Camotes (Sweet Potato) Island

February 8-11, 2013

When the Spaniards first arrived in the Camotes Island, they met some natives digging sweet potatoes. The Spaniards asked the natives the name of the island. The natives, thinking that they were being asked what they were digging, replied, "Camotes." Thereafter, the island retained the name, camotes, or sweet potato island.

The Camotes group of islands located northeast of Cebu is composed of 4 islands: Pacijan, Tulang (the tiny dot on top of Pacijan on the map below), Poro, and Ponson. From Cebu, the best way to go to the islands of Pacijan and Poro is by boat from Danao, a city 27 km north of Cebu.

After we had made the decision to go to Camotes, we searched online, read reviews, and finally decided to stay at Mangodlong Paradise Beach Resort located in San Francisco on the island of Pacijan. We went to their office in Mandaue City, discussed options for the right accommodations for our party of 4, then paid for the room. They advised us to get boat tickets from the main office of Jomalia Shipping, which was about a block away.

It takes 2 hours for this passenger boat to get there and they also carry vehicles onboard. The tickets cost P180 for regular non-air conditioned rooms and P200 for air-conditioned rooms, both one way. Below is the schedule of departure times from Cebu to Camotes and back:

Friday afternoon, my brother's driver took us to Danao city port, about an hour away from Cebu. After paying the P5 per person terminal fee, we didn't have to wait long before boarding was announced.

The tourist class or air conditioned room was comfortable. There was a no eating sign in front, but of course nobody believed it! There was a TV which showed violent movies, but it didn't matter then because I was only too glad to take my mind off the rocking motion of the boat!

We arrived at Consuelo port at about 7:30 that night and as part of their service, the resort people picked us up in this vehicle.

After about 5 minutes of riding, we made it to the resort.

http://mangodlongparadise.com/

Check-in was quick, we made arrangements for an island tour the next day, and we were ready to go to our room (cabana) and call it a night.

The next day, we took a quick tour of the resort before going on our island tour. For those interested in internet connections, here's the deal. Within the resort, internet is touch and go. The internet addicts anonymous meet at the restaurant. However when the place is packed, it's first come first serve... whoever gets connected first wins!

our cabana

view from our cabana

the beach

the infinity pool

Promptly at 9, we went to the lobby to meet with the driver that was to take us on our island tour. The cost of the tour is P1500 for 1 to 12 persons on a non-air conditioned van.

The main road (known as Provincial road) is paved. The inner roads however can be muddy or dusty depending on the weather. People rely mostly on motorcycles for their transportation.

There is only one ATM station in the entire Camotes group of islands and is found in Poro. Before going though, they call to check if it is online to prevent a wasted trip. There is also no gas station on the islands and gas is transported in gallon containers from Cebu and transferred to liter bottles before they are sold to motorists.

People rely mostly on agriculture as their means of livelihood and they plant corn and cassava (yucca).

It is interesting to note that people's houses don't have house numbers. Instead, there is a white sign in front of each house with the notation: "Balay ni..." (house of...). I guess the mailman knows everyone on the island!

First stop was the 1680-acre Lake Danao Park in Patabog, San Francisco. Entrance fees are P15 per adult and P5 for children.

There is plenty to do here. There are picnic tables where you can eat or just enjoy a whole fresh young coconut. For P500, we rode the pontoon boat around the lake, stopped at Snake islet, and went around Crocodile islet. The 2 guys who took us around on the boat did not talk much, so we didn't really learn anything about the lake from them!

Snake islet

Crocodile islet

One can also go fishing using a bamboo pole and earthworm for bait. You only pay for whatever fish you catch.

Next stop... Bakhaw Beach. With its picturesque stretch of white sands amidst the blue sea, we were surprised that this beach was almost isolated, with no signs of noisy tourists or sprawling resorts.

Then we went to Timubo Cave in Sonog, San Francisco. The fee to get into the cave is P15 per adult and P5 for kids.

We went down 77 steps on rock stairs with hand rails. It was hot inside the cave and not much ventilation although the place was well lit.

And then... an underground natural pool of crystal clear water. The water was lukewarm, not cold, and it was very refreshing to take a dip.

We stopped at Baywalk on the way to Poro. Baywalk is one of the newer leisure areas in San Francisco, Camotes. The Baywalk trail has a number of exercise equipment including monkey bars and parallel bars.

We then proceeded to a resort in Poro called Buho Rock. The fee to get in is P20 for adults and P10 for kids. From the viewing deck, you walk down 56 winding steps to get to the main area below.

