DG’s officially back and we’re bringing it in with a bang with our summer kick-off adventure in the island-province of Camiguin and shortside-trip to downtown Cagayan de Oro City in Northern Mindanao.
It was not difficult to plan the Camiguin getaway, thanks to a few DIY travel blogs across the internet; it took us less than a week to plan our 2N3D trip. From these we prepared an itinerary that we tried to follow; we ‘tried’ for we had to make major adjustments with the time and expenses as previously published blogs of other travellers made an understatement on these two aspects (minus the airfare, each of us spent P6,000 – we were three in the group and we skipped, unfortunately, the CDO white river rafting, which costs around P2,000 per head – you can look it up in the internet – for a group of 5). Despite this, the trip was astoundingly great and fun.
We did not make prior booking arrangements for our accommodation and went there striking anywhere. Lol. We must have been lucky because we went there mid-March 2015, so probably peak season’s not yet started. Our multi-cab serviceman (whom we made an arrangement with upon our arrival at Benoni Port in Camiguin) brought us to Camiguin White Beach Resort in Brgy. Yumbing, Mambajao, literally adjacent to Paras.
We had a very decent room for three people, with a functioning AC, two beds, private bathroom, cable TV, and a strangely powerful wifi connection, for two nights for only P2,600. Definitely a very good deal, right. The seaside resort was very peaceful and accessible to the National Highway (and the place where you could find restaurants Luna Ristorante and Checkpoint). Although it’s definitely seaside, and you can see the famed White Island from your veranda…LITERALLY, it does not have a fine sandy beach, just as all resorts in the island –even the famous ones, like the adjacent Paras Resort. So, as a tip, you can stay anywhere in Mambajao, for location or proximity to the sea/beach does not really matter.
The resort manager told us that if we’d like to, they could serve meals to us. They even told us that they could arrange a booze session for us. However, we decided to do these things at Luna Ristorante, which is just a 10-minute walk away from the resort.
On our first day at the island, after finalizing our accommodation, we walked (yes, just walked) straight away to the centralized and barangay-regulated White Island boat terminal (P750 for a boat that can carry 4 passengers + P20/head entrance fee). White Island is the best sand bar islet I’ve been to.
The water around the White Island casts different shades of tropical blue. It’s very clear and the sand, as the name explicitly ‘suggests’, white, though not as powdery as in Boracay. It is very picturesque, to put it simply. On the islet, there were a few non-permanent sari-sari stalls, which I think offer industrial umbrellas for rent. It is an islet, an atoll, actually, that rose from the sea, so there are no trees or anything that could offer shade. The best time to be there is around after 2PM. The boaters usually ask visitors to leave at dusk or before the waves become too high. Note: You can never skip this when you go to Camiguin lol.
The next day, we embarked on our 8-hour “Island Tour” courtesy of the multi-cab serviceman we met the day before (our bargain price was at P2,000, this tour included. The multicab, a small one, has a maximum capacity of 6). We started it with the very surprisingly pleasurable trip to Katibawasan Falls.
Katibawasan Falls is one of the best. It is higher but narrower than Ditumabo Falls in Baler, Aurora. The descent is powerful and the spring pool, very cold! But equally enjoyable (it’s only 4-foot deep so anyone can hop in). We could stay there forever lol.
After an hour, we went to the Ardent Hot Springs. The pool water was not as hot as we hoped it would be (see Irosin, Sorsogon hot/cold spring lol). I’d say that the hot spring in Irosin is better and more relaxing. Next we went to the Old Volcano Stations of the Cross Walkway.
It is never advisable to go there at noontime, just like we did. This can be skipped, to be quite frank about it. I expected to see the actual rim of the dormant volcano crater, which other blogs told us about, but the walkway only passes on the volcano’s side. There are 15 stations there and from the 15th you can see the peaceful Bohol Sea and the Sunken Cemetery. This was tiring, honestly.
