Wanderworld

**Disclaimer: This is a very long post as I tried to explain every detail about the commute from Davao to Surigao del Sur and relay our experience at the same time. I wrote this back in January but never got around to posting it until now. 😀

I haven’t been able to blog for the longest time because I’m too busy with work lately. I think I still have half a year’s worth of travel left to document (tsk tsk). I also didn’t know how to even begin writing about my Surigao trip because this one has the most complicated itinerary I have organized so far.

Because there were so many beautiful places to see in Surigao, both Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte, I had a really difficult time finalizing our IT. Add to that the fact that the tourist attractions are far from each other, so I had to figure out how to commute from one place to another.

I also had to squeeze our entire trip into five days only, and the added challenge was we were coming all the way from Davao to Surigao, because that was our cheapest option from Manila at the time. It’s common knowledge that the normal fare to Surigao or Siargao is too expensive, which is somehow comparable to the airfare to Batanes.

Anyway.

After several revisions of our IT (no kidding), I decided to make Enchanted River in Surigao del Sur our first stop. We were able to score promo Air Asia tickets to Davao from Manila, and I picked the night flight because I still had to work on that day.

As usual, our Air Asia flight had been delayed for almost 2 hours, so Joseph and I had no choice but to edit our prepared IT, and we had to skip Tinuy-an Falls in Bislig because of the lost time. If I remember correctly, we arrived in Davao at around 11 pm already, and it was raining hard. From the airport, we went to Ecoland Bus Terminal, where we took a bus to Surigao del Sur.

How to Go to Enchanted River from Davao Airport

Take a cab to Ecoland Bus Terminal

We lined up at the taxi terminal at the airport to go to Ecoland Bus Terminal. It was raining hard and already late at night, so most of the taxi drivers were already asleep in their vehicles as they waited for passengers. While waiting, the woman behind us who happened to be from Davao asked us where we were going, and she asked if she could join us in the cab when she learned we were going to Ecoland.

Though we didn’t get her name, Ate was a blessing to us because she was the one who mainly communicated with the taxi driver in their dialect, and she asked him the best way for us to reach Surigao, since she doesn’t know about the bus schedules, as she’s just from Davao.

According to the driver, there are no more buses leaving for Surigao at such late hour, though I refused to believe him because I read from several sources online that the non-aircon buses operate for 24 hours. However, I actually thought that we were going to spend the night in the terminal or we would be forced to book a room since the driver said there were no more buses available.

Upon arrival at the bus terminal though, Ate refused to leave us until we figured out what bus to take to get to Surigao. She actually asked several people in the terminal about the best way for us to get there, and she even wrote the route we were supposed to take. (God bless her).

Take a bus to Butuan or San Franz

Based on what we learned from the people in the terminal, the best way for us to get to Surigao was to take the bus to Butuan or San Franz, also known as San Francisco, in Agusan del Sur. That’s also what I had written down in our IT when I tried to figure out the complicated commute by looking at the map from Davao to Surigao del Sur.

However, there were no buses that directly go to San Franz when we arrived at the terminal, so we took the Butuan bus instead, which passes by and stops at San Franz, as you can also observe in the map.

Based from my research, only non-aircon buses operate 24 hours, but the bus we took was surprisingly air conditioned. We took the Bachelor Bus to Butuan, and the fare costs Php 370 each. The trip took about 5 hours, so we arrived in Butuan the following day already.

At San Franz, take a van going to Hinatuan

We were told by the people in Ecoland that from San Franz, there are vans going to Hinatuan. We were specifically looking for vans with a Hinatuan signboard. However, when we arrived at San Franz, there were no such vans, and after asking around, a barker led us to a van with a different signboard, and he said that it will pass through the “crossing,” which could be our jump-off point to the Enchanted River. The van ride costs Php 85 each.

While we were in the van, Joseph got to talk to a lady passenger who also helped us figure out how to get to Enchanted River and gave us instructions. We were the only passengers from Manila at the time; the others seemed to have been from Davao, other nearby provinces, or Surigao itself, and they all spoke the same dialect.

Take a habal-habal to Enchanted River

When we passed a huge sign of Enchanted River, the conductor and the helpful lady passenger informed us that that was our stop. From there, you could see several habal-habal (motorcycles) lined up, waiting for passengers. Upon getting off the van, they instantly beckoned us, asking if we needed a ride to Enchanted River.

The habal-habal is the only way to get to the river if you’re on a DIY trip. The roundtrip ride costs Php 300.

Since we were heading straight to Surigao del Norte after our Enchanted River trip, we were told by the helpful lady passenger and the habal-habal driver that we had to go back to San Franz where we could take a bus heading to Surigao City in Surigao del Norte.

We were told that we could actually wait for and hail a bus right there in the crossing, but the habal-habal driver said that it would be “standing room” only since the buses passing by would be mostly filled with passengers already.

We just negotiated with him then to take us to the bus terminal after we visit Enchanted River. He agreed for the price of Php 350.

EXPENSES

Airport taxi from Davao to Ecoland bus terminal: Php 110/3 = 36.7 each

Bachelor bus from Ecoland to San Franz: Php 370 each

Habal-habal to and from Enchanted River + Hinatuan terminal: Php 350/2 = 175 each

Total: Php 581.7

**Travel date: May 2015

Next post: What to Expect at Enchanted River