Apo Reef (2014)

To end my 2014 travels, my last stop was Apo Reef. Located 3 hours by boat from Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro province, it is the second largest coral reef sanctuary in the world and the largest in the Philippines. It wasn't easy going there due to the 3 hour boat ride but totally worth it because of the blue waters and the pristine powder white sand of the Apo Reef island.

Upon arriving in San Jose, we went to the bus station that will take us to Sablayan. From there, we took a tricycle to Sablayan Tourism Office where they also arranged for the boat we would rent. Had lunch and bought other supplies and food for the night's dinner before taking our 3 hour boat ride to Apo Reef Island.

Official Welcome!

We're not the only ones in the island

Sunset view

We didn't swim though, we just explored the beach and the watch tower on the island.

Watch tower, view from below

View from above the scary stairs of the tower

Lagoon on the island

We headed back to the camp for dinner. It was almost nightfall by then when we got back. Day 1 was spent mostly on traveling to the island. Next day is a long day ahead of us, Island hopping!

I promise you that the sand is really white and powdery. 

Sunset...

Sunset hitting the beach...

Day 1: Manila - San Jose Mindoro: APO REEF
5:00 AM	NAIA 4, Check In
6:05 AM	ETD Manila
7:00 AM	ETA San Jose Mindoro
7:15 AM	Tricycle Airport to Filoil
8:00 AM	Bus San Jose to Sablayan
12:00 PM	Arrival at Sablayan Tourism Office
1:00 PM	Departure for Apo Reef
4:00 PM	Arrival at Apo Reef, register, set up Camp
6:00 PM	Departure for Lighthouse
6:40 PM	Arrival at campsite
7:00 PM	Dinner

Morning of our Day 2 was first spent on exploring the lagoon we saw yesterday. Mangrove trees surrounded the area. 

The way to the lagoon

Lagoon..too bad we couldn't stay longer

We spent less than an hour going to and exploring the lagoon and then going back to the beach. We encountered some "minor setbacks" that I would have loved to forget. If you're going to rent a boat, make sure the people in the boat that you are with don't have some psychological or egotistical issues. :) 

We left the island I guess around mid-morning to do some snorkeling and island hopping. 

Loner fish

Couples! 

Giant clams

Flowery-looking corals

Our last stop was Pandan Island. We checked-in late in the afternoon. The rooms were native and quite homey. I did some more swimming and some snorkeling...

Picture is not that clear but that is a Pawikan :)

Upper left you can somewhat discern a lion fish

Buffet dinner on the Pandan Island Resort was delish! Yeah, that's how I remembered it. Day 2 was very tiring and stressful because of some "minor inconveniences" but that didn't let it dampen my day. :)

Day 2: APO Reef
6:30 AM	Watch Sunrise/Breakfast
7:30 AM	Hike to lagoon
8:30 AM	Camp
9:00 AM	Snorkel, Dive
12:00 PM	Lunch
2:00 PM	Breakcamp
2:30 PM	Departure from Apo Reef
5:30 PM	Arrival at Pandan Island
	Check-in Pandan Island Resort

Third day was half day for chilling in Pandan Island and half day of travel to San Jose for next day's flight to Manila. 

Cloudy day then light showers :(

Pretty...

Last glimpse of the island's corals

Resident Parrot

It was about afternoon when we arrived in San Jose and checked-in to Sikatuna Beach Resort. It's also a short ride to San Jose airport. 

Sunset view from Sikatuna Beach Resort

Sunset view from Sikatuna Beach Resort

Desserts for the night!

Day 3: Pandan Island
6:00 AM	Breakfast
7:00 AM	Pandan Island, Sight Seeing
12:00 PM	Lunch
2:00 PM	Travel to Sablayan
2:30 PM	Tricycle to Bus Station
3:00 PM	Bus (Sablayan to San Jose)
6:00 PM	Tricycle to Accommodation
	Check in Accommodation
	Dinner

Day 4 is our last day and then back to work. :) 

Day 4: Manila Bound
5:45 AM	Check Out
6:30 AM	Check In Airport
7:40 AM	ETD San Jose Mindoro
8:30 AM	ETA Manila

