Birthday trip day 4: Camiguin tour

I woke up after about only 4 hours of sleep. I’m so excited to meet my family in Balingoan. I had breakfast with my pretty hostess, Dianne. She’s my roommate, classmate, groupmate, and friend from high school. Of course, a sleepover isn’t enough to catch up with each other’s lives.

She instructed me to take a tricycle and then a jeepney to Agorra terminal, where I can find a van that will take me to Balingoan port. Luckily, when I arrived at Agorra, I immediately spotted the van. It wasn’t full yet but after about 5 minutes, we were off to Balingoan.

However there was a loooong and slow caravan that was campaigning for some politicians that blocked our way. 😦 So the supposedly 1 hour trip from Cagayan de Oro to Balingoan became 3 hours! My family arrived at Balingoan port sooner than me. 😦 But it’s okay, we were reunited at Balingoan port at last!

Fare (van) CDO to Balingoan port: 120
Ferry to Camiguin: 170 (plus environment fee: 5 + terminal fee: 25)

We had a quick lunch before we got on the ferry. It was a bit cloudy and the waves were a little scary but overall, it was a fine day. Yey!!! We were finally on our way to Camiguin Island! The ferry trip took us 2 hours.

Upon arriving at Camiguin port, we rode another van to Mambajao, which was about 15 minutes. And then a tricycle took us to Pabua’s Cottage.

Van to Mambajao: 30 pesos
Tricycle: 20 pesos

Finally, we checked in at Pabua’s cottage, which costs 1,200 for an overnight stay. It was pretty comfortable, air-conditioned with 3 twin sized beds, a bathroom, cable TV, and Wifi connection. Hmm.. Value for my money! 🙂

I allowed my family to take some rest because they came from a gruelling 10 hour trip from Mangagoy. At around 4pm, we rented a multicab for 1,000. It took us to the Walkway, Sunken Cemetery, Old Church Ruins, and Ardent Hot Spring.

Oh, by the way, Ardent Hot Spring had an entrance fee of 30 pesos each and table rental of 70 pesos. Pretty affordable and tourist-friendly. 😉

After which we had a sumptuous (advanced birthday) dinner at a restaurant. The bulalo and lechon manok were really, really yummy! It’s one of the tastiest lechon manoks I’ve ever tasted. Yum!

We went back to Pabua’s Cottage after dinner and got reconnected with the rest of the world through Wifi connection. If you wanna visit Camiguin and you are on a tight budget, I highly recommend Pabua’s Cottage. 🙂 Happy trip!