This is part two of our marathon journey across the Visayas. You can read part one here.
Siargao is on the eastern edge of the Philippines, bordering the Pacific ocean. This meant that the waves there were sufficient enough for surfing and the world renowned 'cloud 9' surf spot on the island attracted surfers the world over. This has created a robust surfing community complete with resorts and schools dedicated to the sport.
Nathalie and I booked a five day-long package at a surf resort that included a private surf lesson every day, a couple of excursions on the island (including an evening of 'getting drunk and try to ride a water buffalo around a field'), a free massage, transfer to and from the airport/seaport and accommodation for the week. The price was a bit high, but we had rationalized that it would correspond to high quality instruction and an overall excellent experience.
With that in mind, we jumped in the plane and set off for the hour long flight over the Visayas. The view from the window was stunning. This country is truly breathtaking and we were treated to atolls, deserted islands and a birds-eye view of Bohol. This was made even more spectacular as we were on a turbo-prop airplane (i.e. it used a propeller engine and not a jet) meaning that we cruised at a much lower altitude giving us a closer view of the land and sea below us.
After we landed, we entered the minuscule arrivals' hall, collected our bag, and met our driver for the transfer. Our first impressions of the island were overwhelmingly positive. I don't think we've seen such unspoiled tropical beauty in our lives (at least up until that point). Life was slow; no where did we feel that people were in any particular hurry. We quickly adapted to this and once we arrived in the resort, we were greeted by the manager/head instructor.
He lead us to our room and told us that we could start our first lesson that afternoon around three. We had arrived around 01:30 and were somewhat hungry, having only eaten a light breakfast before leaving Cebu. The resort was known for its excellent restaurant (the owner is half-Swiss, half-Italian) and we ordered two sandwiches to enjoy in the sand-filled pavilion adjacent to the kitchen.
Life was indeed slow, and it took nearly 45 minutes to receive our meal. During this time, our instructor kept on giving us mixed signals along the lines of "take your time but really, you need to hurry up." We had no control over the kitchen and, having to rush through our lunch, we had about two minutes to spare before the three o;clock start time.
We were under the impression that the first lesson we would have on surfing would cover the theory: what are the basic physics and mechanics behind the sport? How does each piece of gear work (i.e. why do you wax the board)? What characteristics do you look for when trying to catch a good wave?
Instead, we were shown a long-board along with a demonstration on how to stand up. If you've never surfed before, I'll give you a spoiler: you just need to do a burpee and voilà you're standing on the board! We did maybe thirty practice pops before we headed out to the ocean to try the technique out in open water.
One of the selling points at the resort was that everyone got their own personal instructor. We were in a group of three (Nathalie and myself, along with a young Filipino woman who came over with a friend for holiday). My instructor didn't really didn't seem to care too much about his job as he spent most of the time in the water joking around with the other teachers and flirting with Filipino student in the group.
His English was poor (or alternatively, he didn't give a shit about what I was saying) and whenever I'd ask him a question, such as "what made that last wave I rode a good surfing wave?" and be met with a blank stare and a simple "yes sir."
We wound up doing around 20 rides on the waves, and towards the end of the session, I found myself sitting idly on the board while the instructors were busy socializing with each other. Nathalie and I were both able to stand up and ride our first wave without any issue (thank you crossfit for the extensive burpee practice) and after 20 minutes, we felt bored and uninspired.
We returned back to the resort around five that evening and after our shower, we sat in a corner of the resort discussing our thoughts on the first day. It really didn't take more than a couple of moments for us to both come to the conclusion that we didn't care for surfing and we certainly weren't ready to spend the money we were paying for five days of poor instruction and boredom in the water. We agreed that we would talk to the owner of the resort, tell them that we weren't interested in continuing and would check out the next day.
Going again with this amateur theme, we were never asked to put down a deposit nor did they take a credit card number for collateral. Given that the resort was being run by and filled with trustafarians, that wasn't too much of a surprise, but it did give us the opportunity to simply walk away from the deal and pay for only the one surfing lesson, the transfer from the airport and the one night in the room. They were cool about it, and we were gracious for their flexibility.
