Deep blue Abyss

“Stop every now and then.  Just stop and enjoy.  Take a deep
breath.  Relax and take in the abundance of life.”

Here’s the link of the first segment of my 2009 Surigao Escapade : Tinuy-an Falls
Here’s the link of the second segment  of my 2009 Surigao Escapade : Hagonoy Island
Here’s the link of the third segment  of my 2009 Surigao Escapade: Hinayagan Cave

Here’s the continuation of the story about our 2009 Summer Escapade, we departed from Hinayagan cave at around 12:40 in the afternoon and proceeded to Cambatong, Hinatuan to dip into the clear blue waters of Enchanted River.

Blue body of water

1:45 in the afternoon when we arrived at Cambatong, Hinatuan and since we are all forgot to eat our lunch meal we took our lunch at one of the barbeque house in the area. Burp! Excuse me… ^_^

Mouth of the river

It was 2:20 in the afternoon when we  moved on  our way to the mysterious “Enchanted River”. We arrived after 2 a hours travel and it seemed like no river at all, why? It was just right on the side of the road… and I thought that it was just a swimming pool with clear blue waters… ^_^

Cave opening

All dipped into the water after wearing a floater, just to really feel relax and enjoy the place with less effort in swimming. (I can’t remember my lessons in swimming.. joke ^_^)

I really can’t explain more about the beauty of the place but all I can say is “Awesome! Beautiful, magnificent view and more words of praises.”

Heavy rain pours while we are still dipped in to the water, as much as we would like to stay longer in the area we can’t since we have another area to visit.

The place was beautifully astounding with rock formations on it’s side, with lush thick forest vegetation around the area. *sigh* If given the opportunity again to visit the place then I will.. hehe

Photo courtesy of  Elmer, Randy, Anne, Jem , Sarah and Jenny.

Deep earth

“Keep your sense of proportion by regularly, preferably daily,
visiting the natural world.” - Catlin Matthews

Here’s the link of the first segment of my 2009 Surigao Escapade : Tinuy-an Falls
Here’s the link of the second segment  of my 2009 Surigao Escapade : Hagonoy Island

Coming from Hagonoy Island, we arrived at Mangagoy at around 8:25 in the morning and we took our breakfast in the area. After our breakfast meal we proceeded to our destination and passed by Bislig City proper at around 10:05 in the morning  for our transportation to  have it’s share of oil to keep us going.

It was 10:30 in the morning that we arrived at Kapatagan 2, Barangay San Vicente area where the jump-off area going the cave was located.

Entering into the realm...

It only took 10 minutes walk from the road where we left the jeep up to the mouth of the cave.

Looking from inside

The entrance of the cave has a 15 meter wide radius with a creek water and a miniature falls. We are marveled by the beauty of the cave, it’s ceiling having a 10 meter diameter opening in the middle allowing light to pass through and allowing birds and other winged species to in and out of the cave.  All experiences of getting into the area would be worthwhile after seeing the depth of the earth. ^_^

shedding light hole

Hinayagan Cave was once called Suhoton Cave by the locals but renamed to what it is called now since there’s another cave bear the name Suhoton in the country. -I guess at Samar.. am i right?

Heads up!

Locals said that there’s an underground river in the cave to about 50 meters wide that leads to the entrance of the second cave but as we are limited on our time, we are just contented with the easier one.

Stalactites

I am hoping that locals will monitor the area for much further destruction of the cave. I saw some hand prints on the wall and some broken stalactites indicating it is not being taken cared of.

Ice cream looking

We departed at around 12:40 in the afternoon heading to our next destination which is Hinatuan’s  Enchanted River.

underworld

This is  the third segment of my post of my Surigao Summer Escapade.

Photo courtesy of  Elmer, Randy, Anne, Jem and Sarah.

I will be posting this tomorrow about Hinatuan’s Enchanted River… Sounds mysterious huh! heheh

Hagonoy island from afar

“The ocean . . . cold and wild the surf, rushing in to overwhelm the beach, the wind, stinging my cheeks, enveloping me  in total freedom”   – Scott Holman

Here’s the link of the first segment of my 2009 Surigao Escapade : Tinuy-an Falls

It was 1:30 in the afternoon when we departed from Tinuy-an Falls at Barangay Burbo-anan, Bislig City. Traveling 30 minutes passed before reaching city proper at Mangagoy, we saw a serene body of water – lake. As locals call it reservoir lake, and it is  located at Barangay Burbo-anan. It was a water reservoir for PICOP (Paper Industries Corporation  of the Philippines)

Serene water of the reservoir

Our next destination on that day was an island facing Pacific ocean and in the middle of Bislig bay Called Hagonoy Island.

Coming from Tinuy-an Falls it was 2:35 in the afternoon when we arrived at Mangagoy, Bislig City Proper and went to the city market to buy needed resources for our Island overnight at Hagonoy Island.

Showing eagerness

Hagonoy Island is a 30-45 minutes travel by boat from Market Side area of Mangagoy. It’s already 4:45  in the afternoon when we departed from Mangagoy Market side and arrived at the island at around 5:30 in the afternoon.

Powdery sand of the island shore

The sunshine sky is closing in to darkness as it is ready to pour rain on us. After we pitch all our tents on the powdery sand that a light rain pours.

