Wanderworld

Finally, I’m on my last travel post for 2015! 😀 (So sorry that this blog can’t keep up with my travels, haha). Anyway.

For Joseph and I’s annual December getaway, I chose Camiguin as our destination since we haven’t explored a lot of places in Mindanao yet. The “Island of Fire” is most sought-after by tourists for its White Beach’s immaculate white sandbar paired with clear light blue waters. However, there are other Camiguin tourist spots worth visiting.

Here are some of the places we visited during our trip.

Day 1

Overlooking View of the Beach

Ok, this is technically not a Camiguin tourist spot, but it’s a nice stopover while you make your way around the island.

It’s located along the highway, and it provides a beautiful view of a rocky beach with deep blue waters set against a lush mountain. I’m not sure if the beach has a name though.

Tuasan Falls

I know I’ve said a lot of times before that I’m not that fond of waterfalls unless they’re really spectacular. We decided to stop here anyway since we had a lot of time as we reserved two whole days to explore the small island of Camiguin.

Honestly though, there’s really nothing special about it, though it’s a nice stop for a refreshing dip after exploring under the heat of the sun. There weren’t a lot of people when we got there, and most of them were locals.

After Joseph swam, we left the place, but along the way, our driver/guide asked us to take a pic in the middle of the road with the view of the three mountain peaks in the background. Unfortunately, I forgot the names of the mountains. Sorry, I’m not a very good student during field trips. Lol.

Bura Soda Water Park/Swimming Pool

I originally didn’t want to include this in our Camiguin itinerary because I dismissed it as just a public pool (which I’m not fond of as well, haha). However, Joseph wanted to try it since it’s said that the water in the pool is carbonated and therapeutic.

Yes, Joseph wanted to know if the water there actually tastes like soda. Unfortunately, he was disappointed because it still reportedly tastes like chlorinated water. Haha.

I found the place nice though, and it was a good thing that there were only a few people when we got there. If I remember correctly, there are two pools in Bura Soda, one for kids and the other one for adults, which is deep, probably around 6 feet.

The water was cold, and unlike in normal pools, it was emerald. It’s said that the water here springs from the underground.

Besides swimming, Bura Soda Water Park is an ideal place to have lunch as the site offers Filipino dishes, though they’re kind of expensive. We loved the grilled liempo we ordered though. 🙂

Sunken Cemetery

One of the more popular Camiguin tourist spots, Sunken Cemetery is where you’ll find a cross in the middle of the sea which serves as a memorial to the victims of Mt. Vulcan’s eruption in 1871. Such eruption destroyed and submerged parts of the municipality of Catarman in Camiguin.

According to our boatmen, the actual grave site is still far from the cross in Sunken Cemetery. They said though that you can see some of the ruins when you swim in the water.

A lot of small souvenir stores can be found in the area of Sunken Cemetery. Various locals also welcome tourists here, all offering to take your pictures “creatively” with the cross in the background. They’ll ask you to do hilarious poses, which is similar to the photographers in Chocolate Hills in Bohol as well as the guides in Bantay Church in Ilocos where the bell tower can be found.

If you wish to go to the cross itself, you can hire a boatman to take you there. Since the cross is just near the shore, the boat ride is just around 15 minutes, more or less. The water is still deep though.

Though there’s really nothing specific to see once you get to the cross, the surrounding views of the sea and the mountains are a nice touch to the place.

White Beach

As I said earlier, most tourists go to Camiguin because of this pristine beach. White Beach actually reminded me of Naked Island in Siargao as they both have a sandbar and have no facilities. White Beach has a bonus though as it provides glorious views of Mt. Hibok-Hibok from afar.

White Beach is also bigger and has a longer sandbar than Naked Island. While Naked Island has two tents, White Beach has a few huge umbrellas which serve as your only refuge from the heat of the sun. There’s also a small makeshift store on the island which sells snacks (chips) and sodas.

According to our guide, it’s best to visit White Beach in the late afternoon to watch the sunset. Upon reaching the jump-off point, you have to register and hire a boat to take you to the beach.

There are also snorkel masks available for rent. The boat ride to the beach is short, just around 30 minutes.

Beach bumming and swimming are the only activities you can enjoy at White Beach. Unfortunately, there are no fishes to see underwater, so snorkeling is not an option.

