back in 2003, i got myself boat tickets for cagayan de oro city to see the gardens of malasag. right after i checked-in at my hotel, i immediately hopped on a taxi and went to see the place. that done on my very first day, i was left with nothing to do. as i was a newbie traveler then, i didn’t prepare an itinerary. i thought i’d head to camiguin before leaving for davao on the 3rd day of my vacation. however, i let fear got the better of me. hehe, at that time, riding on small boats or ferries scare the hell out of me.

now, early march of this year, john and i got tickets for CDO. he had some business to take care there and i sorta was tagging along. when john informed me that the person he was supposed to meet up in cdo couldn’t make it and ergo, no point of him going, i told myself that i didn’t want to waste good tickets. i’d just head to camiguin on my own instead [this time, i was no longer a scaredycat with regards to traveling by ferries, hehe]. unfortunately, on the day i was to fly to CDO, i was burning with fever. thus, imagine my frustration when my plan to go to camiguin was foiled for the 2nd time.

as always been the case with me, failing to go to a certain destination that i so want to go to creates a persistent itch in me. so when i was well enough, i proceeded to check the 2009 holiday list to pick a good date for traveling to camiguin. august 21 to 24, 2009 it was and luckily, i got myself promo tickets from cebu pacific. this time, i didn’t have to go on my own as i managed to convince juliet, who likewise convinced jacky and dennis to go with me on this trip.

okay, pardon the long introduction. i just want to emphasize why camiguin is an important destination for me. dili pwede ma.strike 3 ko sa attempt to go there, LOL!!!

anyway, as i’m also lazy, i’ll only cover the “how to get there” part in this post. i’ll cover the other details of the trip in my next entries.

now on to the “how to part”

1. get yourself to cagayan de oro city. cdo is like the gateway to the many provinces in mindanao. you can either fly your way to cdo or take the long route by sea. in our case, we flew via cebu pacific and took the first flight to cdo.

click on this link for boat schedule from cebu to camiguin via super shuttle ferry.

flight time from cebu to cdo is roughly 50 minutes, but during our trip we landed twenty minutes ahead of schedule. cdo’s lumbia airport

view from the tarmac

inside cdo’s teeny airport, people getting their bags from the carousel

tourism desk, near the exit door

2. head to balingoan terminal. balingoan is where you will take a ferry bound for benoni port, camiguin

outside the airport, here you will be greeted by taxi drivers offering to take you to the city at PhP200 to 300 or straight to balingoan terminal for PhP1,000.

but if you wanna go the cheapskate route, like we did, just walk for at least 10 or so meters to your right and head out of the airport. carmen-bound jeepneys pass by the airport gate. fare to carmen from lumbia airport is only PhP16.

some local scene/street market. from carmen, you hop on another jeep that will take you to agora terminal. just ask locals or the driver to tell you where to get off. fare from carmen to agora terminal is PhP6.

at agora terminal, hop on a bus bound for “balingoan” terminal [most folks pronounced it "baling-wan"]. non-aircon bus will cost you only PhP60 for the trip. this isn’t too comfy especially for the long-legged..well, it’s not advisable for those who can’t rough it. left side of the bus seats 3, while the one on the right seats 2. if you’re traveling in the morning, take the seat on the left to avoid the sun’s rays.

the airconditioned yellow bachelor bus [or rural bus] bound for butuan passes by balingoan terminal and will cost you PhP130.

the bus ride from cdo to balingoan is more or less 2 hours.

some scenes you pass by on your way to balingoan. the “only in the philippines” jeepney scene.

some town before balingoan

most folks have gotten off before reaching balingoan

roughly two hours after, you’ll reach balingoan terminal [picture A]

another side of the terminal. these trikes will take you to balingoan port for PhP6/person [just 3-5 mins ride or maybe less].

you can also opt to walk your way to the port. [look at picture A above], up ahead, right part of the pix will lead you to the street going to the port.

street leading to the port.

balingoan port upclose

3. ride a ferry bound for benoni wharf, camiguin. ferry trip is an hour and 15 minutes.

ticket booths. ferry ticket for benoni wharf costs PhP135.

pay PhP2 as port tax before you enter the area leading to the ferries.

passenger terminal’s waiting area. people don’t actually wait here, as they head directly to the ferry.

balingoan port scenes

travelmates: juliet, dennis, and jacky

no, it’s not windy – just bad hair day, LOL!!…

royal princess ferry. not so blue blood in appearance..hehe…

leaving balingoan port

yay!! we’re here. thus, the all smiles – successfully hiding the hunger pangs felt as it’s past 11 and we skipped breakfast to catch our 5:30A.M. flight to cdo.

vet: yay, katapak na jud ko ug camiguin after two failed attempts.