THE BEACH THAT STARTED IT ALL

-PART 2-

by Ysabel Villaflor

For PART 1 click HERE.

no tricks. no nonsense. 100% natural.

So there it was right in front of me: it was so undeveloped, so bare, so organic -that it hit me in all the right places! This little island is AMAZING! We were greeted with one of the most crystal clear AQUA blue waters I have ever seen, the most tranquil lime stone rocks and mountains. It was so quiet and so peaceful.  Far from the noisy city or the clutter of people, all we can hear are our own voices excitedly exchanging our “wows” and gasps.  I could remember what was plastered on everyone's faces vividly trying to comprehend what was exactly in front of us! 

It was love at first sight.

jumping off from our cottage right onto the water

ready to jump off just yet? 

Sohoton, an island of the Municipality of Soccoro in Surigao Del Norte and one of the many islands of Bucas Grande. It is the perfect place to go when you want to forget about anything and enjoy nature completely. The only resort on the island, The Balanghai Resort, used to have huts on stilts right on the water which made it a little bit rustic and natural. Nowadays, The Balanghai Sohoton Resort, is now renamed Club Tara, with cemented cottages on the water and modernized with Jacuzzis and air-conditioning to suit the growing number of foreigners who have found out this little secret.

walkway to our cottages

floating room

From the moment we were greeted by our transport yacht, to our resort welcoming committee dressed in their local garb, to the long wooden walkways leading to the cove where our lodging cottages right ON the waters were situated, or the fact that we were the only people on the island, WE WERE MESMERIZED, with our mouths hanging wide open.  This little island was ours for the next couple of days?! Yes, we were out of our minds running around like crazy little kids on Christmas.

Boracay has a famous coconut shot like this. This one's Soccoro's shot

nothing like a light rainy shower that day

imagine waking up to this. view from my bed.

For those 3 days in 2006, we would find ourselves spending 70% of our time in the water.  From the moment we opened our eyes in the morning, we would just jump off the ledge of our cottage and onto the water below or just transfer to the other cottage by just kayaking – making noise as we go (since we were the only ones on the island).  We would snorkel, island hop to nearby islands (which are all surprisingly with white sandy beaches of super soft and fine powder white sands – which could rival those of Aklan’s Boracay and those of Palawan) including to nearby Siargao Island which is a 3 hour boat ride from Sohoton and explore the many caves the Bucas Grande islands has.  Time was inexistent and we didn’t have anything to distract us from spending it with our loved ones.

going off to another island

getting shells 

going up to the mountain to get to a freshwater lake 

paid ad? drink water!

another way to travel: 

Siargao was only 3 hours away via boat from Soccoro.

on Cloud 9, Siargao - the Philippine's Surfing Capital

We would maneuver our way through the labyrinth of the Sohoton Coves and being engulfed with the tranquility and the wild forests on the interconnecting islets, collecting exoskeletons of abundant marine and coral life like sand dollars, starfishes (the size of the outdated laser discs), trekking up the cliffs to see the beautiful lakes, and snorkeling out on the reefs. The most fascinating part of this trip is finding out that most of the islands are still untouched and undeveloped.

our kayaks all in a row

going off to another island by 

keeping ourselves entertained in one of the islands we

playing around one of the unnamed islands

don't worry, we returned this huge starfish to its home after this photo was taken

One of the islands featured an underground cave called Hagukan Cave which is better visited during low tide. Just in case you missed the low tide opportunity, you can access the cave by swimming underwater. However, you would have to have very strong lungs for the short swim. My brothers and I decided to swim to the cave, and while I was underwater, I got scared for a short time, wondering when I was finally going to come up for air—and finding out after gasping for air, the amazing effect of light from outside the cave and underwater and the complete darkness inside the cave. It was like a moment in a Goonies movie. It is mysterious and exciting but I do not advise this for those who do not know how to swim or those who smoke. 

getting off to see the caves before high tide

see how clear the water is.

We wasted no time in diving in the water and testing out the kayaks to and from the cottages. The kids playing on the shore, our parents in the restaurant eating the freshest seafood, us lying on the beach with cold beer in our hands, and just absorbing everything around us.  We were in a bubble we didn’t want to get out of…until it turned dark. 

starting them young to kayak

wakey-wakey! time for breakfast!

Sure, the island was amazing in the morning, but pretty much, you didn’t have anything to do at night.  So we entertained ourselves by having a bonfire and exchanging stories.  It was the perfect way to end the day that was so fun and full of activities. There weren't any television sets or at that time, internet to get in the way of our lives on the island.  The night was breezy, and the moon was bright.  We played until the embers of the fire burned out.

night shot of the cottage and the mountains at night

what we do at night: marshmallows and hotdogs 

This was definitely a place you would want to go to if you want to go off the radar.  There was only a generator on the island, no entertainment at night, and ONLY nature to be friends with.  This place will make you fall in love with nature - more so, the Philippines. 