This platform is probably about 20 to 30 feet down and people have been known to jump and dive into the water below. We asked our driver why the resort has been abandoned and he said that the swimming pools have sprung a leak.

Our last stop was Santiago Bay, a public beach located a few kilometers away from our resort.

The driver brought us to one of the eating places here for lunch. It was an interesting experience to eat amidst dogs digging through the sand looking to cool their bodies, flies buzzing around, and generally just watching people go by.

Lunch consisted of grilled fish, calamari, fried chicken and a fish ceviche or kinilaw. The total bill including drinks was P437 (about $11) for all of us!

kinilaw

So finally it was time to go back and enjoy the amenities of Mangodlong Paradise Resort. From the outside, the resort looks unimposing. Once you walk through the lobby and out the door, this is what you see to the left...

To the right, something for the kids...

And straight ahead, beyond the restaurant, the sunset bar...

and the cabanas.

Upon looking up at the coconut trees, we found this...

I asked one of the resort men about it and was told that this was for tuba making. Tuba is wine or vinegar that comes from the coconut flower sap. A bunch of coconut flowers are tied together, and the tip of the bunch is sliced. It is the sap from this cut that drips into the plastic container. After the plastic container is filled up, the tuba is filtered to remove dirt and transferred to another container. This can be used as wine or allowed to mature into vinegar.

The bamboo cafe is the resort's restaurant. Breakfast (part of the room rate) is a la carte. Generally, the food was blah! The menu was extensive (usually between P150-P300) but choosing good food was hit and miss. Everything was bland except for one or two items. Everyone at the restaurant was polite but service was terrible. It took an average of 45 minutes for them to serve our food even if it was just a breakfast plate of bacon, bread, and scrambled egg. It really did come to a point where we dreaded going to the restaurant because we knew that we would have to wait so long for food that's not even worth waiting for. A suggestion would be to call in your order from the room before you go to the restaurant. The food is still not great, but at least you're not waiting long for it!

As a whole, we had a great time. We did snorkel but we didn't see anything but rocks and seaweed.

When we requested to stay another day, the staff took care of rebooking our tickets. However, it rained so hard on our last day and we were told that instead of taking the 4:00 boat, we needed to take the 2:00 one in case the last trip would be cancelled.

They took care of all the arrangements, drove us to Canlusong Point, which is an hour away from the resort because the boat couldn't dock at Consuelo Port due to the rough seas. The shipping company had to get special permission to dock at Canlusong Point because it is a protected reef area.

The almost 3-hour trip back to Danao port was such an ordeal that I think it will be a while before I get on another boat again... a very long while!

Palawan, the Land of the Promise

January 25-28, 2013

I have always wanted to go to Palawan. When the underground river was voted as one of the World's 7 Wonders of Nature, I told myself that we need to see it by hook or by crook! There are so many things to see and do in Palawan, but because of its land area, one would have to set aside at least a week to be able to go around the island. So this time, we decided to concentrate on the underground river.

We started looking at tour packages from different travel agencies. The tour packages were cheap but the accommodations were in Puerto Princesa, and that meant traveling one and a half hours to go to the underground river. In one of my searches I stumbled upon the Sheridan Beach Resort and Spa located in Sabang, Palawan. They had very good reviews and it was located 5 minutes away from the underground river startpoint. We booked our hotel and plane tickets. Although many nice things have been said about Cebu Pacific Air, I still don't like this airline. Service might be good, but they nickel and dime you to death... you have to pay for bags, seats, meals, and everything else you can think of.

After the rooms had been booked, the resort people emailed us about pick-up from the airport as well as arranging the underground river tour. For the pick-up you can either take their airport shuttle which costs P1,000 per person, or get an exclusive van for P5,500 for the whole group. The shuttle stops at the airport at 8am, 10am, 230pm and 6pm. Since it takes one and half hours to go to Sabang from Puerto Princesa, we decided to take the van... good thing too because the roads were so winding that we were practically bumping into each other!

After an hour flight from Cebu, we arrived in Puerto Princesa, and immediately noticed how clean the place is. It's not as big as Cebu. The grueling hour and a half ride from Puerto Princesa to Sabang was scenic and we were happy when we finally got there, and glad that we stayed away from the city.

They gave us pineapple cucumber welcome drinks (I'm not a big fan of cucumber...that's all I have to say about that!). Check-in was quick and the staff were very polite and helpful.

