CAVE CRAZY: Baliw Cave Spelunking and Panligawan Cave Rappelling (Mabinay)
Gwen, Edz, Ivory and me at the cave entrance.
*For a 'less wordy' itinerary, click here. But you'll miss the video below. =)
*For a 'less wordy' itinerary, click here. But you'll miss the video below. =)
On the early morning of January
10, 2016, my friends and I rode the Ceres Bus from Dumaguete to Mabinay
(P106/pax) to go on our first-ever spelunking adventure. Arriving bright and early
at the Bulwang Cave Offices (09269739386), we learned that not everyone was as
excited as we were: the office was still closed. After a while though, some of the office
personnel finally arrived and we immediately asked around for the cave tour.
Turns out, there are actually 3
levels of spelunking available: Beginner, Advanced and Extreme. The Beginners’
level is the most-commonly availed one, where the participants follow the
guides through 3 caves along pathways, stairs and platforms. There are many
guides available for this level and this is available anytime (P400/pax tour
fee). The Advanced level, on the other hand, requires an advanced booking because
it’s more on the “technical” side (i.e. harder); and, from the conversations we
had with the other guides, we gathered that only “Shem” can guide this tour.
The extreme level, as the name suggests, is an extreme adventure, spanning 3
days of cave exploration, with one day of training required.
We were all beginners but we were
looking for an authentic cave immersion; and picture-taking while walking on
paved paths, smoothed stairs, and installed walkways inside a cave didn’t quite
sound as exciting as we expected. So we decided on the advanced level and one
of the guides gave us Shem’s number to contact (09358412290). We got hold of
Shem at 9AM and he promised to be at the office by 9:30. We took this
opportunity to have our breakfast at a carinderia that was a 5 minute-wallk
away. Shem arrived well past 11. To be fair, it was his day-off and he wasn’t
expecting us so it took him a while to get ready. (The other guides said he is
quite tardy most of the time though, but denied saying so when he arrived. haha)
Anyway, after settling the fees (P1500/group Baliw Cave tour + P1500/group
Panligawan Cave rappelling + P50/pc head lamp rental), we were finally off to
go spelunking!
Going Baliw
We rode a bus (P10/pax) to the
Baliw Cave jump-off, rode a habal-habal (P100/trip good for 2) for around 2.5km
and arrived at the start of the trail.
I’m an office worker and a couch
potato so the trail was really hard for me. There were steep climbs and steep
descents. I could feel my heartbeat at my temples. After around 30 minutes of
trekking, including a short break where we had siopao for snacks (courtesy of Ivoel), we finally
arrived at the cave’s mouth (±1PM). This is where the real adventure begins.
(Tip: if you can, wear clothes to
cover your whole legs and arms, well-fitted gloves, and bring high-lumens waterproof
headlamps. Also, your shoes should be able to withstand twisting and turning,
and walking through mud, muddy water and sharp rocks. Bring a small, waterproof
camera; flash is an advantage. Bring as little else as possible.)
The beginning of the trek relies
mostly on upper-body strength to carry your weight while you’re searching for
footholds to lower yourself down boulders. At this point, you realize that this
is not a walk in the park at all. And you begin to doubt your decision to go
advanced, but there’s practically no going back, so you don’t have a choice but
to go forward. The rocks are sharp and slippery due to the mud (most likely bat
poop / “guano”). Since I was following Shem, I got to see as he pointed out
critters like the tailless scorpions and a red tarantula before they scurried
away. After a while of walking, the passages become smaller and the going
becomes more tedious. Then you encounter water. At first, this is just
ankle-deep and you relish the relief of finally being able to wash your hands.
(Tip: don’t bother skipping on rocks to avoid the water; you’ll be wet from
head to toe by the end.)
(Update: reading this again after almost a year made me realize the weird change in tense & perspective :)
From this point on, you will find
deeper waters, and even smaller passages. There are areas where you have to sit
on your haunches while moving sideward crab-like. You walk among numerous
dildos (cue the jokes from the guide), and sparkly stalagmites and stalactites.
There also comes a point where you have to go into push-up position, supporting
your weight on your palms and the tips of your toes. You can’t lie down because
the sharp rock beneath will surely scratch you; and you can’t extend your hands
either because the rock at your back are just as sharp. It was definitely a
workout.
There are portions where you have
to jump/slide from rocks into waist-deep water and sink into the mud until you’re
in, chest-deep. At one point, I couldn’t feel the bottom beneath my feet so I
held onto rocks at the side to move forward. (It’s difficult to tread muddy
water in hiking shoes.)
The finale is definitely the most
memorable. Here, you only have about 4-5 inches between the overhead rock and
the surface of the water, so you have to take off your helmets and headlamps
and hold it with one hand. Then you float belly-up with your face less than an
inch from the overhead rock, and with your free hand, navigate yourself calmly
until you reach the outside world. You have to remember to keep your distance
from your buddies and minimize your movements. Otherwise, you could cause a
wave that will eliminate his/her airspace. It was scary and incredible and
truly exciting.
Once you’re out, you can rinse
off in the river and try to remove as much mud from your shoes and socks as you
can. Then you’ll have to trek back to the start of the trail where your
habal-habal drivers are waiting. (Make sure to negotiate for the drivers to
come back for you after around 2 hours from dropping you off. And request to be
brought directly to the cave office instead of the jump-off point).
Panligawan Cave Rappelling
Once at the office, we changed
into dry clothes, walked along a path for about 1 km, and waited while Shem and
his companion, Xander, worked on the rappelling set-up. By the time they were
finished, it was already ±5:30PM and getting dark. For those who haven’t tried
rappelling before, this is worth a try. It would have been so much better if we
did it earlier though. As it is, we could barely make out the cave’s features
when we have finally descended. The thrill of lowering yourself down is still
worth the fee. The hardest part I think is at the start: finally giving up
solid ground and trusting the rope to carry your weight. Once everyone has
descended, we took the stairs back out of the cave and we were finally done for
day.
Well, not quite yet. We still had
to walk to the highway (±2km) and wait for a bus to take us home. The bus, when
it finally came, was filled to capacity so we were standing/sitting on the
steps all the way to Dumaguete.
The Verdict
All in all, this was a really
fascinating experience that I will try to remember for the rest of my life. Do
I recommend it? If you have read my extra-long narrative and still think you
can survive it, then it’s definitely a must. This was my first advanced
spelunking experience so I can’t really tell how it compares to other caves.
You have to be warned though:
this trip is less about what you get to see and more about what you get to
feel/experience. And for those like me, expect to still feel the super sore
muscles 3 days later.
Here's a video compilation by Ivory & Noel that could describe the experience better than my words ever can:
Next: tabulated itinerary (shorter version) here.
Here's a video compilation by Ivory & Noel that could describe the experience better than my words ever can:
Next: tabulated itinerary (shorter version) here.
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