humans. The upper deck had two sections, open and enclosed. We first sat in the open area until we were underway when we realized that this would also be the “wet” area.

The ride was somewhat rocky. It wasn’t raining (yet) at the time but the winds were pretty strong and thus so were the waves. As sky was foreboding. The picture above shows Camiguin in the distance.

After around 1.5 hours, we reached Camiguin.

Our hotel sent a van to the port for us.

Hmm… very nice roads.

We got to the Paras Beach Resort after what seemed like a tour of the island of around 30 min. “In fairness” I was very pleasantly surprised by the resort. I wasn’t expecting cement. And… it’s fairly cheap.

We were famished, so we had lunch. Then quickly freshened up… a quick change of clothes… and then went off on our island tour.

Our first destination was Katibawasan Falls. As you can see above, admission was cheap. I wasn’t sure what to expect here.

Right after the picture above… it started to rain…

Whoa. Breathtaking. It was an interesting waterfall. Traditional waterfalls are falling of the face of a mountain. Here the water jumps of from top, falling to the ground without touching the face of the cliff.

At the bottom is a man-made lagoon. Which was the bummer here. There was a big circular pool made of cement and rocks. It didn’t look too bad, but it took away from the nature of it all.

Anyway, while we took the long stairs down. It started to rain. We found a little shed to put our bags and stuff and off to the water we went!

It was very very very very cold. Ok, why I am the only clear image above? there water droplets on my camera waterproof casing. Hehe.

From the Katibawasn Falls, we headed towards the Philvolcs’ Hibok-Hibok Observatory.

Up here, the wind was very very strong. Please note the flagpole.

From up there, you get a view of the surrounding land. Anyway, next stop… the sunken cemetery.

Along the way, I spotted a great view by the water. We had to stop for picture taking!

This is my favorite shot. Taken by George Parilla using my camera.

That is Mt. Volcan in the background. Yes I know, a very descriptive name indeed. Anyway, from here… we visit two Mt. Volcan victims…

We stopped at Pasil Reef. The location of…

The Sunken Cemetery is the remains of a the community cemetery which sank when Mt. Volcan erupted in 1871. Above water, the big cross serves as a marker for the cemetery location. It is now a dive site allowing views of coral crusted tombstones. Personally, I wouldn’t want to dive there.

The next venue… the Guiob Church Ruins… another victim of Mt. Volcan

Much of the church was buried during Mt. Volcan’s eruption on May 13, 1871. Leaving much of the church covered in rubble belfry.

Next stop…

The Sto. Nino Cold Springs. Hmm… same artwork as the Katibawasan Falls.

Here there was a large pool of water. Cold water. Whatever made cold springs an interesting destination eludes me. Anyway, I opted not to go in this time as I didn’t want to walk around wet and cold. But I did feel the water. Yes. It was cold.

Meanwhile there all these ales forcing us to rent an inner tube for P10. Meanwhile, I got myself a “Lakwatsero” branded souvenir bracelet outside at one of the stores.

Anyway. This venue is probably the most “not worth it” part of the tour.

From here went off to yet another water-related venue…

The Soda Water Swimming Pool. It prides itself as the only spring of its kind in the country. Supposedly the water tastes like soda. Tasted like plain water to me

Needless to say. It was interesting.

Final spot of the day… we went back to Hibok-Hibok for…

Ardent Hibok-Hibok Spring Resort. Finally! a HOT SPRING!!! I don’t have much pictures of the hot springs pool. It was now dark and it was raining, so I couldn’t take out my SLR. Meanwhile my small camera wasn’t taking nice pics.

Camiguin is known as Volcano Island. Hibok-Hibok last erupted just in 1951. Which means, somewhere below there must be something still active to generate warm water… yikes!

After soaking the warm water, we ate dinner at the resort’s restaurant.

That’s it for Day 1 at Camiguin.

Commentary

It was a wet day. When we were in the van, the rain would stop. When we got down, it would start raining. I don’t think it would have affected the overall outcome of the tour. But I guess we would have stayed longer at each venue.

A friend of mine (whose family hails from Cagayan de Oro) told me a few days before flying off that there was nothing special to see in Camiguin. Sadly I would have to agree. The sights were interesting, but what did we see? 3 springs and a waterfall with man made pools, a big cross in the water, moss lined old church and a wobbly ferry ride. My friend pointed out that there are no beaches on Camiguin. And he was right. When you mention “Camiguin”, what comes to mind traditionally are beaches. Pictures of Camiguin show a sand bar called “White Island”… but again, there are no beaches. There were lots of rocks though.

That said. I did have lots of fun.

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