Negros Occidental

Negros Occidental Day 2: First Day at Danjugan Island 2015

Are you an ecotourist? If yes, Danjugan Island of Cauayan, Negros Occidental is for you.

This island is still a four to five hours bus ride away from Bacolod City but it was all worth it. I won't anymore tell everything about Danjugan since you can find all the details here in their website (link). I'll just share our two-days experience in the island. 


Second Day at Danjugan Island link: here.

It was a great decision that we pushed through booking an overnight stay there because day trip would have been so bitin. 'Yung totoo, pa-conyo effect pa ko eh. Hehehe.

We left Bacolod at around 5 A.M and reached Cauayan at 9 A.M. I have coordinated with the island manager two weeks before our arrival just to secure our slots. Danjugan is a marine sanctuary and they are practicing a low-impact tourism model so you need to book in advance. From what I know, they don't accept walk-ins and just maintain a certain number of visitors per day. 
After riding a tricycle, we then road a boat that took us to the island.
Freshness pa ba3. hahaha! Sobrang konti lang talaga ng picture ko doon sa Bacolod na mukha akong tao.
On the way to Danjugan you'll see the Turtle Island of Sipalay, Negros Occidental. Why is it called Turtle Island? Edi itanong mo sa kanya. haha. Baka kasi mukha siyang turtle.
We finally arrived at Danjugan!
Keep in mind that there's no running water and electricity here so make sure to conserve water and bring your powerbank with you.

There's an orientation upon arrival para hindi naman lost kids ang peg. Tourists are also assigned tour guides para hindi talaga lost kids ang peg habang magt-trek. Their tour guides are very knowledgeable so you may ask them questions about the island.

"Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time." Bawal ang pasaway sa Danjugan pls! 
This is where we stayed for the night. I'll show the picture of the bed in my next post but one thing's for sure, back to basic talaga pag pumunta ka rito. 
It was lowtide when we arrived at the island.
These are the roots of the mangroves near the Moray Lagoon. The reason why these roots stick out of the soil is to enable the mangrove to breathe.
This is the moray lagoon. This is named as such because of the moray eel that abound the area. 
One of the many moray eels we saw. There are also a lot of small fishes swimming here but it is prohibited to feed them.
And the start of our trekking.
Sobrang good job sa'kin for impulsively buying that sandals when it was on sale last February. Daming beses ko ng ginamit. hehe. 
I was supposed to post a picture of the bat cave but I realized that posting this would be better because I look fair in this picture. Connect? Hahaha. You may look at my instagram account for the picture of the bats. It was my first time seeing a lot of bats and one of the python snakes in the island was inside as well.
While trekking, we passed through these mangroves. Inside this area, although it's not that obvious, is their breeding site for crabs.
We continued walking until we reached this place. This mud house is another type of accommodation in Danjugan Island.
Interior of the mud house. 
I am just not sure about how you can rent this nor its rate.
Can you spot the nest of the eagle?
Even if we didn't see any eagle that day, our guide pointed where its nest is located.
Went back to the main area (moray lagoon) for our lunch which is also package inclusive. Nung una medyo namahalan pa kami sa rate pero nung andun na kami, worth is naman pala, mura na nga kung tutuusin sa dami ng activities na pwedeng gawin.
<3
 Talagang activities ang madami rito: kayaking, boating, snorkeling, trekking, bird watching etc. 
Low tide.

It rained so we had to wait until it stopped before we continued with our activities.
We tried to snorkel that afternoon pero mahirap palang mag snorkeling pag lowtide. Nagasgasan pa nga ko somewhere. Hindi ko alam kung saan pero may sugat ako pag-ahon namin.
We found nemo!

Stress. Hahahaha. This is one of my unforgettable moments in Danjugan. I was so thrilled upon seeing these clown fishes upclose that I forgot to take into consideration that these fishes are territorial. Ayan, picture ako ng picture kaya galit tuloy sa'kin. Sinugod na nga ako, minura pa ko! Nakakaloka. Ano pa bang gusto nila?? Pasalamat 'tong mga isdang 'to dahil ako ang dayuhan. Tsktsk.  Talagang na-personify na eh. Hahaha!
My first time seeing a sea cucumber.
Sea cucumbers help in the recycling of nutrients in the ecosystem.
Nag-pass out na blue starfish. Hahaha. Parang lasing lang na biglang humilata ang peg eh.
The reason why it was scary to snorkel in shallow water is this sea urchin.
Then we joined a group and we went to the non-protected side of Danjugan and we saw this heartbreaking reality.
Kung gaano kaganda at kayaman sa corals ang protected area, ganito naman ang hindi. Ano na? Maghihintay na lang ba talaga tayong masira na lang ang mga corals ng ganito? Huwag naman sana dumating 'yung panahon na gustuhin nating kumilos pero huli na pala ang lahat. I hope that Danjugan's vision of converting more Philippine islands into protected sites be a reality ASAP.

I was thinking if I should still post this here parang ayoko, gusto magpaka-selfish para hindi masyadong maraming pumunta pero 'yun din, they need the funds eh. Kaya pinost ko na rin in hopes na mas mataas 'yung chances na mabasa 'to ng mga responsible tourists. 
In places like this where visitors are just the second priority, bawal ka rin pumatay kahit langgam. hahaha!
We went to this side of the island to see the sunset but to no avail because it was cloudy. Did I tell you that there are a lot of species of birds in the island too? Hehehe. When were seating here, we panicked because a bird flew near us. Akala ko susugod eh, nangangamusta lang pala.
At ganun-ganun na lang, tapos na ang unang araw namin sa Danjugan Island. <3

Tin Gallemaso

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