Day 2

Guiob Church Ruins

Guiob Church was also among the structures destroyed during the eruption of Mt. Vulcan in 1871. Today, the church ruins which serve as a reminder of the tragedy has ironically become one of the tourist spots in Camiguin.

The ruins look like a fortress with its remaining walls which are covered with moss and surrounded by trees. In front, there’s a cross standing against the wall, and tourists light up candles beneath its feet.

Outside, other ruins can be found, along with the huge and tall century-old tree. When you walk farther, you’ll see a cliff which leads to a beach. Sadly, the path is littered with garbage.

Walkway to the Old Volcano and Stations of the Cross

We didn’t intend to visit this place, but since it’s along the way and we had a lot of time, we explored it anyway. As the name suggests, the place features the Stations of the Cross; you’d have to trek all the way to the top to see everything.

The first part has several stairs, but you venture deeper into the forest afterward. At first, Joseph and I were the only ones there which made the experience somewhat scary, though we came across a foreigner couple later on.

Though the trail is surrounded by trees, there’s hardly any shade which made the trek exhausting. At the end of the trail, you’ll see a resurrected Jesus Christ, though the sculpture still seemed scary to me. 😀

The best reward here though is the view of Camiguin island below, specifically the cross from the Sunken Cemetery and the glistening waters surrounding it.

Katibawasan Falls

This is the more popular waterfall in Camiguin, and it’s usually packed with tourists. We were fortunate enough to visit it first though, and the other tourists only started coming after we’ve explored it.

Though this waterfall is higher than Tuasan, swimming was not allowed here, at least during our visit.

Mantigue Island

We saved the best for last in our Camiguin tour.

While White Beach reminded me of Siargao’s Naked Island, Mantigue Island somehow looked similar to Guyam Island. The water here is more of green as well than blue but the best thing about is its abundant marine life, which makes snorkeling a popular activity on the island.

Schools of fishes abound underwater, and the water is also teeming with corals. The boat will take you to a part of the sea that’s the most ideal for snorkeling. However, in the late afternoon, the waves are so strong which makes swimming difficult. The water is deep too, though you can always wear a life vest.

When it was around 4:30, our boatman asked us to leave already since the waves will reportedly get stronger by 5pm. He was not kidding though, as we braved huge waves on our way back.

I was actually already coming up with strategies on how to survive in case the waves swallow up our boat, haha. I couldn’t help but wonder how the other tourists we left behind still snorkeling managed to come back as the sun was already setting and the waves were a lot angrier by the time.

Notes:

• Travel to Camiguin is best combined with a CDO trip, where you can go whitewater rafting. We weren’t able to do so because our flight to CDO was moved to a later time, and the whitewater rafting usually starts early in the morning.

• There’s no airport in Camiguin; CDO is the ideal jump-off point to the island. Camiguin is just a boat ride away from CDO. (See itinerary below). Don’t forget to take note of the boat schedules though.
• The only way to get around Camiguin is through habal-habal. At Benoni Port, you’ll be welcomed by locals offering tours/motorcycle rentals. If you know how to drive a motorcycle, you can just rent one and explore on your own. For groups, multicabs are available.

• The resorts in Camiguin are mostly located in Mambajao. Most are cheap and offer basic creature comforts. You can simply search on Agoda or Booking.com. We stayed at Marianita’s Cottages. Our fan room with private bathroom for 2 persons only cost Php 1800 for 2 nights.

Suggested Itinerary and Travel Expenses

Here’s a suggested itinerary for a CDO-Camiguin trip which you can follow. Take note though that we weren’t able to religiously follow it and decided to spend one night instead at CDO since the travel time to Camiguin would’ve taken too long and our original schedule on the first day had no room for errors.

