Isla Corregidor

(This is the detailed post of the previous entry)

Situated at the opening of Manila Bay, this tadpole-shaped island of Corregidor was the destination of 15 Pinoy Travel Bloggers yesterday (Apr 13). Mr. Ivan Henares arranged this event and was sponsored by the Sun Cruises, the only ferry service that offers great tours at the historic island.

My Firsts

This is my first meet-up with fellow travel bloggers, nervous but excited. (you guys rock)
This island tour is my very first out-of-Luzon-Island trip.
This is my first ferry ride.
This is where I first entered a lighthouse.
Also my first zipline experience.


The Experience

Early morning at 6:30, Chinchan and I met at UST before heading to Sun Cruises Dock Area together. When we got there, we realized that we're the first PTB to arrive. We saw sir Ivan Henares, starstuck mode, we signed in and got our tickets, yahoo!

got my ticket!

So it includes the ferry ride plus a buffet lunch.

Minutes later, the other bloggers arrived. They started figuring out who's who, I made a research the night before so I'm kinda familiar with their faces except one. I was wondering who's not with us, I counted only 14: Ada, Ian, CA, Nicely, Leo, Lloyd, Chinchan, Mica, Aleah, Marco, Marinelle, Ivan (me), Ivan H., Ferdz. I really have no idea who's the other blogger (I only found out when I got home).

We boarded at 7:40 AM, everyone was excited, Sun Cruise left Manila at 8:00 AM. Mr. Ivan H. gave us snacks and bottled water (ambait niya), after the safety demo we all headed to the upper deck (ka-hilo moments) and there we had chit-chats. Everyone brought their "bigatin" cameras out, at medyo nahiya ang aking point and shoot (woohoo, balang araw magkakaroondin ako ng SLR, sa ngayon photoshop muna).  The whole cruise ride to Corregidor Island was about an hour and 30 minutes. We arrived at the island at around 9:30 AM.

see you again Manila.

our service for the day

there's the island of Corregidor

my first step on the Island

A tram ride was already waiting for us at the port, exclusive for the bloggers group. Sun Cruises gave right away the free "I Conqured Corregidor" tshirt (sakto ang fit). Our first stop was the Battery Way, the organizers took us there so we could change to our "I Conquered Corregidor" tshirt.

our tram ride

eto kami, ang sabi magpalit ng damit, but look we keep on shooting

Only 12 of us participated at the Adventour Challenge, Ivan H., sir Ferdz and a singkit guy who looks familiar stayed on the tram. We were given a blue backpack with essential things inside, and a flashlight. These 12 bloggers were then divided into two teams: team red and team orange.

The Red Horse Team:

Ada Lajara

CA de Ramos

Lloyd the Lostboy

Marcos Caratao

Marinelle de Leon

Roman Leo Reyman

The Orange Jumpshot Team:

Me

Ian de la Peña

Chinchan Lakwatsero

Nicely Rom

Mica Rodriguez

Aleah Phils

Our first quest was to find the three parts of the map located at the Battery Hearn, Battery Smith and the Battey Grubbs. Locating the maps on these ruins was not an easy task. It was dark inside, bats were coming out. Grabe first part pa lang hinihingal na kami ng husto. When we finally got all the three parts of the map, the Red Horse Team was already far ahead of us. But we really don't care, we're really out of energy already and we're just walking our way to our next stop.

the Red Horse Team, already on the way

the Orange Jumpshot Team, just relaxed

photo from Aleah, ang bibo namin

photo from Aleah. Jumpshot pa rin kahit pagod na

Our energy was down, will rise only if kuya guide will click the shutter. We regained hope of winning when we saw the Red team still not done with the second task at the Battery Way. We were surprised that after a few minutes we finished the second task before the red team does. booyeah!

The next clue leads us to the duck tunnel inside the jungle. You will certainly walk like a duck and will say quack-quack inside. It was a dark narrow underground passage, medyo mainit din sa loob, at the end is a ladder leading us back to the jungle where our next clue was waiting for us to be deciphered.

photo from Ada. Kaya pala antagal namin naghintay sa taas, yung team leader namin nakiki-piktyur kasama Red Horse team.

