Our
final destination in the Philippines was the island of Camiguin.
Boasting the bragging rights to the title of “most volcanoes per
square kilometer in the world,” this oddly remote island is a
nature-lover's paradise, with clear blue sea, stunning beaches, lush
tropical jungles and towering peaks, all on an island that's only
35km².
This
was our last stop in the Philippines and we wanted to make it count.
We already spent six days getting their from Dauin (read about that adventure here: part 1 and part 2) and we were ready
to enjoy the luxury of not uprooting ourselves everyday and spending the daylight hours on a bus, boat or jeepney.
We
started our stay at the Soul Diver's dive resort. We had been
referred to this place by the dive master we were working with back
in Moalboal as he used to work for them. Again, referral is a big
deal in the scuba world and we were glad to have the connection.
Soul
Divers is run by a middle-aged Dutch man who had moved to the
Philippines full-time five years ago to work as a dive instructor.
The resort was run out of his home and he had a cottage with private
bath along with some shared rooms available for rent. We booked a
night in the cottage and agreed to do a day trip to the nearby
Mantigue island.
The cottage was Spartan, to say the least. Nathalie and I have become much less picky in terms of where we stay throughout the course of this adventure, but we still have a minimum set of standards; i.e. a clean room, clean sheets, and no obvious insect infestation. We've ditched our requirement for air conditioning (sleeping with a fan is much nicer!), and can even work with shared bathrooms given the right circumstances.
We wound up going to a cafe where his friend and dive master was
playing live music that evening. We took the occasion to talk to
Marco, the DM, and Jack and get to know them. We had dinner and
after a few beers, headed back to the resort. Nathalie and I, not
really comfortable in our room, decided the best course of action was
to go to sleep as soon as possible in order to get out of the cottage
sooner the following day.
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The beach at Mantigue island |
Mantigue, like Apo and Balicasag, is a protected natural park with
white sand beaches, clear green water and ample marine life under the
sea. The first point of business once landing on shore was to sign
the guest register and pay the sanctuary fee. Once we completed our
small bit of bureaucracy, we headed back to the boat, put on our
equipment and hopped in the water.
The diving itself was pleasurable and up to the standards we're beginning to expect from the Philippines. We did
see a giant green turtle and an eagle ray, but we're convinced Apo
spoiled us. The second dive was probably more pleasant than the
first one with more coral and a greater diversity of fish, but other
than Nathalie and I recovering a plastic soda bottle and couple of
empty bags of chips, there was nothing too notable about it.
In
between the two dives and on the ride back to Camiguin, we took every
opportunity to admire the
wondrous landscape around us. The volcanoes steeply jetting out of
the surface was both magnificent and intimidating.
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We found Nemo. He tried to bite me. He's kind of a dick. |
Getting over there was an unexpected adventure. Waiting for 25
minutes in the hot afternoon sun, we finally were able to get a
jeepney to stop for us. The only space on board was either on the
floor or on the standing platform on the back. Nathalie took a seat
on the steps leading out the back exit and I wound up spending the
entirety of the 20 minute ride holding onto to the side of the
vehicle hoping to God that I wouldn't lose my grip or get tossed off
at high speed.
We made it into the capital town, Mambajao, in one piece and after
getting a couple of bottles of water, found a trike driver who would
take us the rest of the way. Another 15 minutes of traveling (this
time, we were both inside and seated) and we had arrived at
Marianita's Cottages.
A small bed and breakfast run by a retired Frenchman and his Filipino
wife, Marinita's was a small , two room guest house, that featured
clean rooms (!), a filling breakfast, direct access to the beach, a
front lawn complete with chairs and an umbrella, and perhaps most of
all, some of the friendliest hosts we had met during our stay.
Marianita and Yves (the French owner) were incredibly helpful and
always heartwarming to be around. Without a second thought,
Marianita was able to fulfill almost all of our requests. She had a
great network around the island and was able to get a motorbike for
us to rent and help us arrange a climb to the top of Mt. Hibok-Hibok.
That evening, we went out to eat at one of the many restaurants just
down the road from Marianita's. After finishing dining, we headed
back to our room, ready for a well deserved, comfortable night of
rest. It didn't quite turn out that way.
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A twisty road leading up to a waterfall |
Shortly
before sunrise, as we were drifting back to sleep, the calm morning air was broken by thunderous dance music. As it would turn out, there was a triathlon that day and due to the daily hot and humid weather, the race started early. We eventually fell back asleep, waking up a few hours later feeling relativity rested.
Later that day, we
rented a motorbike for the remainder of our stay and met with Tyson,
the tour operator who organizes hiking adventures to the many natural
wonders around the island. He was recommended to us by Marianita who
has known him for many years and his built a well-earned reputation
as an excellent guide and great person to be around. After chatting
for the better part of 20 minutes, Nathalie, Tyson and I agreed
that we'd scale Mt. Hibok-Hibok on Tuedsday, giving us the next day day to explore a bit and mentally prepare ourselves for the climb.
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Mountain view from the road |
By this point, the air had cooled considerably (we estimated it at 22-24C/72-76F) and the promised trail into the waterfall was nowhere to be found. Instead, we were left looking at an abandoned construction site where it appeared that an attempt to build a bridge across a small ravine was left unfinished. Maybe the funds ran out, maybe it was just too cold for the local construction workers to stay up there too long, but as it stood, we weren't going any further.
We took a couple of minutes to take in the view and to take a break from the motorbike. Once we were refreshed, we rode the brakes back all the way back down to the circumferential road and the warm tropical air surrounding it. We took another hour to complete the loop back to the hotel, stopping briefly for a coke and attempting to get cash (this was more difficult than it should have been. There's a "Travel Pro-Tip" post coming up on this). After eating a carb-heaving dinner (hello, pizza!) we went to bed early in anticipation of our 05:30 am wake up call to scale Mount Hibok-Hibok.
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Camiguin |
Climbing the volcano was both the pinnacle of the island and the pinnacle of our stay in Camiguin. The rest of the week was spent doing a whole lot of nothing. Wednesday, the day after our trek, we stayed close to the cottage, only venturing out to swim in the sea and eat. As you could guess, our legs were completely shot from hike and needed to recover.
The last two days were more of the same, and other than taking a few small excursions on the bike, we stayed tethered to the cottage. We took the time to brainstorm the rest of our trip and, as I've noticed whenever I have nothing to do, dove head first into deep thought and reflection about every notion and premonition that popped into my head. I'd like to say that this was relaxing, unfortunately for me, it left me with many questions to answer and having the free time to do so oddly didn't help.
Oddly feeling trapped in paradise, we were strangely content when Saturday rolled around and we began our full-day trek not only back to Cebu but onward to Kuala Lumpur. As the small turbo-prop took off and we got one final glimpse at the breathtaking beauty of Camiguin, a smile came across of our face and sense of satisfaction rolled over both of us. We were glad to be heading back, but at the same time thrilled that we had the opportunity to visit one of the most remote places on the planet, one that is teeming with natural beauty and one that gave us so much to think about and appreciate. Would I come back, most likely not, but would I recommend it to anyone looking for the adventure of a largely untouched tropical island? Without hesitation.
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The beach looking out towards Bohol at sunset |
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