The Pride of Surigao Del Sur: Hinatuan’s Enchanted River and Tinuy-an Falls of Bislig

Our CARAGA Region travel is about to end. It is our 4^th day in this region and on the next day we would be heading to Davao City as our final destination before my friends goes back to Manila and for me, that means heading back to Camarines Sur. On day 4 of our CARAGA travel, our destinations are Hinatuan’s Enchanted River and the famous Tinuy-an Falls of Bislig. These are the main attraction of Surigao Del Sur but as I’ve found out, there are still other beautiful destination in this province and I’m pretty sure I’m going to go back to visit those destinations.

Enchanted River, Brgy Talisay, Surigao Del Sur

After the almost 5 hours of travel from Butuan City, and sleeping on the bus, we finally arrived at Hinatuan town transport terminal. We arrived at about a few minutes past 6am and upon arrival at the terminal, few habal habal or motorcycle drivers approached us. They were asking where are we headed and we informed them that we are going to the Enchanted River. The drivers quoted us their price for the motorcycle rental and we ended up with a price of 600 for two motorcycles that could accommodate the 5 of us.

So after the driver tied our bags to their motorcycle, we then headed to Enchanted River located at Barangay Talisay. The travel time was about 45 minutes of rough road. Most of the roads are unpaved starting from the Barangay Dugmanon crossing and for some who are not used to travelling to this kind of roads, it is kinda scary. But since most of us, except for one of my friend, are already used to travelling on a dirt road, it was just all a normal ride. You’ll experience lots of bumps, heart pumping turns, ups and downs, and of course a lot of dust pampering your face.hahaha! And by the end of the travel, you’ll be experiencing a numb butt and a stiff hair.hahaha! But we didn’t worry because our destination is a river and we could swim and take those dusts off of our face.

We arrived at the Enchanted River and paid 30 pesos for the entrance. We didn’t rent a cottage since we are only staying for a couple of hours because we still need to travel to Bislig. Upon entering the area, we saw the beautiful river. It is so blue and it is probably the bluest body of water that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I was amazed by its blueness. I took some pictures and then after several shots I was then so excited to swim at the river because it was so blue and so clear. I could even see all those fishes swimming at the river. So I then changed my clothes and started swimming in the river. The water is cold, deep and it is brackish. It is somewhat a little bit salty since the river is just a few hundred meters from the sea. We swim for more than an hour and then took some pictures while swimming and we enjoyed every minute in that clear and blue water.

Sa sobrang excitement namin na lumangoy we almost forgot that we haven’t taken our breakfast yet. Kaya nung nakaramdam na kami ng gutom, umahon na kami and some of my friends bought steamed camote for breakfast. Sobrang bigat nga sa tiyan nung mga kamoteng malalaki, at sana hindi magcreate ng stomach gas.heheheh! So after we ate those camote for breakfast, we then decided to go back to Hinatuan terminal so that we could go to Bislig City. By the way, if you’re coming from Butuan, to save cost, you can also tell the driver or the conductor of the bus to drop you off at Dugmanon crossing and from there you can rent a motorcycle or habal habal to Enchanted River. That could save you at least 10 minutes of travel time or a few pesos. We weren’t able to do that because nakatulog kami sa bus and besides hindi din kabisado nung conductor yung crossing na dapat babaan papunta ng Enchanted River.

Cottages for rent at the Enchanted river park

Blue river

From the bus terminal in Hinatuan, we boarded a bus bound for Mangagoy, Bislig. We have that option to just wait for a bus at Dugmanon Crossing but the motorcycle driver informed us that it would be much better to go to the terminal since karamihan ng pasahero bumababa na sa terminal at malamang puno pa ang bus na dadaan sa Dugmanon Crossing. From Hinatuan, we boarded an ordinary Bachelor bus and we paid 55 pesos each for the one hour travel. From Mangagoy, after taking our lunch at Dan’s Grill, we then looked for a tricycle that we could rent going to Tinuy-an Falls, which is located at Barangay Burboanan, about 1 hour travel from downtown Bislig. By the way, Mangagoy is a barangay of Bislig and this is the main trading center of Bislig. If you’re going to Bislig, don’t look for a bus signboard that says Bislig because you’re not gonna find one, instead look for Mangagoy.

Anyway, we were able to find a tricycle for 150 pesos for one way trip to Barangay Burboanan. We were told that the bridge collapsed a night before we arrived in Bislig and we can’t go directly to Tinuy-an. We have to cross the river by riding a wooden barge and then transferred to another habal habal or motorcycle for Tinuy-an. The road to Burboanan was mostly dirt road. There are few patches of paved roads but most of the travel will consist of dust showering your face. Yung tricycle driver na nakuha namin ay first timer pala sa lugar na yun and we paid extra sa napagkasunduan namin na 150 kasi mukhang naiiyak na sya habang bumabyahe kami kasi rough road yung daan at hindi nya pa kabisado that we always need to ask for direction from the locals every time my fork road or junction kami na madadaanan. Kawawa naman kasi si manong at mukhang napasubo ata sya sa 150 na presyo nya.hehehe!