Expenses: This is for a group of 6

Day 1	Per Group	Per Person
Tricycle from Airport to Bus Terminal (Another option to walk down main road to get standard tricycle about 10/person)		50
Bus/Van from San Jose to Sablayan		150
Boat to Apo Reef (two way)	8500	1416.67
Apo Reef entrance fee		225
Tent for three persons (2 tents)	600	100
Snorkel Set		150
Fins		100
Life vest (free of charge)
Apo Reef Guide (for 8 persons)	1000	166.67
food: 150/per meal * 3 = 450/person		450
-> lunch and dinner day 1, lunch day 2
Day 2:
Pandan Island Accommodation: 2 Budget Rooms @ 800/night	1600	266.67
Dinner buffet: Pandan Island Requirement for guests staying at least one night		470
Day 3:
Breakfast on Pandan Island		220
Lunch on Pandan Island		200
Transfer from Pandan Island to Sablayan	450	75
Tricycle to Sablayan Bus Terminal (30 for 3ppl)	60	10
Dimple Star bus to San Jose		150
San Jose terminal to hotel		15
Sikatuna Beach Hotel: 2 Twin Bed Rooms @ 1350/room and 2 extra beds @ 300/each	3300	550
Dinner		150
Day 4:
Transfer to airport: Free courtesy of resort
Approx Total:		5000

Lost in the mountains (2012)

One of my other Holy Week travels. Thank you for the holidays and long weekends. This time I got "lost" in the Mountain Province.

This is another one of the travel tours organized by Viajero. :) Their tours are affordable and it doesn't feel like a tour...more of one big barkada outing/adventure :)

Day 0:
We left on a night bus from Sampaloc, Manila bound for Banaue. We took the then operational Florida Bus. In fairness to their bus, sure it was kinda cramped but the air-con was just too cold...too cold. We mostly slept on the way and with some bathroom breaks along the way.

Day 1:
I think we left around 9:30 PM and arrived Banaue around 6:00 AM

We had breakfast and then hopped on a private jeep going to Batad. Batad is just one of the villages in the Mountain Province which have the rice terraces. Now this is where you'll see postcard worthy scenery of the famous Philippine Rice Terraces.

It's not easy to get here..no it's not. From the Saddle Point (drop off point of vehicles) it's about a 2 hour walk or 1.5 hour walk if you're fast going to the Tourism Office. From there I think it's another hour going down to the heart of the Rice Terraces. It's pretty scary to go down because there are rocks and if you fall I think you might break a few bones or you'll fall into one of the many rice paddies. Hell, even grandmothers are laughing at us city kids as going up and down the Rice Terraces is like going up and down a regular staircase.

And after the walking/hiking/stair climbing/workout we've reached the house :)

Inside the house, bf by the window...so dark!

Day 1 was a lot of work, lots of walking/trekking/scary-moments-going-down and etc. But the view, when you see the actual view. It's all worth the pain :) Reality hit us that we would be going up the same way the next day. T_T The owners of the houses we stayed in cooked for us. We had traditional Tinola (Chicken soup) and man...the chicken was also traditional...very chewy. :) Also, had their rice wine...strong..not too bad..one way of falling asleep. :)

Day 2:
We woke up early since next spot for the Mountain Province tour was Sagada.

We arrived around mid-morning (I think) in Sagada. It was raining and combined with the climate....cold...T_T was just cold...

After settling our stuff in our hostel, weather became warmer and we were able to explore the park behind the main church, Echo Valley. Please see pictures below.

The trees of Echo Valley

More pine trees

Jagged stones

 It was around afternoon when we would be going to Sumaguing Cave for some caving/spelunking.

We took the shorter caving experience. Going down the cave was kinda scary because you have to watch where you are going, watch out for rocks or where you're stepping. I fell on my arm...so you really need to be careful and listen to your guide. :)

Entrance to Sumaguing Cave

Our guide showing me where to step

Quick picture!

Squeezing my way into the nook and crannies of the cave

After spelunking, we headed back to our hostel to wash up and then walked around Sagada for our dinner. :) We ate at this Igorot Hotel/Hostel where they served up buffet that costs less than P200. Sweet!!! End of Day 2.

Day 3:
I think we were supposed to go to the falls but we were just too tired from the spelunking the day before. Whole body hurts. :( So in the morning, we went walking around Sagada, bought some pasalubong and then we were off to Bontoc for the festival :)

Bontoc Festival

Stop over at Banaue Rice Terraces

My background is the Rice Terraces background that can be found on the 1000 Peso Bill

It was night time that we left for Manila via Bus. We arrived around 6AM in Manila. Right now, there are private van tours and other group tours that offer Sagada-Batad trips. No need to ride the bus and no need to wait. Van tours may be cramped but at least you can go with your friends and no constraints for following bus schedules and renting out jeeps.