We had lunch and another round of cold spring splash at the Santo Niño Cold Springs Resort (and restaurant). Food was okay (but ordering could be confusing because once you arrive at the place, you’ll be flocked by different sales women of the same resort restaurant. They’re all nice so rejecting some of them while choosing one or two could be heart-wrenching LOL!!!).
Finally, we visited the Old Catarman Church Complex Ruins (where a very nice and helpful old man took photos of us with the different buildings there and the dao tree) and the Sunken Cemetery view-deck. I really loved the Church Complex Ruins because it gave me an Angkor Wat/Mayan/Aztec pyramid impression. As for the Sunken Cemetery, there’s nothing to it, really, except for the history behind it, maybe, and the huge white Cross that was erected atop the…well, sunken cemetery.
Again, from our resort, you can go anywhere by walking (Luna Ristorante, Checkpoint, there’s also a small grocery store and bakery that opens before sunrise) or riding the jeep-trike(the regular mode of transportation; similar to Thailand’s tuktuk but can accommodate 6 at a time; there are no PUJs) along the National Road (like La Isla Cocina, an old-Filipino house themed-fine dining coffee and restaurant) to the Poblacion (where you can find one of Camiguin’s famous trademarks – V(J)Andep’s Pastel de Camiguin).
We had spicy garlic oil pasta and (forgot the name) pizza at Luna Ristorante, which, as the name suggests,is an Italian restaurant. It is owned by an Italian and run by a Filipino crew. In the Santo Niño Cold Springs, we had lutong bahay fried native chicken, fish sinigang, and the traditional ginataang manok na Tagalog, which we downed with fresh buko juice, fresh from the shell.
After buying our first batch of Pastel de Camiguin from the main V(J)Andep (it’s pronounced ‘vandep’) Bakery in downtown Mambajao (P10 ride from Yumbing, the barangay where we stayed), we stopped by La Isla Cocina along the National Highway and had callos, lechon kawali, and baby back ribs.
When we returned to Cagayan de Oro for our flight back to Manila on the third day, we decided to have lunch at Sentro 1850 but we arrived shortly before 11AM, its opening time, so we had batirol chocolate drink and chilli cheese sticks at Mai Café, just across the restaurant. We all loved the chocolate drink. Finally, we had lunch at Sentro 1850 and boy, we had very good food at this fine-dining restaurant. We ordered imas (thick slice of lechon kawali tbh), tuna steak, chilli garlic shrimp pasta – all at a very generous serving, damn! We also had sotong (a sweet appetizer made of crunchy fried small octopuses in thick, sweet, tomato-based sauce) and the bestselling eggnog cheesecake.
Food is very affordably filling in Camiguin and in Cagayan de Oro’s best-reviewed Sentro 1850 Restaurant. In Filipino, masarap at sulit! (Of course I have to translate even that, “delectable and affordable”)
Honestly, the only thing that should be greatly improved is transportation – both time and system. Laguindingan Airport, Northern Mindanao’s newest and modern airport is not less than 30 kilometers or 45 minutes away from Cagayan de Oro City. It’s about three towns away from the city center. Agora Market Terminal, where we took a passenger van to Balingoan Port for P120/head, max. 12 passengers (which…sucked, honestly), is not less than two hours away from Balingoan Port. From there, our ferry ride (a regular passenger ferry, P170/head excluding government fees) took two hours (dunno what the problem was but we took a 360 just after sailing away from the port, robbing us off of like 30 minutes, which happened again when we were about to dock into Benoni in Camiguin) to reach Camiguin’s Benoni Port. Too much time was wasted from travelling and waiting to travel. The best route to Camiguin, if you’d skip the CDO part, is via airplane from Cebu – Mambajao has a civil aviation runway. (I’m wrapping up this blog before this becomes a novella)
Nevertheless, this trip was extremely, extremely fun and exciting! It’s definitely worth another visit. Camiguin is a small, peaceful, and humble island but it has definitely loads to offer. Again, expect the best.
(That’s Camiguin, the island born of fire)