Christmas Holiday Trip: Whitewater Rafting Experience, CDO

After testing the waters at Timoga Cold Springs the previous day, we were now ready for the big splash! We were going to try whitewater rafting at Cagayan de Oro City! That day, December 22, 2008 was also our first wedding anniversary. What a way to celebrate it you might say! I and Wendy both love adventure and we want this day to be unforgettable.

We were up at 4:00 AM to attend simbang gabi. By 5:30 AM, we already left for CDO and by 7:00 AM, we arrived at Divisoria, our rendezvous point with our tour guides. They were not yet around though and when Marylou called them, we were directed to proceed to SM City. They arrived soon after us with their jeepney laden with orange rafts.

From SM City, we followed their jeepney to the end point in Brgy. Kabula. We left our Toyota Revo there along with our belongings. I was to bring my digicam but was advised not to as it might get wet. We paid them for their photo/video service anyway. Then off we went to the starting point in Brgy. Mambuaya. We passed by Macahambus Cave and Macahambus Adventure Park but didn’t stop as they were not part of our itinerary. Hmmm, maybe some other time. 

There were already a lot of people at the starting point when we arrived at around 8:30 AM. There must be more than a hundred people gathered besides the mighty Cagayan River! It seemed like a jamboree of some sorts.

Before rafting, we were given instructions by one of our tour guides, Glen, on the basics like how to paddle, the different styles of paddling, classifications of the rapids, what to do when you fell off the boat or when the boat capsized, etc. He also taught us the yell whenever we successfully passed a rapid, a shout of “High Five!” followed by raising our paddles.

We were divided into two groups of five persons with two tour guides each. We surely looked like members of SWAT with the helmets and vests, hehe..

It was a lucky day for all of us as the water was very clear and the weather was nice. Kapag malakas ang ulan, brown ang tubig at maputik. Maulap naman at may kaunting ambon nung araw na iyon kaya hindi masyado’ng napaso at umitim ang makikinis, sensitive at mapuputi nami’ng mga balat, hehe…

Why whitewater? It forms in a rapid when the water becomes shallow and the flow of the river is disturbed by the rocks thereby creating splashes and the water becomes “bubbly” and appears white in color. We were told that there are six whitewater rapids classifications. For our run, we have only navigated Class II to Class III rapids. Experts though can try the more difficult ones which start further upstream. 

For our team, I and Rey being the guys were placed in front. The two tour guides were at the back for steering. We navigated 14 rapids with various names like “secret”, “surprise”, “black hole” and others. Our tour guide is very talkative and knowledgeable so we truly enjoyed the stories on how they got those names.

To keep the fun factor high, we were taught on how to rotate our rafts and “surf” the rapids like shown here:

These were our companions on the second raft. Grabe ang gugulo at very hyper sila! Kahit still water eh ginagawang rapid!

After every successful crossing of the rapids, we were all smiles…

…and went “High Five!”

We also took a shower in one of the mini-falls…

…and took a dip in the water. The water is deep at around 20 feet but it’s a good thing that we have floaters.  

Our course ran 12.3 km. over 14 rapids. In still waters, you will not get bored as the scenery is very beautiful. There are caves, rock formations, and various flora and fauna that will keep you entertained. It also helped that we have a very cool tour guide na hindi nauubusan ng kuwento at mahilig magpatawa kahit medyo corny na ang iba. Keep up the good work Glen! 

Near the end point, there’s a rock around 20 feet high where our “graduation rite” was held place. Only our group among all the hundreds who went rafting that day did this part. All of us climbed the rock… 

…then jumped into the water below one by one! 

Finally, after 3 hours of navigating the Cagayan River and its rapids, we arrived at the end point. It was already lunch time. We were tired and weary but enjoyed the experience very much. Sulit ang binayad namin na P800 per person. It really was a very unforgettable experience!

That night, we had our anniversary dinner at Rose’s place. Insen cooked his special chopsuey and Rey grilled some “pusit”. Cheers! 

After dinner, we went to the viewing room and watched our whitewater rafting videos and slideshow of the pictures. The additional P1,000 we paid to have these taken were also worth it. You can view here the music video I made of our experience. 

To try whitewater rafting at CDO, I personally recommend the group who took care of our experience, Red Rafts. Their web site is  www.raftingcdo.com

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