Mt. Manaphag, Concepcion Iloilo

                May 19, 2012 After spending previous weekend finding my relatives in Passi Iloilo, me and my colleague decided to take another outdoor trip in iloilo. This time it is located in the Municipality of Concepcion. The plan was we will do a dayhike climb of the highest mountain in the island then the following day we will do an Island hopping. We wakeup early and then travel going to tagbak terminal where we take a bus trip going to concepcion of course with my colleague buddy Tim and Mabel. We arrived at around 6 am in tagbak terminal which the first trip of bus going to concepcion ha about to leave, we decided first to take our breakfast and take the second trip going to concepcion. What we ate? again chicken from andoks.. So after breakfast we ride a bus going to concepcion and leave at the terminal around 7 in the morning. and after 2 and 1/2 ride we arrived in the town of concepcion. We go first to tourism office for a registration and pay 20 pesos for the fee. Tim contacted the boatman whose already waiting for us. Tourism office not that far from the port where we ride a rented boat. The sea was calm and there are so many jelly fish, first thing comes in my mind when I saw it was the cartoon spongebob because the jellyfish looks like that in the cartoon. Anyway we leave the port at around 10 AM, during the travel we can see the mountain that we will hike, the mount manaphag which is located in Brgy. Tambalisa.

                  After more than 30 minutes we arrived in Brgy Tambalisa and then we look for kagawad sorry I forgot his name where the tourism officer told us to look for and we can stay in their place. After few minutes of wating, the kagawad has arrived, after some negotiation my colleague and I decided to take one room in kagawad's resort's "Irish Beach Park" at the foot of Mt. Manaphag. It was nearly lunch so I start to prepare our lunch, cooking our rice and prepared our canned goods. We also ask what the resort food can offer to us. Our meal for our lunch is canned good tuna, tortang talong and small dried fish called dilis in manila good enough to feed our hungry stomach.

                 Taking a little bit of rest, around 1 in the afternoon we decided to take the challenge of the Mt. Manaphag. We took a guide which that is the requirements for us to able to hike on that mountain. From the start of trek mabel and tim was a liitle bit nervous because it's their first time to do hike. The weather was so hot from the start and you can feel a little bit of wind from your skin. First hour of trek both of them are ok then we reach the view deck of the mountain where you can view the whole brgy. and some island from a far. The view was great and our location was a little bit dangerous because were in the side of a cliff. After taking some picture we resume our trek and I saw on tim's face that he started to feel the altitude, he started to feel dizzy so from time to time to took a 5 minutes rest while Mabel is enjoying the the trail and love hanging and lifting her body from the help of the tree trunks. I remember also when I asked Tim if he's ok he said yes and when I asked him again if he is sure then he answered me he didn't sure. Then I asked him seriously if he still want to continue and he answered me yes, the answered I want to hear from him that he can finish this trek. There still no trail so it's like we exploring the mountain and  not to mention that I always heard tim's voice ouch.... always something happen to him, it's either bitten by ants or victimized by some thorny plants. After 2 hours of trek, finally we reached the summit, even though it's not a 360 degrees view in the summit, actually no view at all because it was surround by trees, we feel great because we reached the summit that everyone is safe.  

Trek going to the summit

At the summit

                 After taking some rest and picture of course, I asked our guide if we the traverse is much easier than the trail that we accent and according to him it will be better to take the traverse because the trail was already established. So we decide to do the traverse, Tim is feeling better now, he already recovered from dizziness but another problem is he has a fear of height. So we descent on the other side of the mountain, I still recall how mabel laugh at tim because tim already removed his slipper just to cope up with the trail , He feel the trail was slippery  maybe because his knee was already shaking because of his fear of height. During the middle of the descent we stop at one house and take some rest, our guide offer us a coconut fruit for refreshing our body, that time it is hard to say no. Our guide climb up the coconut tree and pick it up some for us. Its almost 4 PM when we continue our descent and then after an hour we reach the other brgy on the other side of the mountain. We also visit one local houses which has a Philippine eagle pet. I asked the owner about the eagle and he told me that he already set the eagle free but its keep coming back so he decided to keep it. 

