Wow - Camiguin was lovely. Perfect holiday place - small enough so u can get around whole island in an afternoon. Dramatic landscapes with huge volcanos in the middle, waterfalls and hots springs - looks rather like Tracey Island I thought. One half of the island has black beaches and the other has white. The interior mountains/volcanoes are stunning with lush green vegetation. We would have liked to have done more walking /trekking but the kids too small at the moment. There was lots we didn't do - we didn't go to the hot spring in the sea, we didn't climb the volcano, we didn't go pony trekking or go to the fresh water pools - BUT, we did go to White Island, twice, (which is really a large sandbar) we did go and see the giant clams at the marine sanctuary and saw the most fabulous corals - Marc was impressed and that's hard as he has the Bahamas to compare to. We went to see the 70 ft waterfall, which action man, Marc, swam under (of course). Marc and the kids also went to see the sunken cemetery - which slid into the sea when the volcano erupted. Well not the graves rather a big White cross in the sea which marks where the graves now lie.
Very easy to get to! or at least comapred to some trips in the Philippnes - Flight from Manila to Caggyan D'Oro is about an hour, then taxi to bus station - 20 mins (P120): Bus to port - 1hr 40 mins (P110) , ferry to island - 1 hr( P100 ) and then taxi to resort 30 mins (p300). We were delayed in manila so we broke our journey at a fab fab resort - Matangale http://www.divecamiguin.com/ . its located just after port turnoff on Road from CDO to Butan. Bus stops right outside resort so couldn't be more convenient. Their double bedroom cottages have lovely views across to Camiguin and would be perfect for 2 families sharing. The grounds are fabulous and they have an orchid farm - I have never seen so many orchids growing in one place. The food was great and facilities top notch - highly recommended! We had the standard 2 bed cottage with air con for P1700 per night with extra bed for kids P250.
On Camiguin we stayed at Seabreeze which was basic wooden huts with a veranda overlooking beach. That's were the sunrise photo was taken from. We had a large family room (4 beds) for P800. The food was great and the staff lovely - shame about the miserable bugger who ran it -! He had taken over the lease from a lovely bloke called Vic. We would definitely go back there too. We moved to Paras Beach resort http://parasbeachresort.com/ which was not has nice as Matangale but had good views. Like so many resorts in the Philippines it lacked that extra TLC in terms of maintenance. The food was nothing special - we ate at Secret cove next door which is in a beautifully secluded spot (no pool) or at Paradiso a rather good Italian about 15 mins walk away.
We went to Paras Beach resort for the annual volunteer conference - the yearly get together for all VSO vols in Philippines. There seems to be a lot of work done at beach resorts and I'm not complaining! It was great that Marc and the girls were allowed to come along too and we got the benefit of the cheap room rates so only ended up paying P1000 per night whilst we were there for a large room with 6 beds. I was tied up for 4 days with the conference but Marc and the girls kept themselves busy in the pool etc. It was good getting to meet all the other volunteers as I hope to get out to see them all sometime over next 18 months.
Camiguin felt incredibly safe - such a shame that it suffers from the "Mindanao" problem due to the issues in soutern part of region and therefore gets relatively few tourists - Good for those of us who do make the effort though! There is officially no crime on the island and it certainly felt like it! So for anybody considering coming to visit definitely try and get Camiguin into your schedule!!!
Little tit bits.....................................
During the conference the Deputy Ambassador joined us for one evening. My boss took me over to be introduced but before either of us could open our mouths he made a beeline for Gianna, and started chatting. Apparently she already knew him, and had been over to his house playing with his kids - Now that's networking!
On the way back from Camiguin Marc and the girls ( who left a day earlier than me) saw 2 schools ( or is it Pods) of dolphins - MY boat got diverted to rescue another ferry that had broken down. It was lashed to the side of our boat and taken all the way to Mindanao with us. Ferries do seem to sink/catch fire alarmingly regularly. (I've bought the girls their own life jackets as a precaution although we've only been doing short island hops as oppose to overnight trips)
The Philippines is full of old, fat, ugly Men (lets just say there're no Brad Pitts) with young Filipino girls on their arms. In Camiguin we came across Roger. He was 77 really with his 19 year old bride and her 3 year old child (not his) We ran into them quite a few times and I was intrigued by their relationship! They started off as pen pals ( she must have only been about 12!), he came out 3 years ago and they got married last year. He said he wasn't sure what her rush was in getting married (Really????) He was sweet, slightly deaf, a bit wobbly and clearly cared for her and child. She got pregnant whilst still at school and didn't tell her parents until she collapsed and was taken to hospital. Her family are poor and she said Roger is the way she can ensure her daughter will get a future - In Philippines culture u are expected to take on responsibility for the whole family. It seems Rogers pension from the states is keeping them all. Meanwhile he reckons he's waiting for an inheritance from his father. Apparently its taking a while to sort out probate and his sisters told him not able to send him any money yet. Funny that, although he is a widow he has 3 kids and grand kids in the states who presumably don't want the family inheritance to be spent in the Philippines. Marc and the kids met the 2 of them on the ferry going to CDO. Poor old Roger was being taken on a shopping trip. Presumably the hope being the trip would do him in and if not encourage him to spend all his money! It is however a symbiotic relationship - he just wanted to stay with her till his time was up she was happy to oblige as she would still have a life ahead of her and his money when he did pop it.m Moral of the story - ANYONE cab get a wife here, but it's costly!!- the extended family come as part of the package!!
