A LEAP OF FAITH OR FEAR?

My trip to Camotes Island, Cebu is, I would say it was an unplanned trip.  It was my cousin, Ar-el, who convinced me that we have a trip there because (according to her very deep research in Google) the island had beautiful beaches, we could get discounts, we could go cliff diving and blah blah blah . . .

There is something CONTAGIOUS about someone being so overpoweringly excited about something.  Hanging out with someone who just can’t stop talking about an upcoming event, you can’t help but get excited too!

For my part, I just brought my swim wear, other dry clothes, and some pocket money.  I wasn’t expecting anything other than the white sand and the blue green ocean (was it the Pacific? I wonder).

Getting on the island, what surprised me the most was the placed called: BUHO ROCK.

When we entered the Buho Rock ‘resort’, I wondered why we had to pay an entrance fee. The place seemed . . . Abandoned; and Old; and stuck in Time; and full of Rocks. Yet, it was strangely clean (which answers why we had to pay an entrance fee, haha!).

 

It was a good thing that we got the place ALL TO OURSELVES because NO ONE ELSE WAS THERE. Not even a cleaning lady or a waiter. There wasn’t even a life guard to watch over a cliff diver. Did people leave the place for good? Did something happen there? No one could tell us.

It was a good thing though, because no one could see us walking slowly, weak-kneed, peering carefully down the 10 foot high cliff.

When at Buho Rock, one does not simply go CLIFF DIVING right away.  It was 10 feet high! And then they also had a menacing 40 feet high cliff just a few meters away from the first cliff.

It took us a few minutes of just staring down the beautiful, clear blue water before one of us had the courage to take the dive (but it was actually more like pushing ourselves off the cliff).

We all tried to BACK OUT at the last split second before the dive. But what the hell, we just went for it! Two seconds of airtime: the feeling was so relieving and you just can’t help but shout and scream away all the nervousness trapped inside you for the few minutes of staring down the sea.

 

One had to climb a bamboo ladder to get back up the cliff.  It was so scary for me because I was scared of heights! My knees were literally shaking while climbing the ladder, partly because of the seemingly very very long airtime (I thought I would never touch water) and the ladder that looked like it would break anytime (it has been in salty water for how long, I don’t know).

 

Well, I just had one jump and I didn’t have enough courage to try the 40-foot cliff dive. . None of us did. . . I really really hope to go back there and bring more bravery in the travel bag.

Buho Rock kept my heart pounding even after we left the place.  Thump! Thump! Thump! Love for Buho Rock and Camotes Island.