#44 Camiguin island...or 'come again' as the locals say

After taking a ferry from Bohol, taking about 3.5 hours we arrived in Camiguin island. We hadn't met any other travellers going to Camiguin but I had read about it in a guide book I had picked up along the way. It described it's good hiking, waterfalls and adventure sports. We had a few days left and enough time to visit another place so we decided to take the ferry there from Bohol. 

We hadn't booked accommodation in advance but unbeknownst to us, it was a bank holiday in the Philippines. We became aware of this firstly when we got to the port in Jagna, Baohol three hours before the ferry was due to depart to be told that the ferry was full and we had to be put on a waiting list (thankfully we were number three and four on the list). We managed to make it on the ferry thankfully. 

When we arrived in Camiguin we took a tricycle from the port to Yumbing. Our lovely driver Sonny said he would bring us around until we found somewhere to stay and recommended some places. The first few were fully booked for the weekend. He then brought us to Medano resort, a family friendly basic hotel with big swimming pool backing onto the sea and views of famous White Island about a kilometre away. We immediately thought it was too expensive but enquiries anyway. The Filipino owner Rolien, a happy man in his fifties immediately welcomed us warmly, asks us where we were from. When I told him I was Irish he was quick to tell me that he was taught in school by Irish nuns and sang when Irish eyes are smiling. He told us they had a fan room available and as we were staying for four nights we negotiated the price down. 

Balcony views in Medano resort 

BBQ and beer st checkpoint 

We looked into what we wanted to do while we were there as we had three full days. We decided to rent a scooter (with Amy driving) and the next day and I was keen to hike the volcano 'Mount Hibok Hibok' which towered above behind Yumbing. On our last day we planned to take advantage of the pool and go to 'White Island' which we could see from our hotel. White Island is one of the main attractions of Camiguin. It is a natural white sand bar in the middle of the glistening sea, small engine boats chug there and back all day bringing tourists to enjoy the pristine beach. Sunset out there looked exquisite so we made that our plan for our last night. 

That evening we had traditional BBQ of meat skewers (chicken and pork for us....no intestines or pigs skin), rice and red horse beer at the very busy checkpoint restaurant which seemed to be the main point in Yumbing for people to go for food. They also had a small shop and bakery. When we returned to our room, it dawned on us why this was the only vacant room left...when we opened the door, the
stagnant heat hit us in the face. We turned the fan on, left the doors and windows open and tried to sleep which we both quickly realised had less chance of happening than Trump declaring his hair is actually not his. 

The next morning after a restless oh so clammy sleep we rented a scooter for the day from the hostel for $6. There were loads of different attractions around the island. We decided to focus on the south west side of the island first. We set off (Amy driving of course) and firstly visited the sunken cemetery. Apparently a real cemetery was originally to be found at this spot until four different eruptions from mount Vulcan caused  the cemetery to be emerged completely  underwater. The last eruption occurred in 1948. It is still possible to dive down and see the original cemetery. Now it is marked by a ladge cross a few hundred metres out to sea  from the viewpoint. After, we visited he Gui-ob church ruins, the Bura soda water springs and Tuasan falls, making our way around the island in an anti-clockwise direction. 

By lunchtime we weren't too far away from the capital of Mambajao, we went and ha ramen (noodle soup with vegetables, chicken and s boiled egg) for lunch in a local eatery. We chatted to two localme. Whom were sitting outside and when we were leaving one gave us Camiguin bananas from his home for our trek the next day. After lunch we continued driving around the island and drove the 5km up into the jungle from the main road to Katibawasan falls, my favourite site of that day. It was around 4pm so there were less people swimming below the towering 250ft high   waterfall.We went swimming, chatting to a lovely elderly couple on their holidays from a nearby region. We also kept getting asked to pose for numerous photos with other groups of teenagers and groups of friends. We joked that we had to start charging for photos. 