After clearing the air with the owner, we explained to the manager and Nathalie's instructor that we just didn't really care for surfing and that we'd rather do other activities with our time. We told him about our enjoyment of diving and how we were looking to do more of that. He told us that he was wanting to learn how to dive, but mainly so he could spear hunt fish as a way to impress women. To each their own, and as long as he's not fishing with dynamite (seriously) I don't see the harm.
We had what has probably been the best pizza of our trip so far and spent the rest of the evening having a few drinks and plotting our next move. We liked the island but from everything we saw, if you're not there to surf, there's really not much to do. The resorts and hotels were all spaced some distance apart meaning that walking would be out of the question and seeing as the Philippines has so much to offer, we decided to call it a day in Siargao and head towards the island of Camiguin on the southern edge of the Bohol sea.
We researched the different ways of getting there. The easiest method, by far, would be to fly back to Cebu and then take another flight down to Camiguin. However, this was also the most expensive method and would require an overnight in Cebu coupled with an early morning flight (think 05:00 am) the next day.
The other way to get there was a bit more adventurous but definitely the cheaper option. We would take the one ferry a day back to the relative mainland of Mindanao, arriving at the port town of Surigao. From there, we would take a bus to the small town of Balingoan where we would jump on another ferry to Camiguin. Easy, right? Well not so much.
Due to the timing of the ferry leaving Siargao, we would only arrive in Surigao around 01:00 pm. By the time we would catch our bus we would only arrive in Balingoan late in the evening meaning that we would miss the last ferry over to Camiguin. This meant that we would need to spend the night somewhere along the way. Fun!
So with this in mind, and with some cheap rum and cokes running through our system, we packed our bags back up and went to bed, resting up for a long travel day ahead.
We bought our tickets and shortly after going through security, the boarding process started. Once the gate was opened, it was immediately swarmed by passengers vying to get on the boat. This seemed a bit strange as the boat wasn't going anywhere for another 45 minutes. We took our time to get on board and we soon realized what the rush was: there were only so many seats on the deck and all of them were taken.
This would've been an issue but as it would turn out, the seating area was cramped, with a low ceiling, small windows, and little light. Given the choice, we were happy to sit outside on the open deck around the boat. We watched as the boat slowly loaded up with random bits of cargo: a motorbike here, large crates there, buckets full of chopped fish; the usual. Shortly before departure, the crew came around and lowered tarp over the open parts of the deck. This was to the benefit of all the passengers sitting outside (there were many) and it gave us shelter from the tropical sun.
The best part about taking the boat was the view. We passed through different channels getting treated to the spectacular scenery. Bordering the stretches of deep blue sea were volcanic mountain peaks, sharply rising from the waters around them. The hills were all covered in lush green canopy striking amazing contrast with the sea below it. The sky was dotted with fluffy white clouds, accenting the earth below.
It took almost three hours to reach the port of Surigao, and counting the 45 minutes we spent on board waiting for departure, we had been on the ferry for close to four hours. By the time we docked, we were ready to get off and find our way to the bus station.
We barely had a chance to step off of the gangway when we were bum-rushed by trike drivers. Being two of the small handful of white people on the boat made us a lucrative target for the trike drivers. Immediately, they surrounded us asking us where we wanted to go. They followed us while we stepped aside to get our bearings, insistent that we choose them to take us to wherever they thought we were going. It's a scene that's been repeated practically since day one and as sad as it is, our skin color makes us a target, because these people assume that because we're white, we're loaded with cash. There's something very telling and educational to know what being objectified because of my race feels like .
On the other hand, we're the buyer and in a market full of supply, we did hold some bargaining power. We were able to half the ridiculous offer being made to us and only reasonably got ripped off. It is what it is and we only paid the equivalent of 3 USD to go from the port to the bus terminal across town.
From our research, we learned that we would have to change buses around the half-way mark in the town of Butuan. The bus set out shortly after it filled up (this is customary in the Philippines. Schedules aren't really used here) and we slowly worked our way along the northern rim of the island of Mindanao. For those of you who have never been, it's an absolute treat.