P.S. Normally, I’m the one who plans our trips to the last detail, but I asked Joseph this time (he’s the one who prepared this IT) since I was busy sorting out our Indochina trip itinerary then as well as my family trip to Kalanggaman, which I’ll be blogging about next. 😀

Day 0	12/5/2015 (Sunday)	Expenses	Details
11:10:00 AM	Land at Laguindingan Airport CDO
	Go to Camiguin
	1 of 4) Take a taxi or van to Agora Bus Terminal	400	Fare
12:00:00 PM	Lunch	200	Food
12:30:00 PM	ETA Agora
	2 of 4) Take a bus or van from Agora Bus Terminal to Balingoan Port	150	Fare
4:00:00 PM	ETA Balingoan
	3 of 4) Take the hourly Ferry Boat/Roro from Balingoan Port to Benoni Port in Camiguin	180	Fare
		10	Terminal fee
6:00:00 PM	ETA Benoni Port
	4 of 4) Take a van/multicab/jeepney/habal-habal to Marianita’s Cottages	200	Fare
6:30:00 PM	ETA Marianita’s Cottages
7:00:00 PM	Dinner	150	Food
Day 0 expenses		1,290
Day 1	12/6/2015 (Monday)	Expenses	Details
5:30:00 AM	Breakfast	150	Food
	Go to White Island
6:00:00 AM	ETD for White Island
	1 of 2) Hire habal-habal (whole day) to the White Island Jumpoff (Brgy. Yumbing)	900	Transpo
6:30:00 AM	ETA White Island Jumpoff
	2 of 2) Ride a boat to White Island	500	Transpo
7:00:00 AM	ETA White Island	20	Entrance fee
11:30:00 AM	ETD White Island
12:00:00 PM	ETA mainland Camiguin
12:00:00 PM	Lunch	150	Food
	Go to Katibawasan Falls
1:00:00 PM	ETD Katibawasan Falls
1:30:00 PM	ETA Katibawasan Falls	20	Entrance fee
	Go to Sunken Cemetery
2:30:00 PM	ETD for Sunken Cemetery
3:00:00 PM	ETA Sunken Cemetery	100	Transpo
4:00:00 PM	ETD Sunken Cemetery
5:00:00 PM	ETA Marianita’s Cottages
6:00:00 PM	Dinner	150	Food
Day 1 expenses		1,990
Day 2	12/7/2015 (Monday)	Expenses	Details
5:30:00 AM	Breakfast	150	Food
	Go to Mantigue Island
6:00:00 AM	ETD for Mantigue Island
	Hire habal-habal (whole day) to Brgy San Roque, Mahinog	900	Transpo
7:00:00 AM	ETA Brgy. San Roque
7:30:00 AM	ETD for Mantigue Island (PhP 600 boat fee, max 4 hours, +PhP 50 every succeeding hour)	700	Transpo
8:00:00 AM	ETA Mantigue Island (PhP 30 entrance/environmental fee)	200	Shed rental
		100	Snorkelling fee
		200	Snorkel rental
11:00:00 AM	Lunch at Mantigue	150	Food
12:00:00 PM	ETD Mantigue Island
	Go to Mahinog Zipline
1:00:00 PM	ETA Zipline	300	Zipline fee
2:00:00 PM	ETD Zipline
	Go to Bura Soda Water Swimming Pool
3:00:00 PM	ETA Bura Soda Water Swimming Pool	30	Entrance fee
		60	Table rental
4:00:00 PM	ETD Bura Soda Water Swimming Pool
5:00:00 PM	ETA Marianita’s Cottages (commission transpo to Benoni for next day)
6:00:00 PM	Dinner	150	Food
Day 2 expenses		2,940
Day 3	12/8/2015 (Tuesday)	Expenses	Details
5:30:00 AM	Breakfast	150	Food
	Go to Laguindingan Airport
6:00:00 AM	1 of 4) Hire habal-habal to Benoni	200	Transpo
7:00:00 AM	ETA Benoni Port
	2 of 4) Ride ferry to Balingoan Port	200	Fare
9:00:00 AM	ETD Benoni Port
11:00:00 AM	ETA Balingoan Port
11:30:00 AM	Lunch	150	Food
12:00:00 PM	ETD Balingoan Port
	3 of 4) Take van or bus to CDO Agora	150	Fare
3:00:00 PM	ETA CDO Agora
3:30:00 PM	ETD CDO Agora
	4 of 4) Take taxi to Laguindingan Airport	400	Fare
4:30:00 PM	5J390 to Manila
6:10:00 PM	5J390 at Manila
6:30:00 PM	Dinner	200	Food
8:00:00 PM	Uber	400	Transpo
Day 3 expenses		1,850

 

Travel Date: December 2015

**Next post: Malapascua Island, Cebu + Kalanggaman Island, Leyte