The hard rain the previous
night made me doubt if the morning’s gloomy sky would turn better. Minutes into
our boat ride from Del Carmen port and all my dreads of bad weather evaporated
into the sinewy glow of the torrid sun. I’ve heard raves about our next
destination before, but I’ve chosen not to stroke my curiosity of how it look
like. Because I prefer Siargao to surprise me, I avoided seeing videos and photographs
of the teeming beautiful nature of the island–except for the surf scene it is
known for. A drone shot of the fine
white sands of Daku, Guyam and Naked Islands might have captured my gaze a few
times, but Sugba Lagoon hasn’t caught my eye yet–but it won’t be for long.
After a 40 minute drive from
General Luna to Del Carmen and another hour and a half of boat ride, we
smoothly cruised into a water passageway leading to scattered small islands shrouded
by lush greens. Our guide explained to us that Sugba Lagoon is part of a protected
4,000-hectare nature sanctuary that also boast the second largest Mangrove forest in
the Philippines.
With early morning sheen of the
sun bouncing off the island’s thick trees, the water appeared a charming medley
of green and the blue reflection of the sky. As our boat quietly sliced through the waters
creating minimal ripples, my anticipation of finally laying eyes on Sugba
Lagoon cuts through my consciousness like a Zen knife.
A state of calmness quickly prevailed over me. I was amazed at how magnificent Mother Nature formed these azure
colored waters that snakes around the scattered islets off the coast of Del
Carmen. Inching nearer, the waters
became greener and the first thing I noticed as we approached the makeshift
wooden jetty was the lone pontoon house docked with colorful kayaks.
It is also there where you can rent
stand-up paddle-boards, kayaks and other inflatable flotation. After renting a
table to put our things, our group dispersed quickly with each one hurrying to start playing with the water. I started off with the paddle-board then shifting
to a kayak before spending most of my time on the diving platform.
There couldn’t be more than 50
people that day, but the sheer size of the lagoon still afforded us a sense of
isolation especially during our single kayaking session. The 8-feet wooden board
built adjacent to the walking platform became our playground after our lunch
consisting of adobo squids, liempo, steamed shrimps and crabs.
Everyone just
egged others to jump and when someone exhibited apprehensions–as if right on
cue–two little girls’ displaying bravado, showed the way. They took turns jumping
into the water more than a dozen times, to the astonishment of everybody
including their mom. “Mommy, we’re going to jump again”, the older girl would
declare the moment they swam back to the dais.
I was supposed to jump a couple
of times but buoyed by the courage of the kids, I ended up walking back to the
platform several times. It was fun just diving yourself crazy at the clear and
warm waters of Sugba Lagoon. Now, I can’t stop dreaming about building a small
house by the lake someday–and yes, with a diving platform to go with it.
