Siquijor and Camiguin

Our last stops.. These two islands are a bit smaller and less touristy, our cup of tea. Siquijor is believed to be enchanted with black magic and that there is voodoo going on. Locals say it's full of witches that make poisons. People here are quite superstitious so many don't dare to visit. But that won't stop us. The only magic we'll see is the wonders of nature. Wink wink.

We stayed three nights on Siquijor, so two full days. One day we dived, of course, and the other day we rented a motorcycle and discovered the island. We dived near Apo Island, famous for its turtles. Woop woop never enough turtles! We've seen so many by now, but they never get boring. We were the only divers on our boat, the others went snorkeling. With our dive master we went down and for me this was the first experience of diving with a strong current. Going against it is very tiring since you actually have to do something. You've got fins for more power and it helps, but still it's exhausting to keep yourself low (for less current) without touching anything while breathing heavier because of the workout. More breathing is more air in the body is going up. This is a whole different kind of dive and you'll see different sorts of fishes. We saw for example two big schools of Jacks. However the fun part with current is when you go in the same direction, meaning no swimming at all. Everything passes by like a movie and when you look up at your buddy and dive master you'll see we stay at the exact same distances from each other floating in the same speed while the surroundings move. That's what they call 'go with the flow'.

The other dives where less difficult. Luckily, because since my sicknesses I have a fitness level of a baked potato. The corals were protected though damaged here and there from before. Most corals here are like that. But it was lively and colourful so I went searching for nudibranches! Pawel and I both really enjoyed diving here. I try to make nice pictures underwater with the GoPro, but it's difficult to keep the camera steady so most are not sharp. At the end we stopped taking pictures and started to make only videos. Pity that this blog only has limited space for videos so I'll pick the nicest to put online.

At the dive shop, which was also our resort, we met a couple. The guy was Egyptian, the girl German. She was an Instagirl. That means she or her instahusband/instaboyfriend takes pictures of all the highlights in the area with her on it to put on Instagram for the world to see. She wanted to visit all the famous spots on the island and they were going fast. On a motorcycle they went to all the waterfalls, lakes, beaches and cafes. Since they already went to most of it she could give us advice what to visit. And I must say, the places we went to really were like a fairytale.

On the motorcycle Pawel and I were on the way to a waterfall when we passed a road sign with another waterfall, Lagaan. We decided to check this one out too since we had so much time. We paid the parking fee and entrance and we walked through the jungle. That part was already very nice. But when we got to the waterfall.. wauw! The colour of the waters, the rocks, the bigger and smaller waterfalls, the trees, the light, the fact there were no tourists.. oh my goodness this is real! Shortly after two English men arrived that used the swing to jump in the water. Pawel didn't want to swim so he turned into the photographer while I used the rope too. Yihaa! I could've stayed here the whole day. But then a few more tourists came so after a while we left for the other waterfall, the most popular one on the island. You could tell from the parking: full of motorcycles and women shouting "water ma'aaam?". The waterfall itself consisted of multiple lakes in different levels, so waterfall, lake, waterfall, lake, waterfall, lake and so on. To get that on a picture you'll need a drone. But it was really pretty. The colour of the water together with the nature surrounding it was magical. Just the many people, mostly locals, made it less of a dream. It was so touristy that there were little open houses for families to picnic. Also you paid for the swings per go, so the swingguys were showing off trying to sell their swing. It was so busy, we didn't even swim. But that was alright, Lagaan falls is in our memory forever.

The end of October is special to us, because that's when we started dating and falling in love. So as a special surprise I wanted to take Pawel to a romantic place preferably with an inhabited island (onbewoond eeeiland). So I planned the trip to Camiguin. He didn't know anything except when. To get to Camiguin we needed to go back to Bohol, cross the island to the other port and get a ferry there. This wasn't possible in one day, so we stayed one night on Bohol again close to the port of Jagna. And Pawel chose the accomodation as a surprise for me.

We arrived at Pawels hotel which was a beach resort with a view.. my god! And even better: we were the only ones in the whole resort. The swimming pool with beach view was totally ours and the private beach was for us! The view of our room was so beautiful.. we decided to wake up extra early to see the sunrise from the beach. Due to the clouds this wasn't really possible, but it was romantic anyhow. Pawel chose very well. It was a pity we stayed only one night.

We took the ferry (4 hours) to Camiguin and found a tricycle to bring us to my choice of accomodation. Pawel isn't really into luxury so with that in the back of my mind I chose an eco beach and dive resort. Not a private beach, but a private reef! Plus, this island consists of 14 volcanoes so I thought that a hike here would make him very happy. And indeed. Within an hour after arriving we had it all planned: first day diving around White Island, second day diving around Mantigue Island and the third day a hike between two volcanoes. Bam. And one resting day/renting a motorcycle and explore the island ourselves. Check out the pictures on the 31st of October when we'll be in Cebu City, the internet here sucks.

So, after Camiguin we'll have one night in Cebu City and on the 1st of November, Pawels birthday, we'll fly to Manila in the afternoon and back home via Istanbul in the evening. And that's the end of our trip together, but also for my gift to myself after all that has happened in the last one and a half years. I've been away for two and a half months and even though I've been sick twice, I look back at a wonderful trip. Travelling alone is still one of my best ways to travel. I got to know so many people, traveled to all the spots I want to see and chose all the things I wanted to do. I love the person I am when travelling alone, doing whatever I feel like. Thailand was luxurious, Cambodia was marvelous, Laos adventurous and Vietnam was gorgeous. I admit that a few times I wished I wasn't alone and I pictured myself in a soft sweater sitting on my couch with tea and truffelnoten, but I'm happy I did this and I'll look back at it as the trip where I learned to accept all of me and all that life throws at me. The good and the bad and the extreme.

So, ready to plan the next trip!