Camiguin

Despite our busy schedules, Caroline and I were able to squeeze in a mini honeymoon.

I was in the Cagayan de Oro area a few days after the Ting Hun for business. But thanks to my boss, Caroline was able to join me over the weekend. We decided to go to Camiguin, since it was close by; only a 30 minute car ride to the port, and another 45 minutes on the ferry.

I first visited Camiguin seven years ago, and it hasn't changed much since. Evertyhing I remember about it remained intact; the white beach, the town, and the lanzones to name a few. That's a good thing, as many islands islands in the Philippines have become too commercialized (think of Boracay).

The island reminds me of the show 'Lost'. As our ferry slowly approached the island, the island came into view... lush jungle with a dormant volcano in the background. Of course, Caroline did not see this because she was fast asleep during the boat ride! Fortunately, we had a van and driver (who knew the island well), so we did not have to find our own way. We drove through winding coastal roads, and through the jungle. Camiguin is very much an independent island with its own customs and traditions, and it was very easy forget that there were beaches and other sites to see.

Our first stop was the underwater cemetery. It wasn't always underwater. A long time ago, the volcano on the island erupted, and somehow a part of the island became submerged permanently. I wish we had snorkeling gear so that we could see the cemetery underwater. We were just limited to seeing the cross that was erected to mark the spot. Here is my lovely wife posing in front of the cemetery:

We then went to the stations of the cross. There is a trail going up the volcano, and along it are the stations of the cross, depicted by statues. Here is Caroline in the first few steps up the volcano. Note that she is still smiling at this point!

The view is really good! The picture is slanted because I put the camera on a rock. You can already see Caroline leaning on me from the fatigue (hehe).

This is Caroline's 'sungit' face when I was pushing her to go all the way to the top. Needless to say, we didn't reach the top! I think we reached the 9th station, which is pretty good. We didn't even know how many stations there were... we were arguing whether there were 12 or 15. How many are there exactly?


After a quick lunch (Caroline's smile came back after that), we decided to go to the beach. I'm not really sure what its called. All I know is that its a small group of sandy beaches around 2 kilometers in the sea that only appears during low tide. That's the main island of Camiguin in the background (see what I mean by 'Lost'?). We had to take a 10 minute pumpboat ride to the beach in the middle of the sea. This is what Camiguin is known for, and it was simply... beautiful. Enjoy the view!



We stayed here for an hour or two, wading in the shallow waters and relaxing under the shade and sun. I think we could have stayed there the whole day, as it was so serene. Unfortunately, we had to head back to catch the ferry back to the mainland and home. I hope we have the chance to visit Camiguin again, hopefully with snorkeling gear and more than a day to explore. I heard that there are nice waterfalls inland, and I really do want to finish all the stations of the cross someday!

Life is Beautiful!