The descent

Eating Coconut Fruit

                    Going back to the brgy. were we are staying, we walk along the shore, it was a low tide so we enjoy a different rock formation, we reach brgy. tambalisa at around 6 PM. Mabel and Tim had enjoy our trek,its their first time, Tim got some bruises because of that thorny plants and he also got some bite from ants but overall the climb was great.

             
         

Nogas Island

                        June 10 when we decided to go to this Island. I just saw this island when I'm looking and checking what are the other places I can visit while I'm in iloilo because in a few weeks we will be back in manila. Since our trip in Malalison Island has been cancelled twice, I think this can be an alternative that we can visit for a day only. So my itchy feet together with my colleague buddy Mabel and Tim leave the boarding house early as 5:30 and took a breakfast in Jollibee Jaro, first we didn't know how to go to the terminal in Molo so we ask some of the crew of Jollibee.

            After eating our breakfast, we took a two ride jeep going to the terminal but when we reached the terminal, we were informed that the first trip of BUS going to Anini-y was already leave and the next trip will be 3 PM, we ask some of the driver on what other alternative way going to Anini-y then one of themn told us to take a san joaquin jeep and from there take a trike, luckily after giving us instruction a jeep stop in front of us which is a san joaquin trip. We ride into that jeep and after an almost 1 and 1/2 hours of travel we reach San Joaquin. From there we took a single motor ride which cost us 100 per head and took us almost 30 minutes. When we reach Siraan-Hot spring we paid an entrance of 20 pesos and from there we rent a boat going to Nogas Island.

            The boat cost us 500 peso round trip, not expensive anyway for the 3 of us and the capacity of boat is for 10 person. From siraan hot spring you can see from afar the Nogas island which the landmark is the light house. Mabel was so very excited because its her first time for her to visit a lighthouse. After almost 15 minutes in the sea, we reached the island, we are entice by the clear water that you can see what lies underneath. The path going to light house was great, it's like you're walking in the isle with calachuchi tree both side. 

The Path going to Lighthouse

            We start exploring the island, we go first to the light house, unfortunately were not able to go inside because it was closed. After taking some picture we to the mangrove farm where i saw a fish that is new to me because it has a leg, the fish was called mudskipper. After the mangrove we took a picture of an old Balete tree then we go back to the shore to take a swim in the clear water. We also saw one of the fishermen catch a huge squid and a huge fish, I forgot what's the name of the fish.

Nogas Lighthouse

The Balete Tree 

The Bats 

The Mudskipper

             While waiting for our boat, rain fell and I thought the boat will wait for the rain to stop before they pick us up, but after few minute our boat has arrived to pick us up, we travel going back to siraan hotspring while raining, I remember mabel how tight she's holding on the boat because of the wave hitting our boat, upon reaching siraan the rain started to stop. 

The huge fish 

Giant squid

Us

              We took our lunch at one of the restaurant in Siraan hotspring then after lunch we decided to swim in the pool but we were disappointed when we saw how the pool look like. So we decided just to change our clothe and going home. The driver of a single motor or the local call it habal-habal was waiting for us. We leave Siraan hotspring at about past 1:30PM, At San Joaquin we took a bus going to Molo terminal. We reach the town of Molo at around past 5:00PM and we decided to go to Starbucks to have some coffee before we go home.

ISLAS GIGANTES, CARLES ILOILO (DAY 2)

                Our second day in the island, I wake up early to catch the sunrise. Our activity for the day is caving. Our tourist guide told us that there is a cave near where we stay. so I took a sunrise picture and go back to the house where we stay. Everyone is awake then we decided to have some coffee first  while waiting for our guide. After having some coffee, we start trek going to the cave. After 10 minutes of trek, we reach the opening of the cave. after preparing our headlamp and flashlight we started to go inside the cave. 

           

After caving, we go back to the place where we are staying. We reach the house at around past 9:00 in the morning. Having our breakfast (Salted fish, tomatoe and eng with fried rice) we also decided to have a fresh buko. 