Rolling volcanic hills shadowing over palm tree-filled valleys dominate the landscape. Natural springs and streams carve their way through the low lands, on their way out to sea. The road twists and turns along sparsely traversed roads. We both have books we could read, and I could've used the time to catch up on blog posts, but instead Nathalie and I were glued to the windows, absorbing everything passing by us. The only thing that came to mind was what a treat it was to see such amazing country side.
After a surprisingly enjoyable 4-hour bus ride, we arrived in Butuan. Tucked on the southern edge of the Bohol sea, the city acts as one of two regional hubs. There were two items that stood out to us upon our arrival:
1. For being surrounded by mountains, Butuan was impressively modern
2. Everyone was phenomenally friendly to us
As it was already getting dark when we got into town, we decided it'd be better to spend the night in Butuan. We treated ourselves to a hotel at the upper ceiling of our budget and wound up staying in a hotel chain owned by one of the Philippines' largest retailers.
The hotel was on top of a shopping mall anchored by said retailer. This worked out for us as we were only spending around 12 hours in Butuan and were just looking for an easy and convenient place to stay. After checking in and being told that we weren't allowed to eat in the room, consume alcohol on the premises, and would be charged a fee if we stained the sheets.
We dropped our luggage off and went into the mall to look for dinner. Throughout our time here in the Philippines, we've been constantly reminded of how much Filipinos look towards America and the west when it comes to modeling their economic future and the Robinson's shopping center in Butuan was no exception.
We wound up eating in a US-styled grill restaurant that served Filipino-inspired dishes. Shortly after being seated, the manager came over to us to start up a conversation. As it would turn out, she had lived in the US for a few years and had come back to the Philippines to help her family open the restaurant. She was genuinely curious about our story and after we had finished dining, she took the time to help us plan our itinerary for the next day and wrote down a few phrases in the local dialect that we could use should we need any help.
The rest of the evening consisted of us running into the grocery store to get a couple of bottles of water (remember, we weren't allowed to have food), scope out our options for breakfast the next morning then returning to our room to enjoy the relative luxury of a Filipino chain hotel.
We had two goals when we got up: get cash and get breakfast. The Philippines is a gorgeous country with lots of potential but one oddity that's frustrated us on our trip is the lack of ATMs in many towns and islands where the locals are trying to develop the tourism industry. Camiguin, from what we gathered, would be no exception to this so we made it a point to get what we'd believe to be a sufficient amount of cash for our upcoming trip there.
While we were out finding an ATM that would accept our Belgian bank cards, we were also able to find a coffee shop that served breakfast. Almost paradoxically, Filipinos are early risers, getting up around six in the morning. However, stores don't tend to open before 10:00 am. This meant that the mall was still closed around the time we needed breakfast.
Once we had eaten and grabbed cash, we quickly grabbed a couple of items from the now-open grocery store, checked out of the hotel (they really did check our room for signs of food and alcohol consumption as well as examined the sheets for stains. We didn't have to pay any additional fees) and got in a jeepney en route to the bus terminal.
We found the next bus going towards the Balingoan, took our seats, paid the fare and waited for it to leave. No more than five minutes after leaving Butuan we immediately applauded ourselves for not going further and stopping at night fall the day before as the view out the window was once again stunning.
Time once again quickly passed and after three and a half short hours, we arrived at Balingoan. From there, we needed to walk over to the ferry terminal and find the next boat heading over to Camiguin. As it would turn out, there was a boat every hour or so and once we got our tickets, paid the service charge, settled the terminal fee and cleared security, we hopped onto the boat. The seating on this vessel was much more accommodating than the one we had taken from Siargao and we were able to get not only some personal space, but an actual seat on a bench.
By the time the boat left the dock, it was approaching the late afternoon. Camiguin is an island made up of volcanoes and as we slowly churned towards its shores, we watched in awe as the sun slowly dropped behind the jagged peaks. It was an apt preview for what laid ahead and as we docked on the island, we felt confident that we had made the right choice by taking the long journey there.
