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.