“Siquijor is calling to me.”

That’s the text message that I sent my best friend a month ago.  I just read an instagram post from Jeron Travel about their upcoming tour to the island in the Philippines – and I just could not kick off the thought from my head.  So I contacted Jeron Travel and told them that they can sign my best friend and me for their tour.

Most Filipinos are actually not too crazy to visit this island in the Visayas.  A lot of them are afraid of the stories that we’ve been told of the mambabarangs (witches) who delivers a hex through an insect bite.  Thing is – I told myself that there must be something that I need to discover in the island that is making me want to visit.

How to Get to Siquijor

There are many ways to go to Siquijor – but I recommend booking a flight to Dumaguete.  From Dumaguete – you can take a one hour ferry ride to the island.

Where to Stay

For glampackers – I recommend staying at Coco Grove Beach Resort.  It’s a huge resort with access to the beach with crystal blue waters.  Their restaurants are great – and you know what else is great?   It was fully booked when we were there but we didn’t feel like it was crowded at all – no wait times at the restaurants – no crowded pools.   I definitely encourage you to check out the resort – reasonable rates too.

Now that we got the logistical notes out of the way – let me tell you about the adventure that we had on the island.   There are three things that I did – which I think are the must dos for anyone who wants a leisurely adventure:

Cliff Jump at Salagdoong Beach

This is a 20 foot cliff jump.  There’s another platform which is 35 feet above water.  My knees were shaking.  I did’t know if I can do it.  But when I was researching about the things that one can do in Siquijor ( also known to be the fire island ),  the jump on this platform seems to be one of the most fun thing to do.

So I decided to jump.  Good thing that one my fellow travelers jumped ahead of me.  The voices in my head were panicking – then I told them: Shut up!  I said “Mr. Fear – I appreciate that you have come along in this trip.  Thanks for keeping me company.   But I got this – don’t worry about me.  I will jump.”

So I jumped.  As my feet hit the water,  and I sank – I felt wonderful.  I then floated to the surface and the adrenaline was pumping.  I swam safely to shore and did a high five with the other tourists and locals.   I jumped – I lived – and the next time – I’ll do it again.

Note:  Be safe – please watch this video on how to do a safe cliff jump: Cliff jumping for beginners.

Frolick at Cambugahay Falls

If you want to warm up for the twenty foor jump of Salagdoong – it’s best to visit the Cambugahay falls.  It has three levels – but the most fun that you can do is to jump off from the second level onto the first level.  It’s a lot of fun.  It’s a 10 foot jump.   As I said – it’s a warm up to the 20 foot jump.

You can also try a tarzan swing onto the waters.  As you can see from here – it provides a great opportunity for a wonderful photo.

Spelunking in Cantabon Cave

So far – I’ve talked about jumping high.  I think that an equally exciting activity is spelunking through Cantabon cave.  The cave has beautiful formations.   It’s like an alien world inside that cave.  It can be moderately difficult to go through the cave.  One too many times – I bumped my head on the low clearance – the guides we had gave us very clear instructions when we had to be careful – but sometimes over enthusiasm did make me ignore it.  Thankfully – the hard hat protected me.

Looking forward to the next adventure

The adventure gave me a real high.  I thought I already did pretty good traveling in the past – but with this experience – I felt that my eyes have been opened to the many wonders of our country: the Philippines.  I’m definitely looking forward to other adventures that the 7,107 islands of the Philppines has to offer.

Footnote:

I sometimes wonder how all these adventures look like through the eyes of my younger self.

If you want to book an adventure with Jeron Travel – these are their contact details:  e-mail: inbound@jerontravel.com;  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JeronTravel/;  instagram: @jerontravel.