The last stretch of our voyage involved us getting into a jeepney and riding over to the dive center we had been in contact with a few days prior. The final transfer was easy and we arrived at the gates of the center just as the sun was setting over the sea.
Sure, we could've done the trip in either one big day or within 24 hours given the flight schedules, but because we chose to go primarily by land and by sea, we saw huge swathes of what has been one of the most beautiful countries we've ever been to. Additionally, we got a taste of different ways of life on each of the islands we went to, further deepening our knowledge and appreciation of the Philippines. Is it for everyone? Probably not. Would we do it again given the opportunity? No question.
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| An approximate map of the Visayas. The green lines represent the route we took. The red line shows the short distance between our starting point and our end point |
Wednesday
Flight day. Our plane to the island of Siargao was scheduled for an 11:00 am departure. Our main goal here in the Philippines is to be outside, enjoying nature and doing plenty of physical activities. Through diving, we had done our fair share of exploring underwater. We wanted to see what fun could be had on the surface and set out to learn how to surf.Siargao is on the eastern edge of the Philippines, bordering the Pacific ocean. This meant that the waves there were sufficient enough for surfing and the world renowned 'cloud 9' surf spot on the island attracted surfers the world over. This has created a robust surfing community complete with resorts and schools dedicated to the sport.
Nathalie and I booked a five day-long package at a surf resort that included a private surf lesson every day, a couple of excursions on the island (including an evening of 'getting drunk and try to ride a water buffalo around a field'), a free massage, transfer to and from the airport/seaport and accommodation for the week. The price was a bit high, but we had rationalized that it would correspond to high quality instruction and an overall excellent experience.
After we landed, we entered the minuscule arrivals' hall, collected our bag, and met our driver for the transfer. Our first impressions of the island were overwhelmingly positive. I don't think we've seen such unspoiled tropical beauty in our lives (at least up until that point). Life was slow; no where did we feel that people were in any particular hurry. We quickly adapted to this and once we arrived in the resort, we were greeted by the manager/head instructor.
He lead us to our room and told us that we could start our first lesson that afternoon around three. We had arrived around 01:30 and were somewhat hungry, having only eaten a light breakfast before leaving Cebu. The resort was known for its excellent restaurant (the owner is half-Swiss, half-Italian) and we ordered two sandwiches to enjoy in the sand-filled pavilion adjacent to the kitchen.
Life was indeed slow, and it took nearly 45 minutes to receive our meal. During this time, our instructor kept on giving us mixed signals along the lines of "take your time but really, you need to hurry up." We had no control over the kitchen and, having to rush through our lunch, we had about two minutes to spare before the three o;clock start time.
We were under the impression that the first lesson we would have on surfing would cover the theory: what are the basic physics and mechanics behind the sport? How does each piece of gear work (i.e. why do you wax the board)? What characteristics do you look for when trying to catch a good wave?
Instead, we were shown a long-board along with a demonstration on how to stand up. If you've never surfed before, I'll give you a spoiler: you just need to do a burpee and voilà you're standing on the board! We did maybe thirty practice pops before we headed out to the ocean to try the technique out in open water.
One of the selling points at the resort was that everyone got their own personal instructor. We were in a group of three (Nathalie and myself, along with a young Filipino woman who came over with a friend for holiday). My instructor didn't really didn't seem to care too much about his job as he spent most of the time in the water joking around with the other teachers and flirting with Filipino student in the group.
His English was poor (or alternatively, he didn't give a shit about what I was saying) and whenever I'd ask him a question, such as "what made that last wave I rode a good surfing wave?" and be met with a blank stare and a simple "yes sir."
We wound up doing around 20 rides on the waves, and towards the end of the session, I found myself sitting idly on the board while the instructors were busy socializing with each other. Nathalie and I were both able to stand up and ride our first wave without any issue (thank you crossfit for the extensive burpee practice) and after 20 minutes, we felt bored and uninspired.
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| Landing in Siargao |
Going again with this amateur theme, we were never asked to put down a deposit nor did they take a credit card number for collateral. Given that the resort was being run by and filled with trustafarians, that wasn't too much of a surprise, but it did give us the opportunity to simply walk away from the deal and pay for only the one surfing lesson, the transfer from the airport and the one night in the room. They were cool about it, and we were gracious for their flexibility.
