The islands born of fire. The mere thought of walking into this pyre sends shivers down my spine. The seven volcanoes taking up residence in Camiguin stretch across the length of the island in a crescent pattern like a scythe threatening to carve a path splitting the island in two.

Backtrack to May 20, 1871—paradise cradles the islanders living an idyllic life in Cotta Bato, then capital city of Camiguin. It’s 6 PM and families gather round their hearth, saying grace for the gifts received from the bounty of land and sea. A faint rumbling, barely perceptible but just enough to make its presence felt, reverberates and sends shivers up from the bare soil at your feet. As you rush out onto the dirt path to find out what is going on, you see it from a distance, the town cemetery a mute testament to the events unfolding. As you shake with the ground beneath you, without warning it sinks like a rock pelted into the sea, creating a small tidal wave rushing to the shore. Almost instantaneously, what is now called the old volcano ascends from the flat lands in one violent explosion flattening the entire city and surrounding environs. Pyroclastic matter and steaming ash from the new volcano that came from out of the earth inundate the church, which until now has provided shelter. Its innards eject themselves up into the sky and fall like rain back down to earth; and as the molten hot matter comes into contact with the trees, the rooftops, the lava instantly incinerates everything. All within a three-kilometer radius of the new volcano is now only a rumor. By 6:20, it’s all over. What is left of Cotta Bato is just layer upon layer of molten ash, smoldering over what once was paradise.

Fast forward to 2005 and there is simply no evidence of this cataclysmic event as we circle around the north side of the island towards the lone airstrip on which our 20-seater plane is set to land. Just offshore, a lonely crescent-shaped sandbar sits like an eye taking a casual glance at this avian specter making its way to the island. As the coconut trees rush past the bottom of the plane everything is in plain sight, and all too evident are the proliferation of lanzones trees interspersed with other foliage. It is said that many, many years ago, a traveler from Paete dropped a seedling after seeing the devastation on the island. This had been hand-carried from Laguna and accidentally dropped onto a piece of moist soil. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Island
Welcome to Camiguin. These are the islands born of fire. From Mt. Hibok-Hibok to the Old Volcano, the lush green forests, still virgin from the absence of abuse from its residents and commercial business alike, await the visitor.

Camiguin is an amoeba-shaped island comprising five major towns, the provincial capital Mambajao, Mahinog, Guisiliban, Sagay, and the old capital Catarman. We spent the rest of our afternoon discovering the manmade wonders of the capital city, beginning with the San Nicolas Church in downtown Mambajao. This church was first established in 1892 and finally completed in 1895. The alternating black and white tiles are a study in contrasts; while old santos adorn the interior of the church, there is a name etched or painted onto every wall or window. Are these of benefactors to the improvements therein? Or are their remains tucked away within the niches of the church? This we’ll never really know, as the question remains unanswered.

We take a quick once around the church and hop onto our van to travel west on the main road. The circumferential road snakes along the ridges and coastlines of Camiguin, allowing one to travel around the entire island in under three hours. For now, we move towards the old city of Cotta Bato.

On the way, the views are breathtaking like scenes right out of a Hollywood movie. While seagulls glide over the bay; a lonely cross juts out of the water no more than 50 meters from a shore, the marker of the sunken cemetery. If one were to travel to that marker, one can see the tombstones that still stand holding the remains of the ancients sunken in the cool blue waters.

Just a short distance off lie the ruins of the old church. This structure served as the protector of the people from all types of calamity such as storms and typhoons. Little did they realize that this would likewise be the most destroyed structure from that 1871 eruption. Eerily the walls remain standing, as does the bell tower, surrounded by flat manicured grass. An admonition cautions everyone to leave no traces of their presence—no cigarette butts, no trash, no cans or anything else to clutter the surroundings.

This was turning out to be a fairly long day but as the song goes, Con el Partiro (Time to say goodbye) and we bid farewell and prepare for the night’s festivities, the Mutya ng Buahanan 2005. “Buahan” is the native name for the lanzones, and so aptly is this pageant named.

Mutya ng Buahanan
The convention center is one of the more prominent improvements in the capital and this is where the Pageant shall be held. The applause, at first cautious then thundering like in a basketball game, are all too perceptible as the contestants traipse around, first in their native costume bathed in yellow, red and gold, then in a modest swimsuit, with the uncovered parts of their anatomy conservatively wrapped in swathes of golden fishnet fabric. As the night wears on, Kathleen Gadot emerges the beauty among the beauties. She is your quintessential Camiguinon—shy but headstrong, ready to take on the world. The first step is another pageant in Cebu; after that, who knows? Is Bb. Pilipinas in the cards for this winsome lass? No matter, though, because the coming days will tell if there is life after Mutya ng Buahanan.

Tomorrow’s itinerary will tell us more about the idyllic life in Camiguin.

The White Island
The best time to shoot on location is always in the morning. The sun is low in the horizon, the seas are calm, and the settings are generally more peaceful, aside from the fact that one is more energized at the start of the day.

