Exploring Camiguin

Tree at Katibawasan Falls.

For the day we hired a private multicab (jeepney) to take us around Camiguin. Our plan was to get a taste of the island visiting several cold springs, hot springs, waterfalls and beaches. I was excited to see the island that I’ve heard so much about.

Titan triggerfish. Looks scary above water and is scary underwater when they become territorial and chase you.

Seats to a local eatery.

Momo and Anna about to shoot Shaun.

Our driver first took us to Old Volcano which is one of the several dormant volcanoes on the island—there are seven volcanoes on the island where six are dormant. It was a beautiful view which reminded me of the coast of California. Around the Old Volcano we made a stop and a few people did a little souvenir shopping. Next we went to a sunken cemetery which was submerged underwater in the mid-late 1800s.

What sums up a lot of the Philippines. Pop culture and Catholicism are big cultural influences.

A giant cross marking the location of the sunken cemetary and old Camiguin capital.

A large cross marks the location of where the cemetery once was. The cemetery was part of Camiguin’s old capital which was buried by several volcanic eruptions from Mt. Vulcan. In the late 1800s, gravestones could still be seen during low tide until another eruption buried everything 20 feet underwater.

Ladder and old Spanish church wall.

A close up the wall made out of coral.

The next place we stopped at was an old Spanish church where the walls were made out of coral; not a good thing environmentally, but, they didn’t know. It was interesting to see a little bit more of the history of the place. Following the church, we visited several cold spring pools which were disappointingly just public swimming pools. After a couple swims, we went to Katibawasan Falls which was impressively tall. Lastly, we visited a hot spring which wasn’t as hot as I thought it would be.

One of the many cold springs we visited. Before arriving at the Soda springs, I joked it was sponsored by a soda company. Of course, the sign is sponsored by Coca-Cola.

Katibawasan Falls.

After a day of adventure, we were scheduled to leave Camiguin and take an overnight ferry back to Cebu. None of us were really looking forward to this because the ferry to Camiguin wasn’t comfortable. Last minute, Mike persuaded our company to have us stay one more night in Camiguin and take the fast ferries back to Cebu via Bohol. It was nice having one more night on the island.

- jason

White Island Diving

Arriving at 7 AM to Camiguin. One of the volcanos of the island pierces through the clouds.

From the overnight ferry we arrived at Camiguin at 7 AM. It was refreshing to see land so we can just get off the ferry. Once we got of the ferry, we were driven straight to our resort—Para’s Resort—which was the nicest one on the island. Mike didn’t want to stay in the same room as the Cebuanos had to book another room. For some reason it worked out that Shaun and I stayed in the family room which had two separate bedrooms and a couple beds in the living area. It was by far the best room having the most space, best location, and a patio.

Our resort with a beautiful pool and view of the ocean and White Island.

The resort was very nice. The view of the water was close where we could even see the famous White Island. Camiguin is a volcanic island so it’s mostly black sand beaches so White Island really sticks out. After a short swim in the swimming pool I decided to try out the local diving and booked two dives in the early afternoon Johnny’s Dive ‘N’ Fun dive shop. Before that though, we all took a short speed boat ride to White Island.

The beach at White Island contrasts with the colors of the sea.

Mike and the girls hang out in the water on White Island.

A fisherman and his son paddle by the island for a look.

Half of White Island connected by a thin strip of sand that submerges itself in high tide.

White Island is small but impressive. The sand is slightly coarse but very clean. The white sand contrasted with the volcanos in the distance was different from most other places I’ve visited in Philippines. The water was a nice picturesque turquoise color too. White Island is basically two larger pieces of land connected by a thin strip of sand that disappears in high tide. Snorkeling isn’t good but I did find a baby scorpionfish in only a few inches of water. It’s kinda dangerous because they’re poisonous and anyone could have easily stepped on it.

Our seriously fast and fun speed boat ride back. It might have taken only a minute to get back.

Girls rinse off after White Island.

After a seriously fun speed boat ride back to the resort, I made my way back to the Johnny’s dive shop where I signed up for two dives. I didn’t bring any of my personal gear except my mask and snorkel so I had to be fitted with everything else. For the dives, it was just me and my dive guide. We dived first at “Old Volcano” dive site and then at “White Island”. “Old Volcano“ was a nice dive site with nice underwater rock formations, good schools of fish, and lots of nudibranchs I haven’t seen before. It was also nice in that the sand was black which made the overall look of everything different from other places I dived in the Philippines. ”White Island“ dive was good but there wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary. There was a nice turtle that swam by though.

My shadow and I hang out on White Island between dives.

Whtie Island and the mainland of Camiguin.

For dinner, Shaun’s aunt (Shaun grew up in Camiguin) offered to cook everyone dinner. So, Shaun, Mike, Shaun’s cousin and I went into downtown to the local market to get some food. We ended up buying some tuna and another fish, and some other things. After Shaun’s aunt cooked everything up, Shaun had to sneak the food into our room because the resort wanted to charge us extra for bringing food into the resort.

Downtown market for some groceries.

Late in the evening everyone just hung out at the bar at the resort. People sang karaoke and had some drinks.



- jason

To Camiguin—Island Born of Fire

Bunks under lights. It wasn't the easiest thing to sleep under the light.

Today everyone from my work sans Rob were planning on going to Camiguin for a work paid weekend vacation. I was excited to go because I heard good things about the island and the island is slightly different from others around—it was volcanically created. Generally, during the day, I hung out with Suz, Mike, and Reggie at Ayala mall, Bo’s Cafe, and HPI.