After clearing the air with the owner, we explained to the manager and Nathalie's instructor that we just didn't really care for surfing and that we'd rather do other activities with our time. We told him about our enjoyment of diving and how we were looking to do more of that. He told us that he was wanting to learn how to dive, but mainly so he could spear hunt fish as a way to impress women. To each their own, and as long as he's not fishing with dynamite (seriously) I don't see the harm.
We had what has probably been the best pizza of our trip so far and spent the rest of the evening having a few drinks and plotting our next move. We liked the island but from everything we saw, if you're not there to surf, there's really not much to do. The resorts and hotels were all spaced some distance apart meaning that walking would be out of the question and seeing as the Philippines has so much to offer, we decided to call it a day in Siargao and head towards the island of Camiguin on the southern edge of the Bohol sea.
We researched the different ways of getting there. The easiest method, by far, would be to fly back to Cebu and then take another flight down to Camiguin. However, this was also the most expensive method and would require an overnight in Cebu coupled with an early morning flight (think 05:00 am) the next day.
The other way to get there was a bit more adventurous but definitely the cheaper option. We would take the one ferry a day back to the relative mainland of Mindanao, arriving at the port town of Surigao. From there, we would take a bus to the small town of Balingoan where we would jump on another ferry to Camiguin. Easy, right? Well not so much.
Due to the timing of the ferry leaving Siargao, we would only arrive in Surigao around 01:00 pm. By the time we would catch our bus we would only arrive in Balingoan late in the evening meaning that we would miss the last ferry over to Camiguin. This meant that we would need to spend the night somewhere along the way. Fun!
So with this in mind, and with some cheap rum and cokes running through our system, we packed our bags back up and went to bed, resting up for a long travel day ahead.
Thursday
Waking up at eight in the morning, Nathalie and I had a quick breakfast and settled our bill with the resort staff. They arranged for a motor taxi to pick us up and drive us the 40 minute trip to the harbor. As it would turn out, the motor taxi was just a guy with a motorbike that had a small rig on the back for bags. Nathalie and I loaded on and spent the trip hanging on tight, desperately hoping that the tires would refrain from popping. Our fear was proved unfounded and we arrived an hour before the scheduled 10:30 departure.We bought our tickets and shortly after going through security, the boarding process started. Once the gate was opened, it was immediately swarmed by passengers vying to get on the boat. This seemed a bit strange as the boat wasn't going anywhere for another 45 minutes. We took our time to get on board and we soon realized what the rush was: there were only so many seats on the deck and all of them were taken.
This would've been an issue but as it would turn out, the seating area was cramped, with a low ceiling, small windows, and little light. Given the choice, we were happy to sit outside on the open deck around the boat. We watched as the boat slowly loaded up with random bits of cargo: a motorbike here, large crates there, buckets full of chopped fish; the usual. Shortly before departure, the crew came around and lowered tarp over the open parts of the deck. This was to the benefit of all the passengers sitting outside (there were many) and it gave us shelter from the tropical sun.
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| View from the boat going from Siargao to Surigao |
It took almost three hours to reach the port of Surigao, and counting the 45 minutes we spent on board waiting for departure, we had been on the ferry for close to four hours. By the time we docked, we were ready to get off and find our way to the bus station.
We barely had a chance to step off of the gangway when we were bum-rushed by trike drivers. Being two of the small handful of white people on the boat made us a lucrative target for the trike drivers. Immediately, they surrounded us asking us where we wanted to go. They followed us while we stepped aside to get our bearings, insistent that we choose them to take us to wherever they thought we were going. It's a scene that's been repeated practically since day one and as sad as it is, our skin color makes us a target, because these people assume that because we're white, we're loaded with cash. There's something very telling and educational to know what being objectified because of my race feels like .
On the other hand, we're the buyer and in a market full of supply, we did hold some bargaining power. We were able to half the ridiculous offer being made to us and only reasonably got ripped off. It is what it is and we only paid the equivalent of 3 USD to go from the port to the bus terminal across town.