Coming in from the air one sees a crescent-shaped islet, actually a sandbar, like a Capital C announcing that this is Camiguin. It is to our good fortune that we make acquaintances with Franco Minelli, an Italian who has lived here for over 10 years. He had asked some of the dancers in the Lanzones Festival to come along with their tribal garb to provide a contrast to the immaculate white backdrop of the sand and the crystal blue hue of the sea. Franco takes photographs of nature and island life for an Italian magazine.

The way to White Island is via native pump boat, boarded at any one of the resorts dotting the coastline facing the island. It is a five-minute ride, and as we leave the relative safety of the Camiguin shoreline we feel as if we are embarking on a journey much farther away. It’s unmistakable. You’ve seen this in many shorelines, especially those in which you could hardly contain your excitement—as you step onto that powdery sugar white sand, you choose to remove your flip-flops rather than keep them on. It is just too inviting. You step onto the shore and your feet instantly sink half an inch into nature’s softness. The sand cradles each step making it effortless. We climb above a rise and step onto the crest of the sandbar. As far as the eye can see, the Bohol Sea stretches out in its dark blue hue, and off to one side, the sand stretches a kilometer out into the deep blue, no more than calf-deep until it drops off. I walk along the entire length of this sandbar and it takes no more than 10 minutes.

After some time, the sun does start getting a bit too hot for comfort. The few souls on the island start making their way back to the big island, as do we. The return to the main shore is short, but seemingly longer than the way there.

Katibauasan Falls
As we enter a concrete stairway leading down into the falls area, we are greeted by people streaming in and out—after all, it is almost lunchtime and people are getting ready for the day’s provisioning.

Katibauasan Falls is located five kilometers southeast of Mambajao. The water falls 256 feet into a circular pool surrounded by natural foliage, and all along the side the edges have been smoothed out to allow you to walk around as you would around a hotel pool. The water is clear and cool; the sound of the water freefalling is mimicked by most spas today, but this one is accompanied by the cacophony of human laughter and children playing. It is not full but for a family around a table laid out with home-cooked food. Miguela is a balikbayan who has come home after 28 years, and all she can say again and again is, “…It’s always good to be back home.”

Sto. Nino Cold Springs
We are told of a spring where small fish swim within and natural grasses adorn the bottom. It is just four kilometers from Catarman and as we travel to it, there is a sense of excitement.

Outside, we are greeted by stalls offering Camiguin souvenirs from t-shirts to necklaces and bracelets made from native fruit that look like miniature lanzones. We walk across the small bridge way and see a stream sparsely populated by cabomba and hydrilla, water sprites that grow naturally in the path of the flowing water.

We are assaulted by all manner of human activity. Hip-hop music echoes around this natural depression where children and families swim pretty much as they would in a public swimming pool on a hot summer day. Is this the natural pool we sought? The water springs out from the sandy bottom, filling a pool measuring 25 by 40 meters and is about half a meter deep. Not dressed for the occasion, we touch the water, which truly is cold. It is a refreshing splash around the neck and face, soothing overheated skin. As we look down, we can see through it, but alas the natural grass is nowhere on the bottom. All we see is the gray lifeless surface of a rock-bottomed pool, but small mosquito fish swim in schools pecking and feeding on its algae-coated walls. Life goes on in this pool, showing the resiliency of nature against all odds, manmade or otherwise.

Food for Thought
In between the trips we were treated to a veritable cornucopia of Camiguin’s cuisine, highlighted by a trip to a fish pen where we literally fished for our lunch. A&J Fish Pen is located at an inlet where the salt meets fresh water. Fish pens surround the restaurant built on stilts. Fresh crabs steamed to a bright red goodness are accompanied by grilled squid caught right from the same pens. The bangus (milkfish) has the earthy flavor of the sea. Elsewhere, fried calamari and crisply fried chicken are popular dishes served with pride in all restaurants. The lomi is brandished as a provincial favorite, and unlike the typical thick noodle bathed in a similarly thick sauce, the Camiguinon version is richer in meats, with thinner noodles and a soup that is thinner and easier on the palate but no lesser on flavor. The freshness of the food is unmistakable and in the hands of a seasoned chef, creations can be short of miraculous. At the heart of every meal is that home-cooked feel to every dish.

Afterthoughts
As all things come to an end, so does this trip. Our route back home is via the ferry from Benoni to Balingoan, Misamis Oriental. This is the time to reflect on Camiguin. Despite a long tradition as a destination for lanzones and the Lanzones Festival, it still retains that old world charm of traditional Filipino life. People still refer to addresses not in terms of numbers, streets, and zip codes, but in terms of where an address is close to and the way people view the place.

There are sights and sounds to see and feel in Camiguin. We hardly had enough time to see what we did, and missed the hot springs and some of the other islands, not to mention the dive spots. Given the time, we would spend as much as we could to live there. It has all the elements for a happy and unforgettable visit. Just take your time—time to experience, time to reflect, time to savor and time to become Camiguinon.

Camiguin can be reached by both boat and plane. Take any major airline to Cebu and connect Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Sunday into Mambajao. Catch the same twin engine back to the Queen City; or if you have the time, take a ferry into Balingoan for a short bus trip into Cagayan de Oro for your return to Manila.