Tinuy-an Falls, Brgy. Burbuanan, Bislig, Surigao Del Sur

So after 45 minutes of travel, we finally arrived at the damaged bridge at sumakay na kami sa wooden barge na hinihila lang ng lubid. Tatawid lang naman kami for 5 minutes siguro yun sa barge and we paid 10 pesos for the roundtrip. Isahan na lang yung bayad kasi dun din lang kami sasakay pabalik ng downtown. After we crossed the river, we then transferred to another habal habal that would bring us to Tinuy-an Falls. We paid 50 pesos per person for the roundtrip ride to Tinuy-an. It was just a short travel of about 15 minutes to Tinuy-an. You also have the option na makisakay sa truck ng local government ng Bislig. Free lang yun but you’ll have to wait for a more passengers.

We then arrived at Tinuy-an and we paid 50 pesos for the entrance. We also left our bags at the reception area so that we won’t be carrying our bags when we hiked all the way to the 3^rd tier of the falls. Upon seeing the falls, I was kinda sad because I was expecting that there’s a huge volume of water sa falls kasi itinaon na namin na tag-ulan na pumunta para mas madaming tubig na umaagos sa falls but according sa mga tao dun, hindi daw kasi umuulan ng malakas nung mga nakaraang linggo kahit na rainy season na sa Luzon and Visayas. But kahit na medjo hindi masyadong malakas ang agos ng tubig, the Tinuy-an falls is still spectacular. The waterfall is so wide but I’m sure it is much more beautiful kung malakas ang agos ng tubig. We took some pictures and then we climbed the top tier of the falls. There are stairs at the side of the falls going to the upper portion of the waterfalls. Doon na din kami sa taas lumangoy ng todo kasi mas maganda yung view na nasa taas ka, parang mas exciting kasi na may possibility na maiagos ka pababa at mahulog.hahahah!

The second tier of the waterfalls

We swim for about an hour and then after that we then decided na magbanlaw na para mahabol ang 4pm last trip sa Mangagoy na byaheng Davao City. Ayan na naman kami, hahabol na naman sa last trip.heheh! For the past few days, lagi na lang kami naghahabol sa last trip. So after namin magbanlaw, just our lucky day, bigla naman umulan kaya hindi agad kami nakaalis. We waited for the rain to stop and then after 30 minutes, the rain stopped and that’s when we started our travel to the damaged bridge. From that damaged bridge, we then rode the barge to cross the river. Wala ng tricycle pagtawid namin sa bridge at buti na lang may isang nagvolunteer na ihatid kami all the way to Mangagoy downtown kahit nga medjo umuulan na din ng konti. We rode a skylab going to Mangagoy. Skylab is a motorcycle or habal habal na may katig, yung parang bangka na may katig. The Skylab can accommodate up to 10 passengers. It’s a dangerous form of transportation but this type of transportation is common in Mindanao especially in the mountainous area or mountain barangays. We paid the driver 200 pesos for the ride and since it was already past 4pm when we arrived at Mangagoy, the last trip to Davao City had already left. Kaya ayun, naiwan na naman kami ng last trip so we have to find a way on how to reach Davao City since ang mga flight ng ibang kaibigan ko ay early morning the next day.

We asked for some information from the locals and one of our backup plan is to travel to San Franz or the town of San Francisco, which is about 2 hours away from Mangagoy. We found a van bound for San Franz and it was the last van for the day travelling to San Franz. Buti na lang nakahabol pa kami sa van. We boarded the van and paid 130 pesos for the two hour travel. Upon arrival at San Franz, nagdiner na muna kami before boarding a bus bound for Davao City. In San Franz, there are a lot of buses bound for Davao and Butuan. The buses of Bachelor Transport operate 24 hours a day and most of these operate the Davao to Surigao route and vice versa.  We paid 360 pesos for the air-conditioned bus fare and the travel time from San Franz to Davao is roughly around 5 hours.

The third tier of the waterfalls

Sya nga pala, may isa kaming friend na hindi na sumama sa Tinuy-an falls at nauna na syang pumunta sa Davao City from Hinatuan kasi nasugatan sya nung pumunta kami sa Sohoton the day before na pumunta kami sa Hinatuan and she had a cut sa leg nya at ayaw na nya magbyahe pa ng magbyahe. We feel sorry for her kasi she wasn’t able to totally enjoy her vacation sa CARAGA. She arrived at Davao City ng mas maaga sa amin and she was the one na nagbayad na nung tutuluyan namin sa Davao. We arrived at Davao City at around past 12 am and since 6am ang flight nung 2 friends ko, kailangan din nila gumising ng maaga. So hanggang dito na lang muna ang kwento ko. Sa susunod na entry naman yung tungkol sa Davao, okay? At baka makatulog na kayo sa sobrang haba ng blog ko.hahaha! Till next time! Wooot!

This blog entry is part of my June Travel Series for CARAGA Region and some parts of Eastern Visayas Region.

Day 1 of CARAGA Trip. Surigao City's Basul Island

Day 2 of CARAGA Trip. Surigao City's Mabua Pebble Beach

Day 3 of CARAGA Trip. Surigao Del Norte’s Bucas Grande

Day 4 of CARAGA Trip. Surigao Del Sur's Pride. Hinatuan's Enchanted River and Tinuy-an Falls of Bislig
Day 5 of CARAGA Trip. Davao City. The Final Stop.