Saturday, February 1, 2014

Cagayan de Oro: Conquered White Water Rafting


Last week, our client visited us in our staffhouse. He and my boss were talking about work and places that would be very nice to visit in Cagayan de Oro. And thanks to him, he convinced our boss to go to Camiguin. My boss was so excited that she told me to do the costing and itinerary. Of course for me, I was more than willing. Another place on my bucket list again.

Unfortunately, when we went to Balingoan Port, they have said that it is closed because of the bad weather. Our second option was the White Water Rafting. Of course my officemates were disappointed, but as for me, I was so happy. I think it’s about time to conquer White Water Rafting.

Before we started rafting, there was a briefing on how to paddle and what to do in case the boat flip. And of course, a complementary picture taking.



We separated on 2 teams, 5 persons each not including our river guide. We took the advanced course, 17 kms paddle which has 30 over-all rapids. It’s a 4 hours paddle.


We started rafting around 10:30 am and we have a favorable weather. The sky was dark and there was no sun. Blood rushing through my veins whenever we were on the rapids. Our river guide, kuya Val, was so talkative but informative. He was also helping us to form a good position for us to have a better rafting experience. We tried to stand on the raft while on the rapid. That was so awesome! Adrenaline rush! 


In between rapids, there were still water. Kuya Val will tell us when and where we could dipped in the water. In our group, I was always the first one to jumped off the raft. I just love swimming and floating while watching the scenery.


And because we were exhausted from paddling and shouting, we stopped to drink on to the spring water.


There was this rock where we stopped, took picture and jumped off into the water. It was a nice feeling that I thought I was into the water for almost 20 seconds. 


There was also this part when my boss' raft docked somewhere and I thought it was over. I asked kuya Val and he said, "No, we still have more rapids to go." And then my boss shouted, "Kath, do you remember this place?" I said, "No Ma'am, I can't remember this place." Then, one of my officemates said, "I-Witness." At that point I remembered the documentary of Jay Taruc on I-witness entitled "Muton." The blue rope on the pic was the muton the boy used in the documentary to cross the river and go to school.


Last photo before our White Water Rafting ends.