Siquijor Island 2/2/13 - 2/4/13

Siquijor is another island of the Visayas region that was only about an hour ferry ride from Dumaguete, so we had an easy travel day in getting there.  As always, we never know what to expect as we move on to the next place except for some brief generalizations such as Siquijor being known as the "Mystique Island" due to its healers that live there using a variety of herbs, oils, and chants to heal the wounds of the soul and body.  Well, we didn't have time for such non-sense, but we were curious to explore the remote island.

The first few places we checked out to stay were fully booked, so where we ended up was in a good location but not our first choice, and there seemed to be nowhere close that offered food (even despite the signs proclaiming to be a resort with a fully functioning restaurant).  Fortunately, our feet worked and there was a bar/restaurant about 20 minutes away.  It worked out for us that it was the only place to eat because we got to watch UFC 156 and also a replay of part of the Superbowl.

After we waited out some rain while watching UFC at the bar, we eventually rented a motor-scooter to get out and see the island.  Our first attraction and main event of the day was to check out the Cambugahay Falls.  Once again, we had no map and only a general sense of direction to get us where we needed to go; and once again the locals were close by to keep us headed in the right direction.  The falls didn't have an impressive drop or anything like that, but they're popular because it's a multi-tiered waterfall with fresh and clean water coming from natural springs.  Not to mention a few of the tiers have lagoons/ pools deep enough to swim in, and thus jumping from the falls is common.

After playing around at the falls for a bit, there were some local boys that decided to put on an aerial show for us:  dives, jumps, spins, and the special jump off the tree that Matt deemed as the "flying squirrel".  They were lots of fun and so good at putting on a show.  

Not only was the scooter great for enabling us to see different parts of the island, it was also very useful in taking us to town and back and saved our legs.  So before we headed out on our adventure the next day, we made sure to fill her up with more gas.  Of course, there are no traditional gas stations around on this small island, but instead are stands that sell gasoline in Coca-cola bottles.

Green coke?

Why did the chicken cross the road?.........To get to the other side of course ;-).

We had the scooter for 24 hours, so the next morning we wanted to make sure and get to Cantabon Cave, have time to explore, and return back to town with plenty of time.  It was no surprise that we had to once again rely on our inner GPS and friendly locals.  Once we made it to the cave, we were both pleasantly surprised at what a great experience it was.  Another semi-DIY adventure that we had to search out to get to and cost beans to do (always seem to be the most memorable)!  The two of us went into the cave with our two local guides, Jo and Grace, who were very friendly and knowledgeable about the cave.  They took us 45 minutes into the cave and then 45 minutes back out.  The cave is 30 meters long and 10 meters wide at the widest point.  There was an undisturbed body of water (including waterfalls and pools to swim in at times) running through it that we followed throughout our trek.  We had done some caving in Colombia, but this cave was even more impressive.

This formation was named the "King's Bed" and the guides really wanted us  to take a sleeping picture.

So skinny these days

Our guides:  Jo and Grace

To finish out the day and our time on Siquijor we went snorkeling out behind our resort (called a resort, but not exactly what you may expect, it was simple and cheap).  It wasn't the best snorkeling ever, but it was free.  And we saw a sea snake again, which we were able to get a picture of this time.  The sea snake is highly venomous, it's venom is more toxic than the venom of land snakes; however, sea snakes are shy and avoid contact with people and supposedly they have short fangs incapable of causing much damage.  We kept our distance though and didn't test this theory.

Jellyfish looks big here, but the photo was taken while zoomed in quite a bit.

We would not have minded staying on Siquijor island for a few more days since it was so quiet and beautiful, but as always, we had to keep moving.  The internet on the island was hard to come by, not to mention unreliable thanks to daily power outages for hours at a time.  Therefore, we took a ferry back to Dumaguete the next day to use the internet and make our next game plan.

Dumaguete and Apo Island 1/27/13 - 2/2/13

Our stay in and around Dumaguete was much longer than we initially planned, but there was plenty to keep us busy.  After a day of travel from Sipalay with our new Minnesota friend, Evan, we were able to kick back in our own "family" room with A/C, TV, wi-fi (actually fast and worthwhile), and recharge our batteries (literally and figuratively).

After a morning of rest the next day, the three of us set out to find the waterfall outside of town.  We didn't know much about it or what to expect, we just knew we had to find motorbikes to rent and head out of town.  So for $4 we set off on our motorbike towards Casaroro Falls.  We thought we were on the right path; however, we slowly figured out that we were not.  No problem, Filipinos are extremely friendly and helpful and after a few minor, yet scenic detours, we found our way to the waterfall.

Once we walked down 300+ steps, a whole new adventure began due to the destruction caused by super typhoon Pablo that hit a couple of months back in December 2012.  Where there once was a bridge, walkway, and gazebo, there was now nothing more than concrete blocks as obstacles.  We had fun climbing over boulders and through the stream trying to find our way to the falls.  We could hear the powerful water crashing down, we just had to find how to get to it.  Once we could finally see the 100 ft fall, it was more than worth it.  We especially enjoyed this adventure because it was a DIY activity starting with a beautiful motorbike ride up the mountain, climbing up and over rocks to get there, and admiring the wonder of the fall in a tranquil setting.

Hmmm.....there used to be a bridge here. What do we do now?

Evan made the jump across.

The place we stayed in Dumaguete, Harold's Mansion, was a good place (including a nice rooftop terrace), and provided plenty of day trips for diving and/or snorkeling out to various nearby islands.  The place we were most interested in was Apo Island to dive and try and snorkel with sea turtles!  

The wolf-pack before our dive.

We were able to have the dive boat drop us off at the island so that we could explore and stay the night.

It rained all night and most of the morning, so as soon as there was a break in the rain before lunch, Kristin said it was time and we grabbed our snorkels and masks to go in search of turtles.  We saw other snorkelers and they informed us the turtles were right near the shore feeding on all the coral.  We jumped in, camera in hand, and were taken aback by the sea turtles!  They were huge and it was incredible to watch them feed and swim around.  Kristin had been looking forward to Apo Island for months, because she had heard from fellow travelers about the chance to swim with turtles.  She was in heaven!  Matt had swam with turtles before, so although he still enjoyed it, Kristin was twice as giddy as him!

After our day on Apo, there was another dive boat from Harold's that picked us up to take us back to Dumaguete.  Fortunately, it was the bigger of the boats because the ride back was quite rough thanks to bad weather.

After more downtime (internet usage) the next day, we nor Evan left the room except for food, we signed up for the "whale shark" tour.  This part of the day was kind of a disappointment, because the visibility was very low and the environment for swimming with them was not ideal.   

This is all we could see underwater.

Luckily, Evan got a much clearer picture of the whale shark .

However, at the next two boat stops there was amazing snorkeling off Sumilon Island.  The visibility was great, and there was plenty of colorful coral and lots of interesting fish to see!  The snorkeling was our favorite part of the day.

Playing in the divers' bubbles.

After a great trip out at sea, we hung out with some new made friends that evening and enjoyed a typical Filipino night out karaokeing!  It was quite the experience as we had about 15 people in a private VIP karaoke room singing at the top of our lungs.  Filipinos LOVE karaoke, it's everywhere.  Sadly, the next day we had to part ways with Evan as he headed out to Cebu and we headed out to Siquijor.