camiguin: white island

in my opinion, a trip to camiguin is a total waste of time and money if YOU FAIL TO VISIT its famed “WHITE ISLAND.”


apart from camiguin’s numerous springs, i’d say white island is enough to satisfy one’s cravings [?] for crystal clear waters and soft fine white sands. the only downside here is its teeny size prevents the erection of structures for longer stay in the island. one can’t stay overnight here – a total shame. although, it’s great in a way as the pristine waters won’t be ruined by people’s trash or whatever.

our specific destination: barangay yumbing, mambajao, camiguin

just click this for general directions on how to get to camiguin from cebu.

while this will give you directions on how we reached yumbing, mambajao as well as accommodations info.

anyway, as soon as you reach yumbing – you can ask locals to help you in getting yourself a motorized banca to transport you to white island. although white island can be reached from other parts of mambajao, yumbing they say is the closest to white island.

shaken

this is not a travel post. but i’m writing about the incident anyway to rid myself of the bad feeling.

early this morning, i flagged down a taxi from tamiya to take me to our office in banilad. had idle chitchat with the driver while we were listening to a local radio. the radio host was interviewing one mr. mitra who was running for the senate [i think] in the coming may elections. then all of a sudden, i heard a loud crashing sound from behind and front of the cab i was in. i was also thrown a bit forward and hit my forehead on the upper part of the car’s dashboard. all i could remember was me touching my forehead and shouting expletives…. hehe, wrong… i only managed to keep saying “shit!” while i massaged my head. a bit dazed from the sudden bump, i looked back and saw the 23D lapu-lapu jeepney behind the cab. because we were rear-ended, we naturally bumped the taxi in front of us. naturally, the driver of the cab i was in got out of the car to assess the damage done to his car. i followed suit. no, i didn’t remain at the scene of the accident. i merely got out of the car, and proceeded to walk towards UCLM to find myself another taxi. it was weird. the experience. i walked dazed, barely holding back the tears forming in my eyes. luckily, i immediately found a cab and as soon as i settled in the passenger’s seat, i burst out crying. i cried because the incident happened too fast. i couldn’t hold back the tears and so the new cab driver asked what happened to me. i explained to him about the accident at the old bridge and my walking out of it. i wasn’t harmed or anything. just a bit shaken, thus, asked to be allowed to cry. anyway, i’m thankful that no serious injury happened to either me or the driver. as i was crying, i remembered the messages i sent to my go-to-person. i told him that i will try my best to let go of him. though hard as it might be for me to do, i will try my darnest so he won’t be bothered by me anymore whenever i’m in a dark place or when i’m in my analytical/realization mode. i’d find a way to accomplish it, i said. i told him, eventually he’ll be able to be rid of me for good.

when i sent those messages, i didn’t mean dying. haha, i won’t be rid that easily. kidding aside, i got scared because it might be the universe’s way of telling me that i shouldn’t really be jumping to conclusions or i just might get what i wish for. i want to get rid of the emotions attached to loving the person too much, but i don’t want to accomplish it by actually perishing from the face of the earth.

well, i’m still a bit shaken even three hours have passed since the accident. i don’t know why. i’ve looked up head injuries and based on the symptoms listed, i’ve nothing to worry about. i only have a slight headache, really slight. so no concussions whatsoever. i’d like to go to the doc and be certain, but it’ll be money down the drain. i don’t have much resources these days..so i’ll just monitor myself, closely. perhaps, i might just go watch tonight’s basketball game just so i won’t fall asleep early. haha, i’m scared to fall asleep as something might happen. i’ll try to stay awake as much as i can in the next 48 hours just to make sure i don’t suddenly develop symptoms of head injury. yeah, i’m paranoid this way.

camiguin: golden sunset beach club

notice the many people on the left corner of the pix???