After breakfast, we prepared our things and started to packed up. Its time to go back to Jaro Iloilo.  before leaving the place we took one more picture with the house owner and with Joel Decano. 

The group leave the place at around past 11:00AM, this time we will be heading for estancia. After almost 2 hours of travel by boat we reach the town of estancia, we ride a trike going to Pa-on beach where we took our lunch then after lunch we took a Van going to Iloilo.

Islas Gigantes, Carles Iloilo (Day 1)

                  It's my first time being here in this place. April 22 was our flight to iloilo for the pilot rollout branch of ENBFS system.A branch automation project in the office. We will be in jaro iloilo for one and a half month. When i knew that iloilo will be our pilot branch area. I already looking for a place that where we can go for an outdoor. I saw in one of my friend page was islas gigantes, so I started looking on the website regarding islas gigantes and which is I saw it amazing in the pictures, so I let tim one of my colleague to do the talking or bargaining regarding on boats and island hopping in the island, tim was from bacolod and know how to speak ilongo. Our first week in Jaro was a busy week because of we need to prepare the records of the branches for the migration. We decided to do our corporate worship in Roxas iloilo so that we are near to the place and we don't need to travel 4 hours from Jaro, we onlyneed almost 2 hours from Roxas. Friday April 27, 2012 we leave Jaro going to Roxas. We ride a commuter Van and leave in Tagbak terminal at around 7:00 PM. After 2 hours of travel, we reached Roxas City at around 9:00 PM. We stayed in Roxas 1 branch for a night, thank you to Pastor Dewey. April 28 we wake up early morning to prepare for our corporate worship, we attend corporate worship in Roxas 2 branch while our vendor representative Francis and Babu an indian programmer left in the branch, during our corporate worship our former colleague Farah and Yel arrived which they will join us in our trip to Carles (Islas Gigantes) around past 7:30 AM corporate worship was finish and we go back to Roxas 1 to get our things. We left Roxas at around 8:30 AM riding Ceres bus going to estansya. After an hour of travel we reach balasan where we took a jeepney ride going to Carles. We reach Carles port at around past 11:30 AM from there we met Joel Decano who was waiting for us, he is the tourism officer in Islas Gigantes. Riding a pumpboat we immediately leave Carles port going to Islas Gigantes. Together with Mabel, Yel, Farah, Praise, Tim, Francis and Babu who was first time in the Philippines and first also to do island Hopping were very excited to see the beauty of the islas.

Gaket-Gaket Islet

After almost an hour we reach Gaket-gaket islet which part of Islas Gigantes. We can't wait to off the boat to see the place. Its an small island which it was like when you see in the cartoon or commercial.. The water is very clear which is inviting you to take a deep swim. 

 The Group in Gaket-Gaket Islet

After taking picture we leave the islet and heading to the island where we will stay. After an hour again we reach the island where we will stay.  We thought we will only stay in a small nipa hut but it was surprised for us when we see the house where we will stay, I think this is the house of the tourism officer. After leaving our things, we were headed to Antonias Island where our lunch is waiting for us.

Antonias Island

Antonias Island is one of the island in Islas Gigantes. It has a fine white sand and clear water. This is where we took our lunch which is a yummy crack and scallop with fish. After we ate our lunch, tim and I explore the island together with babu and yel. 

Exploring the Island

After exploring the island, we go to tangke which is a salt water lagoon, we took a swim in that place and having fun in the water. Mabel and praise did not join us in swimming because I think Praise has a girl thing, well I don't know what the real reason and Mabel did not allowed by her doctor to swim in any water because of her operation. There are so many people in the place like us which is also a tourist. I wait for them to leave the place so that I can took a picture of the lagoon without people. After I think 30 minutes or an hour we leave te place and we go to Cabugao Island

Tangke Lagoon

Cabugao Island is like antonias Island which also a white sand island beach. Again we took a swim in this island and have some picture taking especially the jumpshot.Tim and Francis join me to find a place where I can take a top view picture of the island which we found one. Our next destination after cabugao is the what they called sandbar, this sandbar is different from sandbar of Concepcion. So we leave the cabugao after taking top view picture of the island.

