Island Hopping the Philippines
Howdy peeps. After some consideration, I decided to buy a plane ticket and do my first international backpacking trip. In January of 2020, I left for the Philippines. I had a long grocery list of things I wanted to do with my time there, and I couldn’t wait to get started.
I flew from Denver to Seattle to Taipei to Manila to Cebu City. It was quite a long journey, and I definitely had some stories to tell after those plane rides. Once I got to Manila, I met up with my friend PJ, who lives in the Philippines, and we traveled together from then on out. Upon arriving in Cebu City, we took a cab all the way to Moalboal, which is where the real adventure began.
Our first full day was spent at White Beach, where we encountered warm water, hot sand, and cold cokes (but no sunscreen, sadly). We swam around for a good few hours, and hung out on some tables for some shade.
Crystal clear waters of White Beach.
That evening we ate dinner at this restaurant called the Chili Bar, and I explored around the beach near my hostel. The shoreline had a ton of tide pools at low tide, and there were plenty of sea animals to look at. There were some royal blue starfish and lots of hermit crabs to see.
Sun’s out buns out, am I right?
Sunsets and tide pools.
The next day, I convinced PJ to do a canyoneering trip with me, despite his slight fear of heights. We went with Cyan Adventures, and they took care of our entire day trip. We went to the shop in the morning, and they fitted us with helmets, wet suits, water shoes, and life vests. We then hopped onto the van, and rode to the trailhead. A couple of kind strangers helped me out with some sunscreen, so that I wouldn’t have to hike in my full wet suit. Then we started our hike up the mountain to the top of the canyon.
Halfway through our hike up!
Once we entered the canyon, we started descending. This included swimming, sliding, and cliff jumping. I even got PJ to do a couple of the bigger jumps. The significant ones that I did were around 20 feet, 35 feet, and 50 feet high. I dragged PJ onto the 35 footer, but he called it quits after that. To see the 50 foot jump, click here!
This canyoneering trip was awesome, and I would highly recommend doing it if you ever are on the island of Cebu. Kawasan falls was the last waterfall we saw, but we weren’t allowed to jump is. I did get a good picture with it, and I was definitely on cloud nine.
A happy gal by Kawasan Falls.
I made lots of friends on this excursion, and I am so happy I did it. After the canyoneering trip, they provided dinner for us, and we eventually went back to Moalboal.
The next day, PJ and I hopped back on a van to Cebu City, and then we caught a ferry to the island of Bohol. Upon arriving, we took a cab to our hostel and later ate dinner. We befriended the cab driver, and decided to do a guided tour of the island, being that we were only going to be there for two nights, and one full day.
Among our stops were a butterfly sanctuary, the Man-made Forest, the Botanical Garden, the Chocolate Hills, and an old cathedral. The butterfly sanctuary also housed a couple large snakes, some monkeys, and an alligator. I am slightly uncomfortable around butterflies, so it was a little scary.
Slightly frightened by a butterfly.
The next stop was at the Man-Made Forest, which was a forest of planted, mature mahogany trees. It was refreshing to see a place with tree populations increasing rather than a place experiencing deforestation.
After driving through the forest, we went to the Botanical Gardens, where we also saw a bunch of wildlife. We saw different species of birds, a few lizards, and tarsiers. This was also where we stopped for lunch before getting to the Chocolate hills.
The Chocolate Hills were a strange sight to see, as it was a range of dome-shaped hills that seemed to have fallen out of the sky. They were very evenly spaced, and they seemed to be perfectly round. After prancing around on top of one of the hills, we returned to the cab, and we made our last stop at the cathedral, and headed home. We thanked our guide, and we got a snack by our hostel.
We still had about half of the day left, and I had a few places to see on my agenda, but we hung out in the air conditioning before heading back out.
A road of mahogany trees.
A view from atop the Chocolate Hills.
The famous Chocolate Hills!
A teeny tiny tarsier.
When we decided to finally leave our hostel for our afternoon excursion, we got on a trike and asked them to take us to Hinagdanan Cave. When we finally got there, we had to pay our entrance fee, and we descended a set of stone stairs into darkness. The cave had a couple holes where light could sneak in, and there was a large pool that people could swim in. So, of course, I had to take a dip.
The most refreshing swim ever…
PJ and I in the cave!
The next day, we took a long bus ride to the other side of Bohol, where we boarded another ferry to my favorite island of the trip, Camiguin. The ferry was much longer than I anticipated, so we sat on the ferry for about four hours. When we finally got there, we took a trike to our hostel, and we ate dinner at the restaurant that was attached.
In the morning, we rented a scooter from a man, and we set off on our tour of Camiguin. Our first stop was Tuasan Falls, and it was, by far, my favorite waterfall of the trip. There was almost no people, and the pools at the bottom of the falls were a dream to swim in. I laid on a rock that was atop the bottom cascade, and I stared up at Tuasan Falls for about an hour. I highly recommend checking out that waterfall if you’re ever backpacking these islands.
Loving the waterfall life.
Drink up!
Following Tuasan Falls, we rode our scooter to the Sunken Cemetery, where we wanted to snorkel, but we decided not to because we had to pay. Instead, I bought a rosary for my grandma, Lola, back home. After that, we returned to our hostel, and hung out by the ocean.
The following morning, we went for a hike, and I saw Mimosa pudica plant in the wild! These plants are super cool. They actually retract their leaves towards their stems if disturbed by something such as being touched, which is an adaptation to help prevent being eaten by herbivores. This hike also presented me with lots of cool fungi, pigs, and chickens.
Later that day, we went to another waterfall that was much taller. Katibawasan Falls was quite pretty, but there were a few more people there. Nonetheless, PJ and I sat and admired the falls for a good while, and I told PJ all about the plants in the rainforest. I also decided to climb up this old tree (shocker), and I hung out up there until I decided there were too many insects crawling on me.
Hanging around in a tree at Katibawasan Falls.
We then, headed back to our hostel, ate dinner, and packed up since we were leaving in the morning. This time, we were getting on a plane to Manila. Upon arriving in Manila, PJ’s brother picked us up, and we went to his home about an hour and a half south of Manila.
The next day, PJ and his brother took me to Manila, where we went to some of the huge malls, and then they took me to see the Taal Volcano. It had been erupting about a week or two before I was there, and there was still a high amount of ash still in the atmosphere. We drove near it, but were told to turn around at a road block by what I thought to be military personnel. It was a crazy sight to see, and I couldn’t help but feel for those affected by it.
The Taal Volcano from the road.
After this, I headed to Manila for one more night, where I visited Lola’s family. Lola is from the Philippines originally, and though she is not my blood, she is my family. I knew for a long time that I needed to visit her country, and I was lucky enough to do so. Her family met up with me, and it was a lot of fun since it had been a long time since I had seen them. I miss them all very much, and I made sure to give them all hugs and kisses from Lola. I said my goodbyes, and I was off to Indonesia!
The Philippines has a special place in my heart, and I am so thankful to have seen her home. She is getting old now, and I am so happy to be able to know a little bit more about where she grew up.
I cannot wait to return to the Philippines, and I have no doubt I will when the next opportunity arises. If you have any questions about anything I did, anywhere I stayed, or anything else, feel free to ask!
Until next time…
