My colleagues in the
office have been looking for new destinations where we could stay over the
weekend as a post-valentine treat. After several attempts consulting google, we
chanced upon an information of Bucas Grande Island, situated in the province of
Surigao del Norte that has become very popular nowadays because of its
prevailing tourism sites that are really worth-visiting. The internet
information and several word-of-mouths we generated were tempting enough for us
to go despite of the earthquake that hit the province a week before our
scheduled trip.
We took a van from Sta.
Cruz to Hayanggabon Port in Claver town on February 17 in the evening while the
other group led by Cheryl travelled through their private vehicle. We arrived
in Hayanggabon by 7:00 in the morning. The town of Claver is a first class
municipality in Surigao del Norte and it is also the largest in terms of land
area. Personally, I see Claver as having only two major sources of livelihood
for its people, mining and tourism. A large part of the land area of Claver is
a mining reservation because there are large deposit of nickel.
We chartered a boat from
Hayanggabon to Bucas Grande and sailed for 45 minutes. After which, we settled
to another registration area, the Tourism Center in Sohoton. It is a floating
structure that accommodates needs of visitors. From here, we transferred to
smaller boats which transported us to the Sohoton Cove.
The Sohoton cruise was way
beyond an ordinary tour. After going through a small passage we all thought we
were transported to a different world. It was a silent sanctuary only clattered
by the serenity of the lagoon and surrounded by the green canopy that serves as
armour of its enchantment. Our guides, perhaps one of the bests in the country,
lured us to dive through Hakugan Cave and Magkukuob Cave. These caves led us
again to an extremely different environment, this time to the underworld where
the water is very cold and the cave formations are really beautiful. I suggest
you do the dive when you get there, otherwise, you will miss a very memorable
experience.
After series of diving and
bathing, our boatmen took us out of the cove and returned us to our original
big boats in the tourism center. We took our lunch there and afterwards we
proceeded to another interesting site in the island, the Bulitas and Crystal
Caves. Here, we entered into a huge cave with plenty of attractive chambers and
stalactites and stalagmites. The cave is so big that all of us twenty persons
entered altogether along with other visitors. Indeed, caving is another
activity in Bucas Grande that everybody should do and enjoy.
Adjacent to Crystal cave
is Tiktikan lagoon where we stayed for 30 minutes. My colleagues took time to
dive (again) and bath, others paddled using a kayak boat while the rest just
relaxed and enjoyed.
Our last destination before
heading back to Hayanggabon was the jellyfish sanctuary. Our boatman might have
known that this was the very destination I wanted to visit more than any other
sites in the place. The best was saved for an epic ending then, because the
sanctuary promises to be awesome. We did not have the better timing though
because it was a breeding season of the stingless jellyfishes in the sanctuary.
Nonetheless, we still were able to witness those wonderful creatures face to
face.
With the number of tourists
flocking to Bucas Grande Island every day, the challenge for authorities in
Surigao del Norte should always be on the aspect of conservation and
protection. I appreciate how they handled it now especially in regulating the
erection of more structures like resorts. I do not want to see more investors
being tempted to invest tourism-related establishments just because there is an
opportunity brought by tourists from time to time. Much more than tourism is
actually how to venture more in sustaining the natural state of the destination
so that others, I am referring to those unborn population, would be able to
enjoy the same.
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