From our research, we learned that we would have to change buses around the half-way mark in the town of Butuan. The bus set out shortly after it filled up (this is customary in the Philippines. Schedules aren't really used here) and we slowly worked our way along the northern rim of the island of Mindanao. For those of you who have never been, it's an absolute treat.
 |
| Scenery from the bus ride from Surigao |
After a surprisingly enjoyable 4-hour bus ride, we arrived in Butuan. Tucked on the southern edge of the Bohol sea, the city acts as one of two regional hubs. There were two items that stood out to us upon our arrival:
1. For being surrounded by mountains, Butuan was impressively modern
2. Everyone was phenomenally friendly to us
As it was already getting dark when we got into town, we decided it'd be better to spend the night in Butuan. We treated ourselves to a hotel at the upper ceiling of our budget and wound up staying in a hotel chain owned by one of the Philippines' largest retailers.
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| One of the stores in Butuan. Something about the store name just didn't seem right to me. |
We dropped our luggage off and went into the mall to look for dinner. Throughout our time here in the Philippines, we've been constantly reminded of how much Filipinos look towards America and the west when it comes to modeling their economic future and the Robinson's shopping center in Butuan was no exception.
We wound up eating in a US-styled grill restaurant that served Filipino-inspired dishes. Shortly after being seated, the manager came over to us to start up a conversation. As it would turn out, she had lived in the US for a few years and had come back to the Philippines to help her family open the restaurant. She was genuinely curious about our story and after we had finished dining, she took the time to help us plan our itinerary for the next day and wrote down a few phrases in the local dialect that we could use should we need any help.
The rest of the evening consisted of us running into the grocery store to get a couple of bottles of water (remember, we weren't allowed to have food), scope out our options for breakfast the next morning then returning to our room to enjoy the relative luxury of a Filipino chain hotel.
Friday
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| Space on the ferry going to Camiguin |
While we were out finding an ATM that would accept our Belgian bank cards, we were also able to find a coffee shop that served breakfast. Almost paradoxically, Filipinos are early risers, getting up around six in the morning. However, stores don't tend to open before 10:00 am. This meant that the mall was still closed around the time we needed breakfast.
Once we had eaten and grabbed cash, we quickly grabbed a couple of items from the now-open grocery store, checked out of the hotel (they really did check our room for signs of food and alcohol consumption as well as examined the sheets for stains. We didn't have to pay any additional fees) and got in a jeepney en route to the bus terminal.
We found the next bus going towards the Balingoan, took our seats, paid the fare and waited for it to leave. No more than five minutes after leaving Butuan we immediately applauded ourselves for not going further and stopping at night fall the day before as the view out the window was once again stunning.
 |
| Camiguin from the port in Balingoan |
By the time the boat left the dock, it was approaching the late afternoon. Camiguin is an island made up of volcanoes and as we slowly churned towards its shores, we watched in awe as the sun slowly dropped behind the jagged peaks. It was an apt preview for what laid ahead and as we docked on the island, we felt confident that we had made the right choice by taking the long journey there.
The last stretch of our voyage involved us getting into a jeepney and riding over to the dive center we had been in contact with a few days prior. The final transfer was easy and we arrived at the gates of the center just as the sun was setting over the sea.
Conclusions
There are many ways to get across the Philippines. Being a nation of islands, the easiest way to get from point A to point B is almost always by plane, especially when an 35 minute flight can save you 24 hours of surface travels. The time savings are even more amplified when you're traveling on a tight schedule, with a pre-determined itinerary. For us, though, we were proud of ourselves if we could plan our next move more than two days in advance. Given this 'freedom,' the easiest method turned out to be the least enriching one.Sure, we could've done the trip in either one big day or within 24 hours given the flight schedules, but because we chose to go primarily by land and by sea, we saw huge swathes of what has been one of the most beautiful countries we've ever been to. Additionally, we got a taste of different ways of life on each of the islands we went to, further deepening our knowledge and appreciation of the Philippines. Is it for everyone? Probably not. Would we do it again given the opportunity? No question.
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