Un-manicured, un-styled, unfettered…and beautiful. The wonder of nature is in its ability to take our breath away, without any art-directing help from us. From the moment we began our descent over Camiguin, the lush greeness (is that even a word??) of the volcanic island seemed almost filtered and unnatural. Even the air smelled sweet & green! Ito’s and my early morning arrival at the intimate and barefoot-chic Somewhere Else Boutique Resort was punctuated with bird calls and butterflies fluttering through our open-air patio.
Over the next few days, with hand-drawn maps from Jerome (the quirky & funny French resort owner), we drove around and explored the second smallest island in the Philippines, managing to circle it in a day. We puttered around its coastal highway with stunning sea views, sometimes stopping to check out a giant clam sanctuary and photograph a romantically crumbly old church, other times cooling down in a waterfall lagoon and taking a dip in a pool of soda spring water.
We also took a banca ride and spent a day in picturesque nature-reserve, Mantique Island, where the coral gardens and snorkeling in the marine sanctuary were fantastic (I even had uni served to me picked up straight from the sea)! Of course it was expected that the seafood in Camiguin would be extremely fresh, and I gorged on everything from clam soup, to grilled fish, to garlic prawn pasta, to hand-tossed Napolitana pizza all from restaurants close to our resort. Did I mention I have a weakness for seafood??
To cap off our trip, we spent our last afternoon strolling the stunning stretch of powdery white sand on White Island, catching the sunset, and watching the sea and sky melt together into a watercolor-washed pastel-hued painting. It certainly didn’t take a village to get the island of Camiguin looking picture-perfect! (For more of my ‘postcards’ from Camiguin, read “Camiguin: Inspirational Photos of the Day“)
*Photos by Ito
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The photos are gorgeous!! I have never been to Camiguin although it’s certainly been on the radar of places to visit here. You post has definitely bumped it up the to-see list! And what a lovely sounding resort…love the name! Checking out the resort now…
I can’t take any credit for Ito’s photos, but I’m the happy beneficiary! 😉 It was our first time to Camiguin too, and what a wonderful surprise! The island itself is volcanic, so it doesn’t have many white sand beaches but it’s dotted with falls, lagoons & springs, along with interesting things to see (White Island and Mantigue Island are short banca rides away). “Somewhere Else” is a warm, lovely 2-villa resort, & the resort’s owner, Jerome Birnbaum–who commented above–is just the best!