(2014) My Mindanao Birthday Week Adventure! Day 5

Day 5 and we're now in CDO. But this time, we're going to the neighboring city of Iligan. We started early but not too early, probably around 7AM. We hired a van to take us around Iligan, the City of Majestic Waterfalls.

Our first stop was Tinago Falls which is an hour drive from CDO. From the drop off point, I think it was around 20 minutes to go down to reach the falls itself, a steep thousand steps down and then another agonizing thousand steps up. Tinago Falls in the Tagalog dialect means "hidden", hence, the name. But, it was far from hidden from locals and foreign tourists alike.

It was a beautiful morning. We could hear the strong rush of the falls as we approached it, and could feel the spray of the waters coming down. Mind you, the water was extremely cold.

The picture above is of our "bangkero" pulling our raft towards the waterfalls. The water is said to be very deep to swim towards the falls. Together with the water coming down the falls, it would be difficult to swim to it. You can rent life vests in the area for safety.

I'm standing on the face of the wall, but that's not the Tinago Falls (it's the one pictured on the rightmost part). Quite scary and if you're not careful enough you could fall down and scratch yourself big time going to the edge to where I'm standing. From the picture it doesn't seem that high but really, it is. More than 10-feet drop to the water. Of course I had to jump and so I did. And that was one of the best parts of my day. The other one was jumping from another face of a wall. A good 10-minute of scaling up the rock wall and then jumping more than 20-feet down to the cold water.

By mid-morning we headed to Mimbalut Falls. I forgot what the name means. It's a 20-minute drive from Tinago Falls. We didn't get a chance to swim there or scale the falls.

Amazing to look at isn't it? You can stay all day if you like and just listen to the rushing waters. The place has a calming effect and another perk that day was that there wasn't much people either.

Here is a picture of me below the falls, but not directly underneath it. Whenever you're there, be careful when taking pictures especially the one I took above. The rocks are very sharp and possibly you'll get your bones broken if you do fall badly. (Sorry for the morbidity!) We didn't stay long enough, probably less than an hour. It was almost lunchtime then.


Before going inside the Macapagal Manasion, paternal ancestral house of former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, we had our lunch at a nearby restaurant. There were rows of restaurants in front of the said ancestral house, serving up delicious grilled meat and seafood.

Yummy!!!!

Front gate

Two former presidents
Left: Former US Pres. Bill Clinton
Right: Former Phil. Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Dollhouse for Gloria

Swingset from a tree

Our last stop for the day was the Maria Cristina Falls. It powers the Agus VI Hydroelectric Plant, providing most of the energy in Iligan. The falls is more than 300 feet in height. I have only read about Maria Cristina in history books when I was in grade school. But now, I can finally see it for myself. :)

This is the inside of the power plant from where we can see

Green and renewable source for energy in the Iligan City. Nature is indeed powerful and we should harness that power to provide energy to the people. The importance of this is that it is clean, eco-friendly. If only we can harness renewable sources of energy in the entire country.

It was afternoon and it was time to go. It started to drizzle a little bit. Before going back to CDO, we had a short stop at some pasalubong center to buy peanuts and other sweets. :) The van drove us back to our hotel for our drop-off point. We dropped our things and had a shower before heading out for dinner at Lokal. 

Black and Garlic Rice

Sizzling Bulalo

Kinilaw

Grilled Fish

We also went to Centrio Mall, I think that was the name of the Ayala-owned mall. 

11/16/2014	Day 5: CDO - Iligan
	6:00 AM	Wake-up
	7:00 AM	Pick up from Hotel
	8:00 AM	ETA Iligan City
		Tinago Falls
		Mimbalut Falls
		Lunch near Macapagal Mansion
		Maria Cristina Falls
		Dinner in Lokal

Expense	Price for whole group	Price per person
Van Rental	3500	875
Food		400
Pasalubong		500

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the contact for our van rental. But, the range for the rental is from 3500-4000 and that's for the whole day including entrances. Anyway, it was still an exhausting day but it was a perfect choice to rent a van instead of going through the hassle of commuting. Based from the roads that we took and have seen, better to get a van. Trust me. I really had a fun time gazing up falls and jumping into waters, yes I know, adventurous indeed. So there you have it, day 5 of my Mindanao Adventure. Next post will be on the famous water rafting activity that CDO is renowned for.