well, they were a bunch of curious onlookers. see, when we were on our way back to aying’s place from the sto. nino cold spring, we passed by a scene of a motorbike accident. apparently, the motorbike that passed us earlier crashed a few meters ahead. according to my travelmates, they saw the bike earlier on and thought the driver was drunk as his bike was unsteady and wobbling. it turned out that the driver was indeed drunk. when we passed by the scene, i saw the driver passed out on the road. people were gathered around him as they wait for a vehicle to transport him to a hospital. meanwhile, the driver of the multicab that we were on thought he recognized the passenger of the bike. thus, he pulled over and went to check out the scene. when he came back to our vehicle, he brought with him the slightly wounded passenger. we learned that the two who figured in the accident were actually employees of golden sunset club beach resort. the two were supposed to be on the job. they were tasked to deliver the food of their guests to sto. nino cold spring. but the two went to have a few shots of alcoholic drink before returning to the resort. according to the injured passenger, he accompanied the motorbike driver to talk him out of driving while under the influence. obviously, his attempt was a big failure. anyway, our driver thought to give his injured friend a ride back to the resort. he took it upon himself to explain to the resort’s manager what happened to his two errant employees. it was because of this unfortunate accident that we came upon golden sunset beach club.

so here folks is another possible resort you can choose for your accommodations if you decide to spend your vacation in camiguin. well, all i can show you are a few pictures of the resort. as for specific details, you may have to call the resort at the number posted on their welcome banner
golden sunset beach club; 09185595686 / (63)(088) 3879163

a beautiful garden, path towards their pool

jacky and budlat posing before the resort’s big pool

the resort’s big pool up close

the beach beyond the big pool

the succeeding pix are just us camwhoring while we waited for our driver to finish speaking with the resort’s manager about the accident. moi – love their “duyan”

what can i say, we just love their duyan

us 4

budlat and dennis, back-to-back

attempt at acting

golden sunset beach club, folks.

Note: will really, really post next our day tour. pix used are mine and budlat’s

camiguin: paras beach resort

paras beach resort.

no. we didn’t stay here while we were on vacation in camiguin august of last year. we simply could not afford it.

we only had pictorials there. LOL!!! us 4 after our lovely dinner.

if you have money to splurge, i suggest you book yourself a room here. as i mentioned in my last entry, the resorts in camiguin don’t have beach fronts. i loathe to say that for one to enjoy the waters of camiguin, you’ll have to travel to the famous white island, unless you don’t mind jumping in rocky waters with black sands. [camiguin locals, please correct me if this is a misguided information!]. so if you plan to be in the water any time you want, you’re better off with a resort that has a pool. of course, if you’ve money to burn, you can always go back and forth to white island. it’s only PhP400 [less than $10] per back/forth trip.

anyway, here are a few pictures of the resort. i wasn’t kidding when i said we only went there for some photo ops, hehe…

kidding aside, we arrived in yumbing mambajao a little past lunch time. we thought it wasn’t practical to rush to seeing the sites of camiguin at that hour. the sun was at its mightiest then. thus, we decided to while away our time here while waiting for our 3 o’clock appointment to head to white island.

the tiny speck of white in the pix is white island as seen inside paras

let the pictorials begin.

moi. this is what i meant when i said the resorts don’t have beach fronts.

dennis with his classic pose

juliet with her take a pic of my back drama

the charming and demure jacky

paras, viewed from the beach

some mountain [mt. hibok-hibok???] viewed from paras

cio and budlat, what’s the drama here?

my travel isn’t complete without taking a pic of my “vetlongwalks” mark

haha. i wasn’t really kidding when i said we were at paras for the photo ops..

the beautiful pool

the beautiful innovation called timers

tinkering with the timer again

cio with his classic and ever consistent facial expression

jacky enjoying her ube ice cream

my watermelon shake @PhP60 [less than $2] and the resort’s menu. hmmm, now that i see this, i wouldnt say that paras is THAT expensive. perhaps it’s only their rooms we can’t afford as we’re BUDGET TRAVELERS.

night scenes at paras

the pool with a few of the resort’s guests enjoying the water

the tower on the left is where we had our dinner. warning: SUPER BREEZY…

the pool, viewed from the white tower

accommodations, accommodations

ordering for dinner

L-billiards/al fresco area– R-budlat helping out cio decide what to eat

playing table tennis while waiting for our dinner [@PhP50/hour - a little over $1]

our dinner [jacky's spaghetti in pomodoro, budlat and cio's beef and mushroom, and spicy mixed seafood, my beef lasagna]

dinner didn’t stop us from grabbing this photo op
hmmm, their food isn’t bad, but they’re not excellent either. i’ve had better. theirs is just so-so.

that’s paras beach resort for you folks. click on this to take you to the resort’s official site.

will post next our day tour of the island. probably in installments also.

credits: some of the pix used here are dennis’ [night scenes] and budlat’s.