Palaui, Cagayan Trip Island Hopping Day 1: Punta Verde and Crocodile Island

Joseph and I had to leave work early the night before to catch the 8pm or 9pm first class Victory Liner Tuguegarao bus in Kamias. After approximately 14 hours of travel, which includes the van ride to Sta. Ana, Cagayan, we went straight to our resort, Costa Carina, to leave our bags and freshen up before our island hopping for the day to Punta Verde and Crocodile Island. It was approximately 11 am when we checked in.

After taking a bath, we walked to the town center to eat lunch and hailed a tricycle afterward to get to the port where our boatman was waiting for us.

Our first stop: Punta Verde.

Punta Verde is a residential village in Cagayan. According to our boatman, it’s also considered part of Palaui Island. You’ll find a white sand beach there with relaxing light blue waters, which is a nice backdrop for photos. It’s not a swimming beach, though, because that’s where most boats dock.

Besides taking pictures at the beach, tourists can also trek to the falls, which is “hidden” in the village. You have to hire a guide (any of the locals) to take you there; ours was a girl and I think we paid her Php300 for it, which I thought was expensive.

the "hanging bridge" along the way to the falls — *the “hanging bridge” along the way to the falls*

On the way to the falls, you’ll find a mini hanging bridge, which I’m terrified of, but we stopped to take a photo anyway. The trek is about 30 minutes, and the trail involves a glimpse of plains and mountains.

When we reached the falls, we somehow felt disappointed because there was only a scarce amount of water. We didn’t even manage to get ourselves wet from it; we had to deliberately soak ourselves in the little puddle from the falls.

*This is the falls. That was all we got. Haha.*

Our guide said that there are only certain times when there’s a strong current of water in the falls; obviously, the time of our visit wasn’t one of it. Anyhow, the “dip” was somehow refereshing especially since we walked under the heat of the sun for about half an hour.

We didn’t stay long because there was nothing else to do, so we went straight to our second and last stop for the day: Crocodile Island.

Crocodile Island

According to our boatman, Crocodile Island was named as such because the rock formation there is shaped like a crocodile. The interesting thing about the island is actually its rock formations because they easily make a nice feature for a photo along with the beach in the background.

The fact that we were the only people at the beach during the time was a nice bonus too. The beach itself was just okay though.