Kagay-an Adventures (Day 2 & 5 of CDO Trip)

Kathleen and I have gone white water rafting during our trip to the Canadian Rockies in June 2006. It was on the Kicking Horse River in British Columbia with Wild Water Adventures. We went thru the Classic Day trip from class one to four. We had very good briefing as to what to expect, what to do when someone falls into the water, how to pull someone out of the water, etc. Needless to say we felt really secure. Despite the icy water coming from the glacier that showered us whenever we went thru numerous rapids (and at one point we had a rafter fall off from another boat whom the guides quickly rescued), the experience was just so much fun and so worth it. Afterwards, we had excellent barbeque with chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate to close the trip. It was one of the best adventures ever!
With that, we were raring to go white water rafting again.

So Day 2 was set for Kagay-an Adventures which also included the canopy walk and ziplining.

Since there were only 3 of us, Kagay (the local white water rafting outfitter) arranged for us to join a group to make the minimum 5 requirement. There were a total of 2 rafts. The group we joined only went for the basic course for first time rafters which ran thru 12.34 km with 14 major rapids ranging from class 2 to 3 with a total run of 3 hours. (Seriously, it felt more like class 2 most of the time.)

The basic course would be relatively fun for first timers. There were a few rapids that would get you wet if you were seated up front. There were also stretches of calm water where you can jump off and swim along side the raft. It was unfortunate that we ended up with a un-official river guide who wasn't well trained in people skills. He was a good rafter and read the river well but otherwise he was a bit irritating with his corny and pointless remarks during the trip. I was later informed that they only had one official guide available hence they just had to get someone who knew the river well to push thru with the trip. That info kinda turned me off.

Anyhow, the highlight for me would have to be the small water fall section where we let the water fall onto our helmets and back. It was quite refreshing as the day was really hot. I stuck out my tongue to catch the water fall just to make an interesting photo as I knew the guide was taking our photos. At one point, it was also really amazing to see a sea hawk flying overhead and molted snake skins hanging over vines alongside the river walls. We were really amidst mother nature! (During the rafting trip in Canada, we were excited to see wild mountain goats traversing the steep mountainside.)

The trip ended at a restaurant where we were able to shower and change into dry clothes for P20 per head. The place also offered pretty good lunch: liempo, shrimp and chicken bbq which was already part of the package we paid. YUM.


We were then later brought to Macahambus Adventure Park for the canopy walk and ziplining part of our adventure. We wore a harness that hooked us on a line as we walked a suspended bridge over 170ft ravine. I was not one bit nervous but I did feel whoozy as the ladies ahead of me took so much time crossing the bridge that the bridge shook and I got a bit dizzy. So after that, we just let them finish the bridge before we followed.

Ziplining always looked interesting and exciting as I first saw it in Amazing Race. To be honest, I felt a bit nervous before taking the plunge. I say, it's because the others ahead of me were all whining in fear. Heck, I've been sky diving, ziplining should be a piece of cake. And well it was. Overall, it actually felt very abrupt for me. It was literally over in something like 10 seconds.

Day 5 - Advance White Water Rafting

I mentioned in my Camiguin blog entry that we found out we over paid Kagay. Here's the back story there. Our package was P950.00 which we intially thought covered only the white water rafting and the lunch. Later on, we found out that our package consisted of P500.00 for white water rafting, P300.00 for canopy walk/ziplining and P150.00 for lunch. But when we did the Macahambus canopy walk and ziplining, we paid another P300.00 each. So either we get a refund of P900.00 or we go for Advance White Water Rafting on Day 5 of our trip. Of course we decided to do the latter. But this time only Kathleen and I went rafting. Myra met up with her friend who toured her around different churches in CDO.

The Advance course ran 16.54 km of the river with 24 major rapids ranging from class 3 to 4, with a total run of 5 hours. In reality, it started 4km upstream of the basic course. So rapids actually ranged between class 1 to 4.

Initially we didn't want to do the basic leg of the course but since we didn't have anything to do til 5pm, we just decided to go ahead with it. And what a different experience it was this time. Primarily it was due to the fact that the group was also more adventurous and daring, willing to do more stunts than the previous group we joined. Not to mention we had a proper guide this time in the person of Clint.

And the adventure escalated early on: immediately after the first rapid, somebody fell off from our boat but good thing he was able to hold on to the raft line. You should have seen how wide-eyed he was holding on to the raft for dear life. No worries though as we immediately pulled him back in. After the second set of rapids, the last raft flipped and turned over and in a split second, everyone was in the water. We actually saw them as they flipped and it was at this point that I got quite impressed by the river guides particularly Clint. His presence of mind was amazing. He immediately called out to the other guides that there were swimmers. Afterwhich he shouted instructions to the "swimmers" to stay calm and just lie on their back to avoid hitting the rocks underneath. Then he immediately threw them the throwline so that they don't get further downriver. Meanwhile the other guides were already swimming towards the rafters. The rescue was so organized and so fast, I can't help but be impressed with the Kagay team.

