CDO : Day 2

we woke up around 430am since we asked to be picked up around 5am for the canopy walk. we said goodbye and thank you to tita jing and tito francis as we boarded the van. gerome (our trip coordinator) introduced us to meg & edwin who were going to be our canopy walk guides. meg said the drive to the drop off point was about an hour and thirty minutes so we asked to stop over some restaurant for breakfast. fortunately, there was a 24-hour jollibee opened and we managed to snag some breakfast for the adventure ahead. the trip did take a while with jona, van and allan drifting on and off sleep along the way. the view along the trip was very nice shifting between farm rows and rural landscapes. it was fascinating to see that even in somewhat remote regions, there were schools and chapels. it was nice to see the kids marching to go to school. during the drive, meg showed us a collection of pictures of people & celebrities who went to cagayan to do outdoor activities - there was charlene gonzales, marc nelson and dennis trillo among others.

we reached the drop off point around 730am and meg handed us some rattan sticks for the trek. the trek going uphill was tiring, it told us how out of shape we were. we were gasping for breath halfway and couldn't wait to finish the trek to the first deck. we attached the harnesses and took some pictures while meg & edwin prepped the zip line for our descent to the 2nd deck. the slide through the zip line was controlled (mostly for safety reasons) since there was a tree around 3/4 the end of the line. we all managed to zip through it unscathed, even allan managing to conquer his fear of heights. the second deck was about 1,450 meters high so looking down to the bottom can make your legs a bit wobbly. if trixy was there and i teased her about her fear of heights, i am dead sure i was going to get some good slapping. the next route were makeshift walkways of steel and rope - walking on these wobbly steps were a bit disorienting first. it wasn't the first walkway that was scary but the 2nd or 3rd one which was actually the longest walk. the view was spectacular - overlooking the mountains as you maneuver the steps. it was actually kind of hard to concentrate on walking seeing how high we were and how wobbly the steps were - it took some effort. fortunately, while i can get goosebumps being at high places, i never really feared it that much so doing the canopy walk thing gave an adrenaline rush.

we went through 2 or 3 more decks using just those makeshift walkways ocassionally stopping to take pictures as each of us braved moving from one deck to the next. the trip back through the same walkways was easier for all of us and we managed to do this faster. it was the trek back that was still tiring even though it was mostly downhill. it was on this downhill trek while doing a comedic rendition of "how do i live" that i slipped and scraped my arms (insert painful laughter here!). damn, that was embarassing! when we reached the van and during a short stopover, i managed to change to some clean clothes. the van was bringing us to the balingoan port so we can take the ferry to camiguin. randy (our driver) told us the trip to the port to be around two hours. we were kinda beat after the canopy walk that we all had some shuteye during the ride, ocassionally just waking up to check our music players and cell phones.

we got to the port sometime around 3pm with the ferry scheduled to leave around 4pm. we took some so-so lunch before we boarded the ferry. it was a huge barge, the kind that can transport cars & trucks from island to island. we were actually blessed with good weather since yesterday and today was no different - cloudy with a hint of sunshine. the ferry trip was uneventful where we took some more pictures of the port, of the islands and of camiguin as the ferry drew closer to it. camiguin was breathtaking from afar, all green with lush trees and big mountains (which turns out to be volcanoes). cris (our camiguin transport) was there on the port already to greet us and he led us to his blue multi-cab. we also took some pictures during the ride to where we will be staying. it was a good 45 min ride to pabua's cottages (which was just in front of paras beach resort) where manang ima greeted us and led us to our cottage when we got there. the cottage was very spacious and clean and could accommodate between 4-6 people. the bathroom was clean, there was airconditioning and cable television. since it was off-season, we were paying only 1,000 pesos a night for the room (it doubles during the peak season which was summer and october during the fiesta).

we had dinner at paras beach resort and ordered kinilaw na tanigue, crispy pata, sinigang na baboy and pinakbet. we really were craving for a good dinner after our so-so lunch. it was good that we were done with dinner when it started to rain hard with very strong winds that actually knocked some of the silverware from the other tables. to make things worse, power went out and it was pitched black. we ran through the dark blindly to get back to our cottage and since there was nothing else to do, we decided to get wet and play in the rain. it was a first for jona to shower in the rain and we had fun playing in the rain even if it was only lamp posts giving up some light (from the generator of paras beach resort). we were shivering from the cold when we decided to go back to our cottage. we took our baths, watched some television, reviewed our pictures, laughed out some and finally managed to doze off for an early start tomorrow.

more pictures for cdo : day 2, click here : canopy walk

for canopy walk reservations (dome expedition tours):
gerome garcia +63919-4043930
a_detour97@yahoo.com
P6,300 for four people
additional P800 for van to bring us to balingoan port

pabua's cottages, camiguin
emma pabua +63918-5865441/(088)3879033

camiguin transportation/tour
cris +63921-5637788
P2,100 camiguin tour + pick-up from port + drive to port