Suzette cringes after noticing bugs on the bed. Hm, they didn't tell me until after the trip.

Shaun, Momo, and Suzette line up for a picture.

Anna and Momo enjoying the cool breeze outside while we were leaving the harbor.

Momo and Annie in bed getting ready to sleep.

We boarded our overnight shipping ferry at around 7 PM. I was quite content when I took the overnight ferry from Tagbilaran to Cebu with Eric, Vilma, and Kenny but this ferry wasn’t as nice and we were housed in non-business class—which means we slept in a room with at least 150 people. It was bunk bed style, and I had the top bed right under a light that never turned off. It was hard to sleep.

Lights in the sky.

The nicest thing about the ferry ride was leaving Cebu harbor and seeing the city lights reflecting off the water. The fresh are breeze was also nice.


- jason

Thai Work

My taxi ride to meet with Teresa to another side of Cebu in Lapu-Lapu.

I planned to leave Cebu to Bohol within a few days so I wanted to hang out with Teresa before I left. She agreed to meet me for lunch near where she lived, in Lapu-Lapu, at a Thai restaurant. The restaurant was a nice clean place with a lot of authentic Thai dishes—much better than the average Thai restaurant around where I lived in Los Angeles.

Decorations at the Thai Restaurant

The Thai food was delicious. It actually reminded me of the Thai food I ate when I was in Thailand.

Teresa whom I just met in Boracay and then randomly in Cebu.

We ordered a lot of dishes including a 5-spiced fish that I was really excited to eat. The food was excellent and it was good to get a taste of Thai food being away from it for more than 6 months. Afterwards, Teresa and I walked around the small mall the Thai restaurant was located in and got a nice coffee.

Ginesa and Arlyn get a moment to smile at Wine Shop—the owner is so anal they fear to have any personal interaction with customers.

While at the coffee shop, I got a text from HPI asking if I could work immediately. I finished my coffee in no rush and went back to HPI to work. After work, as usual, we went to the Wine Shop.

- jason

Talking to Zac

Bokeh with my 50mm lens.

Went to the HPI office in the morning with Rob. I wanted a coffee so I went to Coffee Dream for a little bit. In the HPI office, I decided to do something productive and call one of my best friends in Los Angeles, Zac. He’s a Filipino dive instructor and was the primary influence for getting me to move out to the Philippines. In fact, the dive shop I work for in Alona Beach is the same one he worked for. Our chat was quite good and he seemed quite happy to hear from me. I miss him a lot.

Finger print entry required to get into HPI. Very geeky.

Work.

Mike making the tasty pork belly sauce.

Lunch at Neo Neo again with Mike. I really can’t get enough of the BBQ pork belly. The evening activities including doing the usual—going to Wine Shop.

Arlyn from Wine Shop.

- jason

No Work Then Maybe Work

Waitress at Vienna Kauffehaus posing for a picture while Mike takes a bunch of pictures with his camera.

My boss for HPI in Los Angeles, Bryan, said that he doesn’t have work for me anymore in Cebu—I don’t mind a few days off. For lunch I went to a chain BBQ restaurant called Neo Neo. There I ordered squid which was okay. After lunch, I hung out at Coffee Dream and had a coffee. There I read a good article about Lomography—a photography cult who primarily use toy film cameras to achieve unpredictable and sometimes chaotic results, and whose basic philosophy is to “don’t think, just shoot.”

This article interested me because this is the type of photography shot with when I was in Los Angeles for several years. It’s a little disappointing to see how what was once a niche and alternative style of photography is now going mainstream. Reading the article really made me long for shooting with film again and shooting with my Holga, Fisheye, and Speed Graphic. Oh I miss flim. Digital can be so boring.

Looking out the window at the HPI office just catching up on things because there wasn't any work.

Mike at Wine Shop.

Martini glasses at the Wine Shop.

For the rest of the afternoon I just hung around HPI office to journal and browse the Internet. At night, I went with the usual group to Wine Shop for a few Red Horse beers. We ate dinner at Neo Neo where I ate a delicious BBQ pork belly for only 70 pesos ($1.50). After dinner, I went back to HPI to hang out even more. There, Bryan chatted with me and told me that there might be more work for me after all. Shucks, I was enjoying my freedom. Back to Wine Shop for a little bit and then home.



- jason

Back to the Office

The beach looked much better than when we first arrived. Back to the concrete jungle.

Today we had to leave Bantayan to go back to work. Mike, Suzette, and I actually planned on going straight to the office to work. In the morning we paid for the room and the motorbikes that we rented the night before. By 1:30 PM, we boarded the ferry back to Cebu. At the port, our van was waiting for us to leave. During our van ride back to Cebu City, we stopped by a Jollibee fast food to eat lunch. I ordered a Cheesy Bacon Mushroom burger which took 15 minutes to make because they didn’t have any available. This is fast food?

A lake reflects hills from the road back to Cebu City.

For most of the 3 hour drive to Cebu City, everyone just slept. We got into Cebu City by 6:30 PM which is a lot later than I wanted to start work for the day. Fortunately, Rob texted me to tell me that all the local workers did all the work and there was no work to be done. This worked out perfectly because I didn’t want to spend a late night at work just after coming back from our trip.

Back in the office Annie and Momo pose for a picture. Is it grey shirt day?

After checking into the office, Mike, Suz, and I went to the SM mall where Suzette was looking for sunglasses. I ended up buying a pair of 90 peso ($2) sunglasses. I needed a “cool” pair of sunglasses.


- jason