Jumpshot at Cabugao Island

Top View of Cabugao Island

After Cabugao we were headed to Sandbar which is nearly sunset that time, upon reaching the sand bar, again jumpshot picture.. its a really nice sandbar beach. Taking picture with the group. I nearly missed the sunset here.

Sandbar Island

After Sandbar, the group decided to go back to the island where we stay. It's almost 6:00 PM when we leave sandbar. We reach the island where we will stay around 7:00 PM. After taking a bath dinner is ready. Again fish and sea food, Crabs, scallop and fish.

Seafoods

After eating dinner. The team having a little chitchat and call it a night...  

Continue on second day.........

Buntot Palos-Hidden Falls

After almost 3 hours of driving from Manila to Laguna via Rizal we finally reach the jump off of Buntot Palos. It was known as a hidden falls located in the town of Pangil, province of laguna. You will experience a zigzag road starting antipolo just like you’re driving going to baguio.  We arrived at the jump off at around past 7 in the morning. After registration we proceed to one of the newly resort which the local called greenhouse, maybe they called it greenhouse because the paint of the roof is painted color green but it is far from a natural greenhouse which consist of glass or most of the wall is made up of glass. 

From there we parked the car and taking some picture after that we start trekking going to the falls. From the start of the trek is a cemented road that about 500 meters up then it become rocky. Going up you can see the town of Pangil and the nearby town. After an hour we reach a small campsite which is near the water falls. 

We decide to go to the top of the water falls first to see and explore. After a 10 minutes trek from campsite, we reach the place we were targeted. We ate our brunch from there and take a dip into cold and clear water and take some rest.

Past 12 Noon we decided to descent into the water falls. We trek going back to the campsite and from there you need to descent in a steep trail going to the water falls.  The flow of water was very nice and you can hear a loud sound of splash of water. After taking some picture, we decided to go back to the jump-off. 

Cristobal Traverse

My first cimb for the year 2012, Jan 28-29, 2012. A free guideship of PIKNIKERS Mountaineers, my sunshine birthday climb and training climb of PIKNIKERS. I been to this mountain two years ago and still this moutain hasn't change. The beauty of its nature for being a rainforest mountain where you can see an orchid plant grows in the trunk of the big tree.  We do a traverse hike in which our jump/off ascent is in quezon side, in the town of Kinabuhayan, Dolores Quezon the we descent at Laguna side in the town of Tala, Rizal Laguna.

View of the Mountain from quezon side

View from Laguna side

PIKNIKERS MOUNTAINEERS FREE GUIDE SERVICE @ Mt.Cristobal Traverse

Day 1

2am – Meet up JAM Liner Kamuning Cubao (less than P200)

3am – Bus move

5:30 to 6am - ETA San Pablo

6am – Jeep Ride to Jump Off (Less than P200 it will also pick us up in the Traverse side)

7am – ETA Jump Off ( wento, eat, stretch, last water source 6L to 8L is advisable)

8am – Start Hike

11 to 12nn - ETA Crater

12:30nn – Crater ( set up Camp before eat lunch )

1 to 2pm – Cook, eat, clean up & wash d dishes

2 to 4pm – siesta, wento, tambay, picture, wander, etc

4 to 5pm – cook Dinner

5 to 6pm – eat dinner & wash d dishes & prepare ur early breakfast ready.

7pm- Sosyals. ( for mamam boys & girls don’t drink too much)

10pm – lights out ( prepare for the cold night)

Day 2

3:30am wake up call

4 to 5am – Eat breakfast (lunch is at the traverse proper na not in the trail. Bring trail food)

5 to 6am- break camp

6am- start traverse

10am – ETA Grassland

11am – Tayak Hill ( decide early if u want to side trip tayak. Its 30min up 20 down)

12nn to 1pm – ETA church. Shower, Lunch, Picture, rak en rol.

1:30pm – Jeep Ride to san Pablo

2:30pm – ETA San Pablo Bus waiting (open Time) TIPS: take the bus can offer u a ride to manila bcoz most of them are FULL. Take it if it offers at least alabang aircon or not. You might get trapped their for hours waiting for ur ride.