And up until now, it remains to be one of the most amazing places I have ever been.   It was after this trip that made me wonder if any of the places in the Philippines are just like this – Greatness just WAITING to BE Discovered!

So, then, I was hooked for my love in exploring the Philippines as much as I can. J

playing around the cove

The author wishes to thank Dr. and Mrs. Potenciano Malvar for an eye-opening and amazing trip to this beautiful island.  It makes us proud to be from the Philippines. Mabuhay! 


- maypv

THE BEACH THAT STARTED IT ALL

By Ysabel Villaflor

PART I

Click HERE for PART 2

This isn’t the first time I wrote about this place. I can’t help it. This is a place that I feel deserve its own write up.   - :)

Up until 2006, I can count on my two hands just how many places I have been around the Philippines.  I did have to make certain qualifications in my statement though: Baguio didn’t count since it was just an hour away from where I’m from, and the sandy beaches of Ilocos and La Union didn’t either because it was just like going to another town.  Let’s just say that I never really travelled much around the Philippines up until then and never even considered travelling locally during summer vacations.  Summer vacations were usually spent somewhere out of the country and it really wasn’t an option to travel locally…..BEFORE.

It all started when my family had an invitation from Dr. Bon Malvar to travel to Mindanao, the southernmost island in the Philippines.  Like very much of the population up North, we all consider Mindanao to be so far away and so dangerous that we wouldn’t even consider of going there  (that was me being the misinformed girl back then).  And that, despite the rumors about the South, we were for some reason, lured to this mysterious little place they were calling Sohoton.

To be honest, I really didn’t know what to expect.  There was very little literature about where we're going and we never really had any idea what we were going to encounter once we were there.  (this was such a new experience for me because I seldom travel without first researching about my intended destination.)

The FIRST BATCH arriving at Butuan Airport - our starting point of our little adventure.

So, blurry eyed and a little bit confused, we found ourselves at our jump off point in Butuan City, arriving via Cebu Pacific that fateful day.  We boarded our welcome  van and had a glimpse of Butuan City on the way to the hotel.  The city was rural with a bit of development with cemented roads and a couple of buildings here and there.  It was very much the province we were expecting.  We checked in at Balanghai Convention Center, and waited for the rest of our group to be complete (the other half traveled on a later flight).

our home in Butuan

Welcome to Balanghai Hotel!

Taking a dip  while waiting for the rest of our group to arrive.

I was about to write off Butuan as a typical town up until the point when we started going around and visiting the many museums this little town has. I was dumbfounded.  This place reeks of so much HISTORY.  Other provinces can learn a thing or two about preserving heritage and our ancient relics from this little town.  The town has restored the oldest balanggay boats ever found in the Philippines and preserved antiques dated way before the Spaniards came.  The boats are particularly significant to the Filipino Race, which is evidence of the Malay ancestry which, through these boats, reached Philippine shores.  The Balanggays are proof that such migration did happen and that Malays did settle in this part of the world.

goofing around the Butuan Museum Garden

many religious artifacts in the church

Lagot kayo kay FATHER!!! (Fooling around with the relics)

one of the original Balanghai boats

Resting on our 3rd Museum visit that day

Butuan was said to be the place where the first mass was celebrated and continue to dispute that which the Cebuanos have particularly claimed first.  So apart from historical significance, Butuan also has a religious history.  Judging from the reactions we got from this theory, it is still to be settled by historians.

After the first day in Butuan, I was very much impressed with the preservation of historical data and evidence.  Not all provinces in the Philippines, sadly, prioritize our heritage or our historical sites.  Most of them, end up being demolished or deteriorated. However, some of the confusion was dispelled and a few questions about this little adventure were answered.  This wonderful little town loves it's history and heritage and this trip was finally forming some shape in my mind. However, there were still a couple of unanswered questions lingering.

The very next day after our Butuan cultural excursion, we left on a bus for the ports of Agusan to catch a yacht and to venture off to more undeveloped territory. Apparently, we were going to a very isolated island in Soccoro in Bucas Grande group of islands called Sohoton - which can only be accessed by boat. I got a bit nervous when I heard of the word “isolated”. Judging from the development in Butuan, I was expecting more sparse treatment on lodging on this island. 

going off to the port to get to Sohoton

Our yacht going to the remote island of Sohoton

Our ship captain.

on board the yacht going to Sohoton

I was correct BUT I surprised myself given my reaction when we first saw a glimpse of this remote island.

our first glimpse of the aqua blue waters of Bucas Grande

- end of PART I -