Our overnight shelters

Rain stops after 20 minutes and started preparing our dinner and socials follow until lights off and lights on for a drinking session. Hehehe

Beach Hut

Day 2 May 31, 2009. Some of the group woke up  as early as 4:30 in the morning just to catch a glimpse of the spectacular Sunrise. Cameras and videos are busy to capture the moment.

Sun has risen

As the sky opened wide to start the day,I started to noticed that the water is a crystal blue at shores and  the island is isolated from the mainland of Surigao for about 3 Kilometers.

It only took 10-15 minutes to walk around the pear shaped island and it was just the size of  about 4 to 5 basketball court. Imagine… hehehe Only our group was on the island except for the 2 caretakers who managed the island beach resort.

All in the group was relaxed and mesmerized by the beauty of the island as you look your vision to the horizon of the pacific ocean as sky and sea somewhat connects. Imagine it again… hehehe

The group before leaving the island

After all the pose and click of the cameras, we started to fix our tent as our boat already arrived to bring us back to the main land. 7:35 in the morning as we departed from the island and all are excited to anticipate our next destination which is the Hinayagan Cave which was  located at Kapatagan 2, Barangay San Vicente Bislig, Surigao del Sur.

Photo courtesy of  Elmer, Randy, Anne and Arthur

Thanks for sharing your captured moments.

This is  the second part of my overall 2009 Final Summer escapade at Surigao del Sur.

The mesmerizing Tinuy-an Falls

“A man’s moral worth is not measured by what his religious beliefs are but rather by what emotional impulses he has received from Nature during his lifetime.” – Albert Einstein

It was a perfect midnight in May 30, 2009 as our group decided to meet outside parking area of Victoria Plaza near Mc Donald’s, Bajada. The group composed of individuals with different personalities but with the same goal – Go nature tripping!

As what the group decided to visit was Surigao del Sur, it was a month long preparation to gather information and contacts especially the transportation that would bring us to our destination. Individuals contributed their time as to what ,when who and where just to have this “ Final  2009 Summer Escapade” to be smooth and be realized.

The group

All are excited and prepared as we departed from Victoria Plaza at Bajada area 12:30 in the morning. Our driver named Allan was energized to bring us to our prospected destination.

2:30 in the morning and we made our stop-over at New Sibunga, Nabunturan for Early morning coffee break and eat something until we arrive at our destination.

The group decided to take a long travel going to San Francisco, Agusan del Sur via Barobo instead of Directly going to Bislig City to avoid lesser rough conditions of the road. Imagine our travel to go full circle up to the northern part of the Surigao del Sur. Still worth it. ^_^

5:10 in the morning and we made stop at San Francisco, Agusan del Sur were we bought hot “Pandesal”  and then proceeded to 4^th class Municipality of Barobo en-route Bislig City possibly avoid rough roads.

Indeed a rough road ahead

It was 7:30 in the morning when we got stuck on the road for some off-road action near Barobo due to some Log hauling trucks are having a hard time passing through the merciless  road. Our transportation “Lawin by Sarao Motors” did not failed us, it bravely surpassed all the rough it gets along the way.

Subida Outdoor shop - Mangagoy, Surigao Del Sur

We arrived at 3^rd class Bislig City in the province of Surigao del Sur at around 8:30 in the morning and proceeded to Barangay Mangagoy touted as its center of trade of the city. We took our breakfast at one the eateries in the area and at the same time took a rest from travel. We parked the Jeep at Subida Outdoor shop just infront of G-Mar Commercial Supermarket.

For others to know about Bislig City, it is home of the now defunct company “PICOP resources, Incorporated which happened to be the largest paper mills in the country, and formerly the largest paper mill in Asia. No wonder I saw more cut trees of  Falcata along the road and obviously the log haulers we encountered at our travel.  PICOP permanent shutdown was mid- 2008.

Going back to my story, we departed Barangay Mangagoy at around 9:40 in the morning on our way to Barangay Burbo-anan, Bislig City  where Tinuy-an Falls is situated.

Magnificent view of Tinuy-an Falls

It has a 6 Kilometer stretch of almost uphill road going to the area. For the record, Tinuy-an falls is named as “The Niagara Falls of the Philippines” due to its 55 meter (180 Feet) high with 3 tiered levels flow of curtain looking white water with 95 meters width.  It’s rock formations are natural. Deep breath.. ^_^

White Crystal curtain flow of water

We Arrived at around 10:30 in the morning at the Tinuy-an Falls and from there on, all cameras and videos are up as all are glancing to take pictures of the magnificent falls. Water is cold and the mist of the gushing water from above embraced us as a reward to our tired bodies due to traveling. Entrance fee to the area is 10 pesos and they offer cottages for rent as well as tables. We took our lunch at the side of the falls on the slabs of big logs and flat rocks.

Lunch time at Tinuy-an Falls

The sides of the falls are still covered with ferns and vines as well a giant trees around the area. I can say it is still called rainforest due to it’s lush greens and thick canopies of leaves in the area. Going up to the upper cascade level of the falls is a metal stairway that makes the tourist comfortable as they get to the second level of the falls.

Second tier level of tinuy-an Falls

Photo courtesy of Sarah, Elmer, Randy and Anne

Thanks for sharing your captured moments.

This is just the first part of my overall 2009 Final Summer escapade at Surigao del Sur.