Anticipation
Looking forward
to the last few days of my trip, I woke up earlier than planned. I
needed to be in the airport at around 430AM. I was up at 3AM. I had to
disturb the crew during that shift since I was checking out earlier
than I said. And as promised, they packed my breakfast and gave me a
ride to the airport where I enjoyed my meal while watching cartoon
network.
Together at Last
At
the Zonta Cagayan de Oro airport, I was welcomed by Grace and Candice.
Candice is a local working in Makati. Grace will be my buddy for the
remainder of the trip. We've been friends since grade school but we
never got the chance to go out of town together. This was the perfect
opportunity.
Grace with the locals
Transportation
The trip to Camiguin
was longer than I expected. We took a bus from Cagayan de Oro going to
Balinguan where we rode the ferry going to Camiguin. The trip totaled
around 2 hours. By the way, the Balinguan bus stations is just a few
meters way from the port so if you don't have that much load, you can
just walk.
The ferry leaves every hour.
In Camiguin we
had a choice to rent a van or a multicab. I was glad to have a travel
buddy this time. An 8-hour trip costs PhP 1500. Since we arrived a
little late in the day (around 2PM), Grace and I came up with an
itinerary that will maximize our payment. Why not? We are paying
customers anyway.
A motorela - a covered "cart" pulled by a motorbike
Volcanoes
They
were not hard to miss. When we drove around the island, they were
either on our left side, our right side, in front of us or behind us.
Some of the popular ones are Mt. Vulcan, Mt. Hibok-Hibok, Mt. Mambajao,
Mt. Ginsiliban, and Mt. Uhay. If we had the right gears, Grace and I
would have taken the trail up to the crater. View photos HERE.
Mt. Hibok-hibok and Mt. Vulcan
Swimming
In
Camiguin, you have a lot of choices when it comes to swimming. They
have cold springs, hot springs, waterfalls and of course, the sea. The
tour takes you to these different places. But do you want to swim in
every stop of the tour? Grace and I only swam the sea and dipped in the
hot spring.
The Sto. Nino Cold Spring
Katibawasan Falls
Eerie
I
requested that we visit the sunken cemetery before sun down to see the
sunset. We got there right before the sunset. The view was not as
magnificent as I hoped it to be. The clouds diffused the rays from the
sun and before we knew it, the sun was gone. We jumped into the sea
with our snorkeling gear hoping to see the sea floor and some tombs. It
was already dark and the current was already strong. I was still able
to see the sea floor and the white cross they were referring to.
Grace's underwater camera suddenly would not turn on. That was eerie.
Grace got a little disturbed she tried to struggle back to the boat to
no avail. We had swim to the rocky shore.
The sunken cemetery is
marked by a huge cross to mark the community cemetery that sunk during
the 1871 volcanic eruptions. Read some history here.
The Sunken Cemetery
The Market
One
of the places to visit when traveling is the local market. We were
early for the next ferry so we did some rounds in the wet market
looking for anything. We left the market with a bag of bananas and
jackfruit.
Grace scours the market
Found some fruits
Pasalubong
Pasalubong
is a Filipino tradition. It is a gift given to family and friends when
you get back home from the trip. We bought some dried squid and Pastel
- buns with filling, a product of Camiguin.
And Others...
I will be back here next year.
You can view my world nomad Camiguin album HERE.
