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Exploring Camiguin (Day 2): White Island

Posted on March 17, 2012 by agitopassim

We left the cottage at 5:30am and head off for White Island. We rented a boat (which was part of the voucher we purchased) and after 30 minutes, we’re at the White Island. It’s a sand bar with very fine white sand. We stayed there for 3 hours just marvelling at the scenery. I think the best times to go there are at sunrise and sunset. But you have to watch out for the high tide coz there’ll only be a few left of the sand bar when high tide comes. I think that’s the reason why nothing permanent has been placed there.

While checking out the entire “island”, we came across a local who’s diving for sea urchins. He said we could eat the sea urchins. Later, we tasted his catch soaked in vinegar. It tasted like crab paste (“aligue”). Some say it’s an aphrodisiac.

As the sun went up some umbrellas were being set up by locals to protect us from the heat of the sun.

Of all the tourist spots in Camiguin, this one is a must-see. Let the pictures tell you why.

: sunrise at White Island

: sunrise at White Island

: nature at its best

: fine white sand

: fine white sand

: White Island from afar

: that’s me and my bf on the other side of the island

: marine life in White Island

: marine life in White Island

: THE sea urchin!

: you eat the orange part

: Php50 for 3pcs ^_^

: would love to come back here

For my other Camiguin entries:

Exploring Camiguin (Day 1)

Exploring Camiguin (Day 2): Tourist Spots

Exploring Camiguin (Day 3): Mantigue Island

Exploring Camiguin: Itinerary, Expenses, and Contacts

Categories: Camiguin | Tags: beach, cagayan de oro, camiguin, cdo, swim, white beach, white island, white sand | 1 Comment

Exploring Camiguin (Day 1)

Posted on March 4, 2012 by agitopassim

I’ve always wanted to go to Camiguin so together with my sisters and my boyfriend, we grabbed a voucher from Ensogo and a seat sale from Airphil Express to put this plan into action. Our voucher included the following:

3D/2N standard room accommodation with daily set breakfast for 2 at Sabacajan Beach Resort Beach Front.
Round trip port transfers (Binuni Port at Camiguin) and vice versa
Complimentary entrance passes to Arden Spring, Sunken Cemetery and White Island with boat transfer.

I did some research while waiting for the day of our trip. I read several blogs, took note of their routes, itineraries, expenses, and other tips when they got to Camiguin. I also scoured through forum/threads for more info about Camiguin. Just wanted to be really prepared before doing anything.

So on the day of our trip, our flight was at 7:55am, we were up really early in the morning. To no surprise, our flight was delayed by an hour. I planned some activities for our Day1 but I also had a back up plan in case something like that happens. My backup plan was to do the the day tour around Camiguin in 1 day. So I wasn’t really frustrated or anything when we didn’t get to do anything on our Day1. I read in the forum that you could actually do the whole tour in one day so I was complacent even if our flight was delayed.

I also read that we would have to travel for almost 2 hours from Cagayn de Oro (CDO) to Balingoan Port and ride a ferry for 2 hours to Benoni Port in Camiguin. I planned to commute our way from CDO to Balingoan (taxi-bus) but when we got there a taxi driver told us he could take us directly to Balingoan. We were already inside his taxi and he was already driving when he said it’ll cost us Php2500! I wanted to get out of the taxi but I guess the delay in flight made me tired of waiting. It would have cost us Php275 if we took the taxi-bus route. In the end, we agreed at Php500/person for the taxi ride from CDO to Balingoan port. The bright side is, even though it cost us, we didn’t have to transfer from one transportation to another or ask around where we could get a ride. We just had to sit there and wait to be brought to Balingoan port. Kuya Rey (taxi driver) was kind enough to give us info about CDO and Camiguin and even offered us his services to tour around Camiguin but we had to decline since the package that we got include the tour. We, however, asked for his service when we get back from Camiguin to drive us back to the airport.

Here’s the timeline of our trip to Camiguin via Cagayan de Oro(CDO):

9:00am left Manila

10:15am arrived at CDO (Lumbia Airport); hired a taxi to Balingoan Port

12:50pm arrived at Balingoan Port;booked a ferry to Benoni Port

1:45pm ferry leaves from Balingoan to Benoni Port

3:15pm arrived at Benoni Port

4:30pm arrived at Sabacajan Cottages

Since we can’t go on any tour as tourist spots close at 5pm, we had an early dinner and prepared for a full day ahead of us.