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.