Del Monte Pineapple Farm, Bukidnon Province

Traversing the semi-concrete and mostly rough road going to Dahilayan Adventure Park, you will see a huge plantation of pineapples along the way. This is the Del Monte Pineapple Farm in Camp Phillips. 

Aside from pineapples, you can also spot some other fruit bearing trees like banana and papayas (probably use for fruit cocktail ).  You will also notice houses that have similar designs and with code numbers provided by the company to their employees. They also have schools and recreational facilities within the area. 

Before going back to CDO, we stopped by the farm for some photos including the big pineapple figure that was knocked down by the NPA rebels during their attack.

Dahilayan Adventure Park, Bukidnon Province

With our initial arrangement, the personnel from Great White Water Tours fetched us from CDO airport and we went straight to Bukidnon province for our first stop, Dahilayan Adventure Park.

Dahilayan Adventure Park is a huge park with great ambiance. Gigantic pine trees and the cool breeze made me think of Baguio. They have obstacle course for team building seminars and accommodations are also available for those who want to stay overnight.

Dahilayan boasts its 150m, 320m and 840m dual Zipline. Aside from the zipline, they also have other rides like the drop zone and flying lizard.

Bukidnon Province

The night before our trip, I received a call from Great White Water Tours and told me about the news that NPA attacked Del Monte Pineapple Farm. She said we need to cancel our Bukidnon tour because the province was placed into heightened alert. I was depressed because the plan I made for almost three months suddenly fell out of places and I have to change the whole itinerary since it’s jam-packed with so much activities. I was totally disoriented when she finally called back and said that the alert has been lifted and we can push with our initial plan. God is REALLY good all the time =).

Our package with them was P1,900 each for 6pax with inclusions of Dahilayan Zipline with side trip to Del Monte Pineapple Farm and White Water Rafting plus free lunch. We found out later that the owner of Great White Water Tour and Dahilayan Adventure Park are related to each other. This is probably the reason why we got the package on a much cheaper price

Not a typical encounter with a Sea Urchin – White Island, Camiguin

Plenty of people have seen, a few have been a victim but how many actually have eaten…a sea urchin? Not a typical encounter e?

Enjoying the morning breeze on White Island, a man who seemed to be selling something walked in front of us. Gastronomic curiosity struck my travel hubby so he called the man. Saw his eyes opened wide and found his wicked smile, we then approached and peeked what’s inside the man’s basket.

 

My fear swallowed me whole while looking at this sea creature moving its “spines” while the man cracked its shell. Once opened, the man poured vinegar to the inner shell and handed it over to our guys who were gluttonized with the look of what they are about to eat. And yes, they have eaten it raw!

 

I don’t know if eating sea urchins is prohibited, but I can attest that it’s not poisonous since the three of them are still alive and I’m definitely sure that my exotic food enthusiast travel hubby enjoyed his snack. Another first in his so-called “food exploration”

 

White Island, Camiguin

It was still dark when we left Pabua Cottage, a 5 minute walk to the shore, waited for our turn to go on board and a 15 minute sail towards our destination… the White Island. 

The sea was wild because of the ferocious howling of the wind; the waves were huge and tough. I was taming my rapid pounding heart, praying to reach our destination safe and sound, you see I love to travel but afraid of the deep-sea. Thank God we have disembarked unharmed. But unfortunately, our boat was damaged and had succumbed.

the boat before the plight

 I had set foot to a similar island like this in Palawan, just a sandbar amidst the open-sea. But the one thing that has caught my attention was the view of Mt. Hibok-hibok and Mt. Vulcan from afar. It was a bit cloudy that day but still the panorama made me wonder how these volcanoes, in one way or another, created this extraordinary sandbar, this phenomenal island…an island born of fire.

mt. hibok-hibok, mt. vulcan and the waves

opposite side of the island

The sun had finally set in which made the vista more appealing to the eyes. We snapped souvenir photos to be included in our travel memoir, laid down while in awe on the ivory-colored fine sand, plunged into the cold lucid water and enjoyed the gentle rays of the morning sun.

We only stayed on the island for just a short while but the memories of the scene and experience will be forever engraved in our hearts.

(you may check our budget for this tour: Northern Mindanao Region Escapade)