From here on, it was all just fun and adventure. There was a part where we rowed upstream to meet the rapids and as we did this, the waters spun us once or twice like a washing machine. Come the basic leg of the course, we would be more daring and deliberately flip the raft and throw everyone into the water. One thing I realized is that even if we anticipated the flip, you're never ready to get thrown into the water. There's just no time to take that big gulp of air before you get submerged. Yes we drank a lot of the river water! But I'm ok, no amoebiasis for me. :P

There was a time when we're allowed to float and meet a shallow rapid that would swing us towards the river wall. I guess I was so tiny that the rapid swund me around faster than I should. I had my back turned to the wall instead of my feet ready to kick. I had to turn myself around and just as I tried to avoid the wall, the raft was coming towards me threatening to smash me between the raft and the wall. I guess being a diver helped as I was able to keep my presence of mind: I simply went under water beneath the raft and came out the other side. Others became quite concerned but immediately saw I was alright. Everything was just a blast!!! I really had a great time.

One funny thing that happened: the entire advance course cost P700. Since we previously overpaid P900.00, this meant Kath & I owed Clint P500 plus P300 for meals. The thing is we only had P500 plus some change. It was our last day and this was all the cash we had on hand. We chummied up with Clint as we asked for a discount building a case that we were returning clients so chika na yung P200. After some consultation with the other guides, they only charged us P600 for the entire rafting course each. This meant that we only owed him P600 for everything (food and rafting balance) but again we only had P500.00 cash. We actually had P60 extra which we were alloting for airport terminal fee. We couldn't really push our luck for more discount so I had to hunt thru my bag for all the loose change I had. Voila! I was able to come up with another P40 which included all the last 25 centavo coins in my person. *Whew* We'd just ask Myra for the airport terminal fee later. But what we forgot was the P20 shower charge at the restaurant/shower place!!! Bless Clint for helping us out and negotiating with the owners to allow us to shower lest we go to the airport with river water on our skin.

One more thing about Clint, he's got such a lean strong body that he looked like he was just pulling out a little kid from the water whenever he effortlessly helped us get back on the raft. If you go to CDO, try to get him as a guide. He's really nice and funny too. And as one of the girls in our first rafting trip says "Love ko na yung accent nya!"



Tip: it's ideal for one to wear long sleeved rashguard and long shorts to protect you from the sun. Otherwise use sport sunblock that's waterproof and re-apply often. I didn't think I'd get burned on the legs but my thighs got soooo burned they turned purple. I looked literally like a cooked lobster at the end of the ride. During the 2nd rafting trip, I wore long sarong-like pants to protect my legs from the sun.

Internet Truths and Myths

I'm pretty sure everyone has come across interesting bits of information from truths (the sun isn't really yellow; the color is only an interpretation of the retinae of our eyes) to myths (Coca-Cola was originally green in color).... and then you come across this.
I understand that above link has been edited. Click on the website snapshot below to see the original article.

Camiguin (Day 3-4 of CDO Trip)

I've always wanted to go to Camiguin since I saw pictures of officemates on White Island from URC. For those who don't know, I left URC in 1999 so you can just imagine how much time has passed. Finally, I got to go as part of the Cagayan de Oro trip.

I didn't really know what to expect. From Myra's internet research, one can expect a lot: Hot and Cold springs, the Sunken Cemetery, Mt. Hibok-Hibok (an active volcano) etc. Asking around from people who've been there, we were told that we can simply rent a multicab when we get there for the island tour. So the only plans we made was to make resort reservations to be sure we had a place to stay.

Getting to Balingoan meant a 1.5hr road trip from Cagayan de Oro. Most people I know rented a jeep or van to take them to the port. So it was a blessing that we met these two girls during our 1st white water rafting who said that we can easily take a bus. They also told us that the island tour wasn't really that special but Katibawasan Falls was a must for them. We thought, we might as well do the island tour just coz we're there anyway.

So from our hotel, we took a 10minute cab ride to Agora which housed the bus stops. We took an aircon bus (P110 per head) to Balingoan. We simply slept during the road trip and missed the changing landscape.

Alighting at the Balingoan stop, we didn't know how to get to the port so we took a tricycle (P5 per person). It turns out it took something which felt like less than 1 minute ride as the port was so near. After buying our tickets (P107 per pax plus P2.30 terminal fee), we waited about 1.5hrs for the next RORO to Benoni port, Camiguin. With the cool breeze, it was a sweet one hour boat trip to the island.

Upon reaching the port, we were approached by several multicab drivers asking if we wanted to rent. That's the thing about travelling in the Philippines, so many people will approach you offering everything you can imagine: from carrying your bags, pearls and accessories, snacks, local delicacies to rides. While I understand their persistence and entreprenuerial spirit, it sometimes borders on harrassment.


