Wednesday 9 March 2016

Cagayan de Oro....in and gone in a blink...the long and winding road back to the Camotes Islands.....our last days....fond memories and friends....So long, Philippines...

We leave Camiguin, Mindinao with a handful of days remaning before we need to be on our flight home from Manila...

....so as usual, we have some rough plans of where to go and what to do...and, with crappy/non-existent WiFi around Camiguin... we are traveling old-school, like we did 40 yrs ago...little info about what's ahead, where to stay, flight schedules etc...so, what could go wrong?


...we are on the quiet ferry from Camiguin heading to the big island of Mindanao... almost empty, with a mere 20 passengers....


....we talk, plan and come up with some vague idea of finding some sort of beach side spot to enjoy the last days here....



...our packs have served us well these past 2 months....like a faithful pet, they handle everything thrown at them....always eager to climb on our backs and go....they've been durable on the trikes, jeepneys or navigating the broken, narrow concreted roads and sidewalks...never straying far from our side, these little Sherpas carry their weight.... or as much as Shayne sheds while away for 2 months...Yvonne wishes it would be more for her...

....we disembark on Mindanao port to gloomy and cloudy weather and start a 90 min bus ride to the big city Cagayan de Oro (CDO).....
....we see no coast line here to stay.... 

....in CDO, we grab a bite and look to move on....find a van heading along the coast to the airport...and the driver is willing to stop at some beach side places...

...1st stop is full, 2nd stop is rundown, 3rd stop is padlocked, 4th stop is down a dusty, rutted road to a 'resort' that has several palapas and not much else....

...on the fly and in the van we make a decision to head to the airport with the driver and see about flying out north to another spot..

....we love the freedom of changing our minds midstream.... it's so nice to be flexible and not locked into a hotel or schedule so that we can change and go in any direction, if needed...

...however, this laizze-faire approach does have the odd drawback here and there.....we must eat an already bought flight and buy another for Cebu...from there we've decided to head to the Camotes Islands....

......we have come to enjoy the uncertainty, the flexibility of making last minute, on the fly decisions .....keeps us young!


...north of Cebu City, we hop on a 2 hr ferry ride to the quiet islands of the Camotes...between Cebu and Leyte.


A comfortable open-air ride...


...we grab a trike and head to our resort...


Small stores everywhere, if needed.


Our view from our room...wow! Santiago Bay.


....sunsets


great beach...quiet...our resort/hotel 


...Beach side ...


...and a Reggae Bar....yeah for Bob Marley!



A neighbouring beach we walked to...
...imagine a beautiful low-key group of island approx 2 hrs by boat from a major city with millions...

....anywhere else, the islands would be full of city-folk, many beach retreats and traffic... not here, while development is happening, it is slow and small scale....

...the perfect way to spend our last weekend in the Philippines...


....best view in the lovely cove for the waterfront gravestones.  Most cemeteries seem to be built at the seaside here.


A nice view for the departed - all built above ground as the limestone is too hard to dig into.


...local kids swim, jump...



The graves peak out from under the trees asking us to visit...


A view back to our beach...


....we manage to wade back in the rising waters...'native-style'..



Monday 7 March 2016

Camiguin Island...here we come...it's been a blast - on this Island of Volcanoes.... Clamming up, close and personal...is that Uranus? ...and, the final countdown...

Travel Sweat

....the thin, wet sheen coats the skin, lubricates the lines and folds of the body....pores open and the liquid flows and saturates..
.....no amont of meditation, practicing stillness or yoga stops the creeping movement forward of the drip...

.....the clear drops bead and pool, following gravity downward, drops drip off the nose, run down the cheeks, the sweat, warm to the touch.....

....edges further down....past the neck, along the chest lines..sometimes, it appears, a water stain on a T-shirt...as the heat of the day builds..

....the sweat is a puddle...everything is drenched, coated in the body's nectar...bodies caress, slide over one another.....
........the sweaty streams descend into the nether regions...front and back make no difference....

...... in the end, there's acceptance, grudgingly, that this too shall pass...but for now, embrace the sweat...wipe it, rub it, feel it....cause it 'ain't' going away...until you head back home!


We leave El Nido...bound for Cebu City...then,



....overnight, and next morning...head south to the


...Island of Camiguin, Mindanao.  These motorellas are slightly larger and more comfortable than many of the trikes on the other islands


...our cute, little cottage by the sea



We visit the crescent-shaped atoll, White Island, a short bangka ride offshore of Camiguin... the island of many volcanoes


Seen as we flew in...



...beautiful white sand in the shadow of Camiguin's tallest volcano Hibok-Hibok... the island has about 7 volcanoes, all dormant...nothing much to see, except for numerous bumps scattered around the 60+km ring road...



...a little snack of urchin... 


Yum...those 5 little fingers of urchin meat...and a dash of spicy vinegar...




...another day gone in Camiguin paradise


...this is a pretty quiet island, hardly any traffic and few tourists... We push on to another part of the island to stay....


...we snorkel at the Sunken Cemetery... nothing left of the cemetery that was destroyed in an earthquake over 60 yrs ago...seems the land slid into the ocean taking the cemetery and all who reside there, further to a watery grave



.....sea life and coral are brilliant here....some of the best we've seen in the Philippines....





....Shayne finally ticks off something from his bucket list.....riding on the outside of a jeepney... these pints size versions of the chicken buses do the trick, transporting people...they do tend to get crowded, so room to stand is on the back bumper....next time on the roof!


...Camiguin prides itself on a clean island...some villages have banned plastic bags; only paper grocery bags available...
while everywhere, there are the blue bins for garbage collection and recycling... 



....our stay at D & A Cottages...great little family run place with cottages that spill down the hill to the ocean


Has a great seaside trail to walk along and bamboo benches to watch the sunset from.




The cleanest pool we have yet come across in our travels.


...we snorkel off the rocky, volcanic shoreline that borders the cottages. Here, as elsewhere along Camiguin's coast, are numerous marine parks, protecting fragile sea and coral life..  



....we move on around the island to a dive resort, but first stop in the Giant Clams Sanctuary...



A display created at the sanctuary.... " Marine lives destroyed by Typhoon Pablo in December 2012.




....stages of clam growth... 



Amazing colours created by the local algae and sea water ingredients


......numerous clams....they look like the seed pods from the first Alien movie,don't they?


...here's looking at you...no black hole here, just an orange anus of a clam... 



...continue with our clam tour...our guide using these wooden fins


Mount Hibok-Hibok Volcano at 1320m which last erupted in 1951 killing 600 people.


And we're off again further around the island to our next location where we intend to do our fifth dive on this trip.

our young 21 year old dive master... we dive to 33 metres following a wall...


Our bangka is pretty full...


Mantigue Island with Camiguin Island in the background


...see the nemo eyes and fish mouth....very striking colour


.....medusa-like coral or plant?


....my dive buddy!....Yvonne is one happy, bouyant scuba lady...a final, great Filipino dive!


Hibok-Hibok Volcano in the background


A walk around this small island reveals...fish drying...old school..


.... the missing piece was equally big


Mantigue island residents



But....it is time to move on, our ferry is arriving and our days limited in our time in the Philippines... still more to see....until next time.....

We're off again...


Take care...

Yvonne & Shayne




Additional Photos...















Travellers in a Dangerous Time....2020....the Year of Living Strangely

Prologue Travellers in a Dangerous Time Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by? We never get to stop and open our eyes One minut...