Discovering Camotes

 

Text and Photos by Jeneen R. Garcia

(everything's kinda crammed, but i tried to cover the whole experience in as little space as possible)

 

If you think you’ve seen all that Cebu has to offer, look further. About four hours northeast of Cebu City is this province’s most unexplored piece of paradise: the Camotes Group of Islands.

 

Camotes, with its green hills and rocky cliffs, is clothed with an air of serenity even from a distance. A land bridge hidden by mangroves connects its two biggest islands, Poro and Pacijan. The 158-year old church in Poro, standing amidst a neighborhood of century-old houses, is testimony that these islands have somehow preserved their tranquility despite pressure from the rest of the world to move faster, live louder, build bigger. At the port, the water is so clear that the bottom is visible even by moonlight. But it is in Pacijan Island, in the town of San Francisco, that nature speaks clearest.

 

The night winds blew fierce as I and some writer friends left for Camotes. Yet the whole trip from Pier 2 in Cebu City to Poro, the sea was what the locals call “linaw pa sa lana”, or “smoother than oil”. A van from Santiago Bay Garden and Resort picked us up and brought us to the resort in San Francisco overlooking a large cove. From one of the resort’s huts on the cliff, I could see a vast white desert from which the sea had receded, the full moon high in the sky painting it silver.

 

The next morning, the water had gone up to the very edge of the beach, even filling a small pool formed by the rocks below the huts. The clear water stretched out into the horizon. Because the sandy bottom made the place perfect for swimming, we couldn’t resist soaking in the sea before leaving for our next destination: Mangudlong Rock Resort.

 

While Santiago Bay greeted the sun as it rose, Mangudlong was on the other side of the island, facing west. When we got there, the waves were converging from all directions, the white surf a perfect contrast to the sea’s stunning blue. Across the resort was an islet dotted with huts, accessible by swimming or by bamboo raft. This was where we had a delicious lunch of seafood, fresh from the nets of fishermen in the village. A little more swimming--and a quick attempt to look for giant clams planted in the area--and we were off again, this time to the famous Lake Danao.

 

Along the rolling, shaded roads on the way to the lake, we spotted families making amakan walls out of bamboo, and weaving sturdy mats, hats and bags out of dried soli-soli. Soli-soli, I learned, is a long, fleshy grass that grows only along the banks of Lake Danao. The locals traditionally use a very long loom to weave rolls and rolls of mats that can be used not only for sleeping on, but also for decorating walls.

 

Our first stop was Green Lake Park. Wooden benches on a grassy area by the lake made it perfect for picnics, or even just for daydreaming. Fascinating wooden sculptures of crocodiles and other reptiles reminded us of the creatures that inhabited the lake before they were hunted to extinction. The Park also had a small tilapia pond, where fish could be bought fresh or, as a unique delicacy, dried.

 

Afterward, we drove to a dock where a white paddleboat picked us up to take us to Kanlingiw Islet. Kanlingiw was a round, grassy piece of land, just large enough for about five people camping out, and the few coconut trees and rabbits that had been brought there to live. Even with the wind and rain, the lake was mirror-like that day, reflecting the clouds and the mountains in the distance. Driftwood lined the islet, remnants of the old forest that was now at the bottom of the lake. As the sun turned golden and a light rain continued to fall, a rainbow stretched out across the lake, blessing the stillness.

 

But even in this place where time stopped, we had to rush back to Mangudlong to catch the sunset. The beach had become a new landscape. The tide had gotten so low that the islet’s rocky foundation was left bare. Back at Santiago Bay that night, the sea had also receded. I walked across this desert under the moonlight to the farthest tip of the cove, breathless from all the beauty I had experienced that day.

 

The morning after, since there was no boat for Cebu City, we took a pumpboat from San Francisco to Danao City in mainland Cebu. It was about an hour-long trip, but even in my tiredness, the sight of dolphins and swordfish, backs glinting in the sun, kept me awake. Soon enough, the trip was over, but my discovery of Camotes had just begun.

 

 

Room rates at Santiago Bay and Mangudlong range from P500 to P2500. For reservations and inquiries, contact (6332) 2357882 or 345-8599 or email josecostas@yahoo.com