We decided to take a multicab to J&A's Fishpen (P10 per pax for 5 min ride from the port). Upon riding the multicab, it was a bit scary just because 2 big men rode the front (driver and companion) aside from the guy who negotiated the transaction with me who rode at the back with us. We were only 3 girls travelling so the situation was slightly uncomfortable but despite that, our fears were unfounded.

While J&A's a nice and peaceful place, the food is just way too expensive given the serving size and the merely acceptable taste. We paid P920 for 1 pc of crab (regular size), 1 order of kilawin (raw fish meat cooked in vinegar-onion-garlic dressing), 1 grilled squid plus rice and softdrinks!

Since it was just more convenient, we agreed to take the same cab to Paras Beach Resort (P350 from the port one way. Apparently it's P600 for round trip transfers.) It took a little over 30 minutes to get the port. The guy who negotiated with me told me that the pool in Paras was under repair due to damages from a recent storm. I wondered why it was relevant. It turns out that Camiguin didn't really have beaches. The island is pretty much surrounded by rocks and the rough waters didn't allow swimming. And with no pool, there was really nothing left to do. It was too late for us to go to White Island (P400 per round trip boat ride) since they operated boats to the island between 6am til about 5pm. We got to the hotel around3pm. So we just stayed there and took naps before dinnertime.


That night we simply decided on dinner at the resort. We met some officemates of mine who were also there on vacation. From these officemates, we found out that we overpaid our Whitewater rafting package which led us to the decision to just stay one night in Camiguin (aside from the fact that there was not much to do in the island anyway) and go back to CDO Friday afternoon so we can go for advance white water rafting on Day 5 just before we fly back to Manila (but that's another blog). With that, here's how we spent the next day in Camiguin:


6am - we took a 5 min boat ride to White Island which is literally a strip of white sand island. No plants can be seen on the island. There were a few stalls built by the locals to serve grilled food. We had yummy fresh grilled fish, liempo and rice for breakfast with 1.5L Coke (seemed like a lunch meal really for only P345); We were glad to see my officemates on the island as they were fun company. Later Myra and I held a fresh fish and took pictures pretending we caught it. Myra looked like she was a beauty queen holding a scepter. Won't be sharing pictures here as she might kill me. :P The water was nice and warm though the sun was in hiding that day. I was so burned from the white water rafting 2 days before that I was just glad I didn't get that much sun exposure that morning.


9.30am - we went back to Resort to bathe and check out of hotel. We later found out that though they prepared our breakfast so we decided to take it out instead and eat it for lunch. We rented a multicab c/o of the resort for about P1000 for half day which included bringing us to the port area. A whole day trip will cost P1500.00 (I initially thought we got a bargain since the he was originally charging us P1200. On hindsight I should have bargained lower since we only planned to go to 2-3 places of interest. Lesson learned.)

10.30am - Given the earlier advise that the island tour wasn't spectacular, we just did a partial tour of Camiguin:


Ardent Hot Springs - there were 3 pools which generally had luke warm waters except for the 3rd pool that had a temperature of about 40 degree Celcius; Kath simply dipped her legs in the 40 degree pool while Myra and I took turns taking each other's picture.

People can actually go swimming here. There were even picnic tables around the area. Unfortunately it's not very well kept and a bit discouraging to take a dip in the pool. We found a couple of locals and a foreigner submerged in the 40 degree pool. Entrance cost only P25.


Vjandep Bakery - The driver brought us to the bakery where they sold the famous Pastel de Camiguin. Pastel is a soft bread which contained a sweet-custard like filling. I don't remember trying it coz I'm not really a bread/pastry person. But this is what most people asked for as pasalubong so I bought 5 small boxes (P62 for 6pcs) and 5 large boxes (P107 for a dozen). Kath and I also passed by the local market where Kath bought several kilograms of ripe mangoes for only P40/kilo. Now you can imagine the load we had to carry back to CDO. hehe.

Katibawasan Falls - 250ft high, the falls is modest in size One can also go swimming here but we just decided on a peaceful lunch as we had the place all to ourselves. The breakfast that we brought from the resort became our lunch: daing with fried rice and fried egg for Kath; Tocino with fried rice and fried egg for Myra; buttered toast with fried egg for me. Oh I didn't get to mention that this cost more than our meal on White Island. Hotel rates!

Like Ardent, there are picnic tables and there are no proper changing areas too. I guess this really meant going back to the hotel to take a bath and change for most people. The entrance fee was a modest P15.

At the entrance to the falls, we saw a monkey with chain on his leg. Like most people, we were amused by the monkey and tried to toss a piece of mango seed on his sitting ledge coz we were afraid he'd jump at us. We missed. Later we realize he might be clever enough to catch it, and indeed he was. We underestimated our primate brother. hehe.

After lunch we tried to catch the 1pm RORO back to Balingoan but saw the ferry leaving just as we got to the port. We had to wait another hour for the next trip. Fare was the same (P107/pax) but no terminal fee this time.