First on the agenda was lunch at the restaurant. It was a choice of either a buffet lunch for P300 or ala carte with items costing between P200 to P300. Some of us were brave enough to try the buffet while others ordered a la carte. Breakfast buffet comes with the room rate. Will talk more about the food later ;)

We spent the next hour exploring the resort. Of course we had to check where the internet areas were. Smart and Globe services were very weak while Sun was not available. For the internet "addicts" (again, like one person I know!), the wifi areas are in the resort lobby, the pool area, and the restaurant.

The pool runs from behind the lobby to almost in front of the beach. It has 4 jacuzzis and a bar in the middle.

The beach was beautiful but the waves were rough, probably because it opens out into the South China Sea.

Later in the afternoon, we decided to be adventurous and walk 2 km down the beach to find the Sabang waterfalls. We had a nice leisurely walk (at first!) going through a rickety bridge, some smaller resorts, local houses, and just enjoying the sights.

Everything looked so picturesque!

About a third of the way through, there is a place where you have to register. This is to monitor the number of people going in and out of the Falls. Beside the registration book is a donation box.

We thought we were getting close when a few steps later we saw the sign...

Then we hit some rocks but kept moving on. After about 40 minutes of balancing through the rocks as they got bigger, we still couldn't see the waterfalls. It was getting late and starting to sprinkle so we decided to forget about the waterfalls and head back.

That night, dinner at the restaurant was again a choice of either buffet or ala carte. As usual, they didn't have what I wanted and so I ordered the sweet and sour fish instead... it was surprisingly good and the fish was fresh!

The next day we were ready for the highlight of our trip, the underground river tour. The resort tour desk had made the arrangements for us before we even got there. In order to facilitate this, I had to email them our names and ages. If you want to spend less, you would need to make arrangements with the government office at least a month in advance. The permit will indicate the date and time that you can go. Here are the rates (as of Feb 2013):

And to get to the Palawan Subterranean River National Park, you have to ride a boat. Here are the rates:

We preferred going through the resort because they have reserved slots and provide you with a guide who takes care of everything... even take pictures of your group! Plus, you have your own boat that will take you to the Palawan Subterranean River National Park. On the day of the tour, we gave our IDs to the guide to show to the Park authorities. The guide gave them back to us after she got the tickets.

After a 15-minute boat ride, we arrived at the Palawan Subterranean River National Park.

We were greeted by monkeys! Our guide had told us to hide anything plastic because the monkeys associate it with food and will try to grab it from you!

We made our way up the park to go to the waiting area where another boat woud take us to the underground river.

There were a lot of people awaiting their turn to get on the boats but everything was orderly. They loaded 10 persons to a boat. The guided tour inside the cave takes about 45 minutes.

And then it was our turn.

It was breathtaking inside the cave. We had hardhats to protect our heads from anything dropping including stuff from the bats that were up on the ceiling. The cave tour guide gave the light to one of the passengers in front. He was in charge of pointing the light towards whatever the guide wanted us to see. My only problem with this was that the person holding the light kept moving it around and it was so difficult to take a good picture!

And just like that, it was over... the light at the end of the tunnel!

We got out of the boat and walked back to the park. Along the way, some interesting sights...

And then back to our boat..

The next day we did the Mangrove Paddleboat Tour. It was P300 at the resort and includes a guide that takes you to the site.

If you prefer to walk to the site on your own, the fee there is P200.

We had our own boat and 2 guides who took us around the mangroves.

One of our guides pointed out this snake that was up on the tree, but assured us that it is nocturnal and wouldn't harm anyone during the day ha!

On the way back, they took a piece of wood that was soaking in the river. When we were back on land, one of the guys split the wood open...

And this is what was inside... a shipworm locally known as Tamilok, and is eaten as a delicacy, marinated in vinegar (yuck!). Shipworms are not worms at all, but rather a group of unusual saltwater clams with long, soft, naked bodies; they are marine bivalve molluscs that are notorious for boring into (and commonly eventually destroying) wood that is immersed in sea water.

On our last night we went to Daluyon Beach and Mountain Resort (from Sheridan Resort, walk towards the beach, take a right and it's about 5 minutes away).

Other traveler reviews have been raving about their food. By this time, we were getting tired of the food at Sheridan and ready to look someplace else. Everyone was right... Daluyon has the best food although the price is still comparable to Sheridan. If anyone is thinking about staying at Sheridan, I recommend that you stay at Sheridan and eat at Daluyon.

I don't know if we will ever go back to Sabang. We have done all that we could do there. Next time we go to Palawan, we will be exploring Coron and El Nido.