Posing with the locals 

The sunken cemetery 

Admiring Katibawasan falls 

Later we went to the checkpoint bakery to stock up on snacks for our hike the next day. We went in search of a local eatery to get some food, only to find another BBQ eatery...meat and rice again so! The man BBQing was keen to know where we were from, once he found out I was Irish he started asking me if I knew Conor McGregor, telling me that he was his idol. As we were leaving after our rice and meat (I was seriously craving some vegetables by this stage) there were tiny kittens huddled at the side of the road outside the restaurant. The McGregor devotee told us there were six strays and that we could take them if we wanted!  This broke my lil heart and I was seriously contemplating taking them but didn't think they (or the airlines) would take too kindly to being stuffed into my backpack. I did however ask Rolien back at our hotel if he wanted any cats....he was quick to decline my offer. When we got back to the hotel (kittenless I may add) we met our guide for the hike the next day 'Be-bot' as well as a French guy called Coco (we couldn't pronounce his real name) who was also doing the hike with us. Coco of course turned out to be a super fit trail runner back in Brittany where he was from! Be-Bot a Filipino man in his forties from the town next to Yumbing gave us a quick briefing for the next day- to bring water and snacks, wear appropriate hiking shoes and clothes. He told us the hike could take anywhere between seven and a half to nine plus hours, I could feel Amys gaze on me (she was NOT overly keen for the hike)! We had another horrendous night in our oven roasted room sweating buckets and listening to the questionable eighties hits being sung by the live band on the rooftop (it was Saturday night after all). I finally caved at about 11.30pm and went downstairs to ask Rolien if he had another fan, tears in eyes, he saw my desperation  and quickly located another fan. It didn't help and we continued to sweat the night away until our alarm went off at 4.45am (WHY DO I DO THIS)!?

Wearily we grabbed our backpack, setting off at 5am on be-bots motorbike, five minutes down the road to the bottom of Mount Hibok Hibok. The four of us (Myself, Amy, Be-Bot 

and super fit Coco) started hiking at 5.30am and set off at a pretty decent pace uphill (I was struggling to keep up). We hiked up through the jungle for nearly four hours, including a break in the old crater of the volcano which used to be a lake. 

Mount Hibok Hibok hike 

At points we literally had to scramble up rocks, clinging onto tree branches or me having be-bot pull me up via my 'good' right arm. I definitely felt I was a lot slower due to my left shoulder being more or less useless. When we finally got to the summit it was still only just after 9am! We were disappointed with the lack of view, clouds blocking it and not clearing for the half hour we were up there. Still we felt proud of our achievement, even though we were saturated with sweat from ascending up in the humidity. Little did I know that going down was going to worse. We descended down a different route, I won't say it was trail as it definitely didn't feel like one. We climbed al let vertically down rocks and mud, again using vines and tree trunks as aides. It took us almost three and a half hours to scramble down. Finally rejoicing as we reached the bottom and ending at some hot springs. 

We hiked over 11km up and down, taking seven and a half hours and leading us to slip and fall repeatedly (I've somehow managed to perfect falling on my left side, avoiding my bad shoulder but I guess putting my right side at risk). Be not told us stories of the cock fighting that is extremely popular in the Philippines, particularly on Sundays after church. He even invited coco to go with him later that day to watch it (I think it's a 'mans' Sunday activity however coco didn't seem that keen to partake. He also to,d us about 'spider fighting' but we weren't too sure if this was true and he seemed to be full of extremely sarcastic stories. After an extremely stressful and tricky descent we arrived at the other side of the volcano to the ardent hibok hibok hot springs. Amy and I went for a dip in the (thankfully) chilled water before going back to the hotel to an attempted ( it failed) nap attempt in our microwaveable heated room. 

That night we went back to checkpoint for dinner and invited coco to come along too. Portions were massive so we shared a chop suey, rice and some red horse. There was a fiesta just down the road so with coco heading back to the hotel for a nap, Amy and I ventured down. It was full of local families with a Filipino comedic act on stage. We couldn't understand a word they were saying but I'm assuming they were pretty entertaining based on the howls of laughter coming from the crowd. With little understanding what was happening we decided to head back to the rooftop of Medano for some cards and music. 

Our last day on Camiguin we spent relaxing by the pool (typically I got burnt at the end of the holiday and resembled a roasted tomato by the end of the day). We had planned to go to White Island later that evening to watch the sunset (they really are incredible here). We sauntered down to the port where the boats depart at 4.30pm only to be told by the (not so friendly) lady that the last boats come back from White Island at 5.30pm (I.e: before sunset). We almost kicked ourselves for not going out earlier that day and couldn't really justify spending 490PHP (only $10) for less than an hour on the beach. Instead we decided to sit at the small cafe/bar in medano with a beer and watch the sunset from there. Which was beautiful but much to our dismay we could watch all the boats going out and coming back from White Island, the last ones returning up until after 6pm! Whhhy!??! Anyway next time I 'come again' to Camiguin (as the locals say), White Island is on my 'to do' list. 

Next Stop: Cebu city

Stayed:  Midano island resort, $7 night for private fan room (was discounted due to multiple night stay) 

Food and drink: checkpoint is the main restaurant in Yumbing. The mains in the restaurant are huge so you can share! $2 each for chop suey, rice and red horse beer. BBQ and rice at Checkpoint. Shawarma from Alex's across the road from checkpoint ($1). Rum and red horse beer in Medano.