Very easy to get to! or at least comapred to some trips in the Philippnes - Flight from Manila to Caggyan D'Oro is about an hour, then taxi to bus station - 20 mins (P120): Bus to port - 1hr 40 mins (P110) , ferry to island - 1 hr( P100 ) and then taxi to resort 30 mins (p300). We were delayed in manila so we broke our journey at a fab fab resort - Matangale http://www.divecamiguin.com/ . its located just after port turnoff on Road from CDO to Butan. Bus stops right outside resort so couldn't be more convenient. Their double bedroom cottages have lovely views across to Camiguin and would be perfect for 2 families sharing. The grounds are fabulous and they have an orchid farm - I have never seen so many orchids growing in one place. The food was great and facilities top notch - highly recommended! We had the standard 2 bed cottage with air con for P1700 per night with extra bed for kids P250.
On Camiguin we stayed at Seabreeze which was basic wooden huts with a veranda overlooking beach. That's were the sunrise photo was taken from. We had a large family room (4 beds) for P800. The food was great and the staff lovely - shame about the miserable bugger who ran it -! He had taken over the lease from a lovely bloke called Vic. We would definitely go back there too. We moved to Paras Beach resort http://parasbeachresort.com/ which was not has nice as Matangale but had good views. Like so many resorts in the Philippines it lacked that extra TLC in terms of maintenance. The food was nothing special - we ate at Secret cove next door which is in a beautifully secluded spot (no pool) or at Paradiso a rather good Italian about 15 mins walk away.
We went to Paras Beach resort for the annual volunteer conference - the yearly get together for all VSO vols in Philippines. There seems to be a lot of work done at beach resorts and I'm not complaining! It was great that Marc and the girls were allowed to come along too and we got the benefit of the cheap room rates so only ended up paying P1000 per night whilst we were there for a large room with 6 beds. I was tied up for 4 days with the conference but Marc and the girls kept themselves busy in the pool etc. It was good getting to meet all the other volunteers as I hope to get out to see them all sometime over next 18 months.
Camiguin felt incredibly safe - such a shame that it suffers from the "Mindanao" problem due to the issues in soutern part of region and therefore gets relatively few tourists - Good for those of us who do make the effort though! There is officially no crime on the island and it certainly felt like it! So for anybody considering coming to visit definitely try and get Camiguin into your schedule!!!
Little tit bits.....................................
During the conference the Deputy Ambassador joined us for one evening. My boss took me over to be introduced but before either of us could open our mouths he made a beeline for Gianna, and started chatting. Apparently she already knew him, and had been over to his house playing with his kids - Now that's networking!
On the way back from Camiguin Marc and the girls ( who left a day earlier than me) saw 2 schools ( or is it Pods) of dolphins - MY boat got diverted to rescue another ferry that had broken down. It was lashed to the side of our boat and taken all the way to Mindanao with us. Ferries do seem to sink/catch fire alarmingly regularly. (I've bought the girls their own life jackets as a precaution although we've only been doing short island hops as oppose to overnight trips)
The Philippines is full of old, fat, ugly Men (lets just say there're no Brad Pitts) with young Filipino girls on their arms. In Camiguin we came across Roger. He was 77 really with his 19 year old bride and her 3 year old child (not his) We ran into them quite a few times and I was intrigued by their relationship! They started off as pen pals ( she must have only been about 12!), he came out 3 years ago and they got married last year. He said he wasn't sure what her rush was in getting married (Really????) He was sweet, slightly deaf, a bit wobbly and clearly cared for her and child. She got pregnant whilst still at school and didn't tell her parents until she collapsed and was taken to hospital. Her family are poor and she said Roger is the way she can ensure her daughter will get a future - In Philippines culture u are expected to take on responsibility for the whole family. It seems Rogers pension from the states is keeping them all. Meanwhile he reckons he's waiting for an inheritance from his father. Apparently its taking a while to sort out probate and his sisters told him not able to send him any money yet. Funny that, although he is a widow he has 3 kids and grand kids in the states who presumably don't want the family inheritance to be spent in the Philippines. Marc and the kids met the 2 of them on the ferry going to CDO. Poor old Roger was being taken on a shopping trip. Presumably the hope being the trip would do him in and if not encourage him to spend all his money! It is however a symbiotic relationship - he just wanted to stay with her till his time was up she was happy to oblige as she would still have a life ahead of her and his money when he did pop it.m Moral of the story - ANYONE cab get a wife here, but it's costly!!- the extended family come as part of the package!!
2 comments:
Hi all sound like your having a fun time out there. What the bird life out there Marc(the feather type)? Just started a new blogger, so I will be putting some pics on soon.
Tony
The Philippines is a biodiversity hotspot offically and there is a huge variety of birds here. We were talking about you recently saying your next bird watching trip should be out to see us! let us have the link to your blog so we can see your pictures from China
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