CARAGA Northeastern Mindanao – Hinatuan Enchanted River (Day 2): Bluer than Blue

Hinatuan’s Enchanted River is a river on the island of Mindanao that flows directly into the Pacific Ocean. When I first heard that this river is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Mindanao, I got curious (really, rivers?). Living in the Philippines composing of many islands, we are accustomed to plenty of rivers (during family reunions, barkada trippings, etc).  I browsed the internet out of curiosity, to know why it became a popular place to go.

I was really amazed by the pictures I saw on the net.  The water of the river is crystal clear blue (unlike normal rivers that are either dirty brown or just normal-looking-river.. LOL). At first, I thought the pictures were photoshopped, so to prove me wrong, I included Enchanted River to my itinerary.

How to get there

By Air 

From Manila or Cebu or Davao City as transit point, Philippine Airlines (or its low cost counterpart – PALExpress)  and  Cebu Pacific ply the Manila-Davao-Manila and Cebu-Davao-Cebu several trips daily. From Davao City, there are non air-conditioned buses in Davao Ecoland Terminal directly bound to Mangagoy in Bislig City for a 5-hour trip.  From Mangagoy ride a bus bound to San Francisco/Butuan City – and just tell the driver to drop you in eskina/crossing Enchanted River- that’s more or less an hour travel.

From Manila or Cebu or Butuan City as transit point, Philippine Airlines (or its low cost counterpart – PALExpress)  and  Cebu Pacific also ply these routes three times a week. From the airport take a cab to the City Bus Integrated Terminal where air-conditioned van may be hired for a 4-hour trip to Bislig City (passing the town of Hinatuan) at a reasonable price. Regular trips of Bachelor Express buses also ply the Butuan route as early as 2:00AM daily. Note that Hinatuan is the last stop before Mangagoy/Bislig, so be sure to be awake when the bus stops at Hintuan (or just inform the driver to drop you off at Hinatuan Terminal). From the terminal you can hire a habal/habal (single motorcycle) to the river.  You can also ask the driver to drop you directly in eskina/crossing Enchanted River where single motorcycles are also available (there is a large tarpaulin of Enchanted River in the crossing).

By Sea

Inter-island vessels like the Super-ferry and Sulpicio Lines serves the Manila-Butuan or Cebu Butuan routes on regular schedules with Nasipit Port as transit point. Aircon vans are available at the wharf or take a jeepney to the city terminal for the regular bus trips to Bislig City (passing the town of Hinatuan).

Source: Bislig City Tourism Leaflet

Enchanting Experience! 

If my ride to Tinuy-an Falls was a real pain-in-the-ass, my trip to Hinatuan Enchanted River was a delight. The cool breeze of the morning touches my face as we drove deeper into the forest where the river is located.  We reached the river after a 45-minute to 1-hour drive from Bislig City. There was an entrance fee of Php50.00, stores are located near the entrance of the river, cottages can be rented for those who are planning to stay longer, swimming and diving gears can be rented at a reasonable price. (Entrance fee is 50 pesos per person, life jacket rent is 15 pesos per hour, and cottage rent costs 100.00.)

A little walk from the entrance, you can already see the crystal blue water of Enchanted River. Since, I arrived early in the morning, only a few people were in the vicinity which made my trip to
Enchanted River a little more magical. It was like I was lost in one of the locations setting of a fairy tale like movie. The water of the river is very vibrant and picturesque, like it was calling out to you.

Every minute of my stay there was magical. I was lucky to have brought my snorkeling gear, for I was able to take a glimpse of the underwater action.  I swam to my heart’s content and lost track of the time. It was already 10:30 AM when I felt the grumbling of my stomach and remembered that I haven’t had breakfast yet.

I packed my things and looked at the river one last time, thinking to myself that I will definitely be back with a diving certificate in my hand to explore more of the river’s mystery.

The driver dropped me at Hinatuan Terminal where I took the Bus going to Butuan City. I paid him P1,000 for the whole tour (Tinuy-an and Enchanted) plus P100 for his kindness and patience.

Goodbye Surigao del Sur! 

There are still plenty of places I want to visit but I only had 2 days off from work. I rode the bus back to Butuan with a heavy heart but with a smile in my face. I really enjoyed my Surigao del Sur trip and was very thankful for the experience, even though I was not yet ready to leave the place. I’ll be back Surigao del Sur!

***Please note that all the pictures in this blog entry was from the internet (google image search). I was not able to take a picture of the place because my phone was still not working due to the "tinuy-an falls incident".

Follow my CARAGA Northeastern Mindanao adventure on the succeeding posts.

First Weekend Trip
Surigao Del Sur (Day 1) - A Roadtrip to the Unknown: Bislig City
Surigao Del Sur (Day 1) - Tinuy-an Falls: Little Niagra of the Philippines
Surigao Del Sur (Day 2) - Hinatuan Enchanted River: Bluer than Blue

Second Weekend Trip
Surigao Del Norte (Day 1) - Surigao City: City of Island Adventures
Surigao Del Norte (Day 1) - Siargao: Tra-Abel Enroute
Surigao Del Norte (Day 2) - The Boardwalk at Cloud 9: Sunrise Watching
Surigao Del Norte (Day 2) - Siargao Island Hopping: The Three Islands