camiguin: sleep in

i just realized that my camiguin finally! post didn’t mention how to get to mambajao – camiguin’s capital [i think, correct me if i'm wrong]. pardon me for this omission. anyhow, as i mentioned we went cheapskate during this travel – so yeah, we didn’t avail of island tours . see, as soon as the ferry docks from balingoan to benoni, several men bearing laminated pictures of different camiguin sites will approach you. they’ll offer you tour options. one of the guys who approached us said he could take us to mambajao, help us find accommodations, and take us on a day trip for a fee of PhP1,000. since we were going cheapskate, we declined and found our own arrangements. besides, we were too hungry at past 11 AM and only had food in our minds. although not hungry enough as we still thought it wasn’t a sweet deal especially that most of the day’s gone and our day trip would only be a “half-day trip”, technically. so we walked a bit out of the wharf [less than 3 mins. walk] and hopped on a jeepney bound for mambajao. jeepney fare from benoni to mambajao was PhP23.

welcome to benoni port.

benoni port. stalls selling pasalubong such as the very sweet pastels
across the pasalubong stalls..left of where you see the “parking sign” is where you can find jeepneys bound for catarman and mambajao

more peeps selling food stuffs. somewhere here is a small ticket booth where you can purchase ferry ticket for a ride back to balingoan port in cagayan de oro

ticket booth. ferry ticket sold at PhP135.

as soon as we reached mambajao, we went in search of lunch. i must say, there aren’t many choices in the area. that or we were just too hungry to look for different places to eat. after a few minutes walk, we settled at a little carenderia serving grilled food [sorry, forgot to take a pic of the place's name]

juliet and dennis with hunger smiles

budlat contemplating before taking her first bite

my lunch of rice, 2 pork barbecue, and bottle of coke [12 oz. ila coke dinhi] @
PhP48

after we had our lunch, juliet made some calls to ask for directions on how we could get to caves dive resort, enigmata, secret cove beach resort or tia’s beach resort. prior to coming to camiguin, we researched on places to stay and we zeroed in on these four. when she finished, we decided to head to caves dive resort. from the carenderia, we hopped on a tricycle to take us to the terminal bound for yumbing[PhP6]. once at the terminal, we changed trike to take us to yumbing [PhP8]. on this trike ride to yumbing we met manang celia. what started as casual conversation led her to take us to a “not-so-commercial” place. she referred us to her friend aying who is renting out some rooms. she reasoned that all the hotels in camiguin don’t have a white sand beach fronts. unfortunately, the white sand can only be experienced at the nearby white island. she convinced us that we could save a lot if we stayed there instead of at the beach resort where we were headed. luckily, we heeded her advice and managed to save a few bucks. should you need assistance from her, just text or call her at this number: 0905-8183982. i don’t know if she would still remember us, but just mention juliet and vet’s name – the vacationers from cebu – should she ask where you got her number. we asked permission to post her number here and she agreed. hopefully, she would remember and her number had not changed..

manang celia and her daughter erica. 0905-8183982 – manang celia acted as our tour guide minus the fee. camiguin peeps are that helpful. we only provided for the entrance fees and their lunch. she didnt charge us at all!

accommodations in camiguin
manang celia took us here.

dennis, jacky, juliet, and moi leaving for cdo – aying’s souvenir shop fronting her and her sister’s house

this gate is on the right of the above pictures.

dennis, jacky, moi, and our gracious host aying

our orange room @PhP1,000/night – no restriction as to how many can stay in the room
our orange room actually has two rooms, the sala minus the chairs and the bedroom. if there are several of you, you can actually sleep here. just bring your sleeping bags.

the teeny kitchen. to its right is the door of the bathroom

sala with its 14″-TV and personal ref. you can use the fridge, free of charge

the bedroom with double bed, aircon, you can actually pullout the other mattress and use it as bed to use in the sala; that is, if you don’t mind doing a little lifting
extra bed opposite the one above. [hehe, disregard my attempt at perfecting trikosana or the triangle pose, haha..far from perfect, a lot of alignment needed

extras
road leading to paras beach resort and other nearby resorts. this intersection is just about 5- 10 meters from where we stayed

refer to the above picture: turning left of the intersection will lead to the other resorts in the area. walking straight ahead is where you meet up with banca operators who'll take you to white island

motorized banca that will take people to white island. seats 6 peeps max @PhP400 back/forth trip

the white stretch in the pix is the famous white island

okay, so that's where we stayed when we went to camiguin. i'd say, there's nothing to worry as far as sleeping in is concerned as there are plenty, especially in this area. they're actually just a few steps away from each other, including paras beach resort.

will post next where we fed our hungry stomachs while in this beautiful island of the lanzones.

NOTE: the resorts here don't have white beach fronts. i'm guessing, no beach either, directly water [i could be wrong here, though]. the white sand you’ll find when you google camiguin is actually “white island” – 15 or 20 minutes away from yumbing-based resorts. so don’t be fooled. if you want to frolick in the water 24 hours, find a resort with a pool. white island is worth the ferry-ride though, the whitest of sand and the clearest of water. it’s just unfortunate that you cant enjoy it 24/7 as the island is too tiny to house lodging facilities. bring your own food and trash bags with you.

Tags: camiguin, crystal clear water, how to get to mambajao, mambajao, paras beach resort, pristine waters, where to stay in camiguin, white island, white island camiguin