Hinatuan is the second of the Summer in December in Surigao del Sur series.

We bid our sweet goodbye to Tinuy-an Falls. We headed to Hinatuan, an hour apart from the epic waterfalls. While the beauty of Tinuy-an Falls came as a surprise, we were anticipating more from Hinatuan because Enchanted River. The driving force to pursue this long-planned trip is to kill the curiosity on Hinatuan River. We’ve seen and read about the enchanting blue waters that even Daily Mail of UK wrote an invitation to visit it.

Lunch

We were rushing to catch the feeding of fishes of Enchanted River which is regularly happening every 12 noon. I had already a hunch that we won’t make it since I got an idea how far Hinatuan from Bislig is earlier when we traveled from Butuan City.

Our van had a stopover at a talipapa few meters before Enchanted River. This is where visitors can market and ask the store to cook the seafoods bought for lunch. Bringing of foods inside the premises of Hinatuan River is allowed but we don’t have any so does the place. For the love of our hungry body, we marketed our lunch that costed us around PhP 500 for two fish dishes, calamares, softdrinks, and utensils.

First Impressions

When we arrived at the River, feeding time is over. And my first reaction when I saw the water: ‘So they posted a highly-saturated photos, don’t they?’ It was underwhelming since we put up high hopes on the place. But I’m telling you, the river still looks good and is definitely clean. These were my thoughts before I dip my toe.

Enchanted River

After we ate our lunch and panicked after knowing our driver went missing, the three of us took turns in swimming. With my skills in swimming or the lack thereof with rented life vest and my DSLR in my underwater bag, I braved the enchanting river.

And that’s when I believed it is truly an Enchanted River. The river looks calm but the current is crazy strong. Add the freezing factor too! With only few minutes, or even seconds I don’t know, of testing the waters, I gave up on the goal to reach the opposite side of the bank. Good thing someone rescued me because I struggled.

While feeling sorry for my initial reviews of the river, I firmly stayed near the stairs and started to take underwater pictures. Fish feeding time seems to be unnecessary since the school of scary pirahna-looking fishes is coming closer to me like I was their dessert. The river is deep blue in the deep.

Hinatuan River is known for its mystery. Contrary to quite popular notion that the depth of the river is unknown, the real mystery is its unknown source.

Island Hopping

I am happy that Pat and Gen are all-game in exploring places so we continued our adventure in Hinatuan. We rent a boat for Php150 per hour and were taken to Sibadan Fish Cage, Pangasinan Beach and Ponta Cave.

Sibadan Fish Cage is a simple aquaculture in Hinatuan where you can find several beautiful fishes, sting rays and even baby sharks inside a closed pen. You can fish the creatures there, buy them PhP 300 a kilo and have your harvest eaten in the restaurant.

Pangasinan Island, not to be confused with the Northern Luzon province, is proud to have a good and fine sand. Pangasinan Island is also known as Bagasin Island, Bagasinan Island or Pañgasinan Island. It has an interesting long walk way and large cottages to welcome its visitors. There’s also an open-to-public resort that provides good accommodation. There are also stores within the island for quick food and souvenir grabs.

And sometimes you got a chance to take a money shot.

Ponta Cave

We saw double rainbows while going to Ponta Cave. They look like paths taken by Nyan Cat and Despicable Me’s papoy fluffeh Unicorn in its app. Is it a sign of a happiness awaiting us?

Apparently not. Among the spelunking activities I’ve done in my project, Ponta Cave is unexpectedly the most challenging yet relatively unrewarding.

I’ll explain why. With Sumaguing Cave in Sagada, regardless the obstacles encountered, there are beautiful rock formations and chilling waters as prizes. Smaller caves like Bakwitan in Islas de Gigantes and Ugong in Puerto Princesa have lesser number of natural installations but caving is easy. We’d gotten the extremes in Ponta Cave.

We stepped in crumbling rocks and in fewer flat grounds. Except for the hanging bats and the grotto at the entrance, nothing special is to be found inside. If you were after extreme experience, Ponta Cave is a worth the visit. However, since I brought my cameras inside as a shutterbug, you’d left the cave half-satisfied. The beach however is quite good landscape at the exit.

Two faces of Sarzosa Ponta Cave: Happiness and Haggardness

Marky’s Hostel

It was already past 6 in the evening when the island hopping ended. Enchanted River is already closed for operation. We were the last visitors to come out.

As agreed, our van drove us to Hinatuan proper where Marky’s Hostel is located. It turned out that staying in Hinatuan rather than Bislig is a better choice because it is nearer for our destination the next day. Thanks to Globe’s surprising 3G signal that I was able to surf and to reserve one accommodation on the day itself while traveling earlier in the morning.

We missed the hostel a couple of times before we finally reached it. The hostel is family-owned and popular to bloggers. A discounted air-conditioned room good for 5 for PhP1,000 served as our healing pod for yet another island hopping adventure in Britania, Surigao del Sur.