We then headed to the Red Cross Hospital, where they say ghosts are lurking every night. The Japs still bombed this area during the world war 2 despite the Red Cross Sign on the roof. It is here where we solved our third task and our minds were napiga so much. It's just that these Mind Bending Puzzles are not for me.

photo from Aleah. we finished first kaya may time pa para mag-pose

photo from Aleah. After finishing the puzzles first, Orange Jumpshot now leads the race

From the hospital, we ran towards the Mile Long Barracks, the longest barracks in the world that can house 80,000 military men. We played pass-the-ball-then-shoot-it-to-the-basket game, Red team finished this fast and we were again left behind. After successfully shooting all the balls into the basket, we headed next to the Eternal Flame Monument via the Golden Staircase.

this is the Mile Long Baracks, mahaba pa yan.

photo from Aleah. jumpshot uli bago pumasok sa Eternal Flame

meron sundial sa loob

We reached the the place and saw the red team playing the Mines Game. Only two members from the team could play this, Ian and Chinchan played for our team (ok let them play it, I'll just shoot around). The view from this place is majestic, the tadpole island's tail is perfectly seen from this spot. Ada from the red team had to start again after she stepped on the plastic cup with water. Then our team leads the race once again.

photo from Aleah. oops, Ada's falling

dito na kami sa Eternal Flame

the Eternal Flame Monument

the tadpole-island's tail

ewan ko kung ano tawag dito, basta this is the way to the Eternal Flame Monument, parang courtyard daw ng mga bampira ayon kay Chinchan

We again traversed the jungle towards Japanese Tunnel. This is my favorite part of the race because it's not easy to pass though this tunnel, very thrilling. You have to hold on the rope at your side. At the end is another ladder going up to the jungle where we found our next clue that led us to the lighthouse.

old structure on our way to the Japanese Tunnel

photo from Aleah. woohoo, that's me at the Japanese Tunnel

just outside the Japanese Tunnel

Team Orange Jumpshot on thier way to the lighthouse

From this spot, no one's running anymore, our bottles were empty already. Dehydration!! We passed through old ruins covered by thick tree roots (similar to Ankor Wat temples in Cambodia). At the end of the trail, we saw the towering lighthouse.

to the lighthouse

Yay, I can't believe I was entering my very first lighthouse. It was very windy at the top. I wish I could stay there a bit longer, but we have to assemble the "Gone With The Wind" jigsaw puzzle. The movie "Gone with the Wind" was the last to roll on Cine Corregidor before the Japs rained bombs in 1942. Our guide told us that this was the second to the last task. After finishing the puzzle, we walked our way to the Parade Ground to finish our final task.

the lighthouse

photo from Ada. Team Orange Jumpshot minus Chinchan and Mica (pero hindi kami tumalon mula diyan ah)

wer u at?

the "Gone with the Wind" jigsaw puzzle

photo from Ferdz. woot malapit na matapos

The final task will challenge the teamwork of the team, we have to put a ball into a basket using only the bamboos of different sizes. We failed several times but at the end, our team got the trophy.  Woohoo! Mabuhay Team Orange JumpShot.

off limit pero may piktyur ako

A Pinoy Travel Bloggers group picture with the singkit guy ends the Corregidor Adventour Challenge.

photo from Ada. the 14 Pinoy Travel Bloggers plus the singkit guy 

The Buffet Lunch

Yum yum. I guess was hungry already, and we all deserve a buffet lunch at Corregidor Inn. So what's up for lunch?

They got carbonara there, fresh vegetable salad, buttered veggies, cream of mushroom soup, 2 ulams of unknown name.

Sarap talaga, I am busog na already I still want to try the dessert. They have there fresh watermelons and a buko pandan.

Their pandan drink with jellies is good too.

shoot first before eating

The Zipline
   
My tummy doubled its size after the delightful buffet lunch. I thought we're boarding the cruise back to Manila after the meal, but hey, we still have one more activity to try. Hoorah to Zipline. That was my first zipline experience, and I really like it. Their 300m Zipline is a must try when you visit this island.  

ZIPLINE

photo from Aleah. CA on the go

photo from Aleah. look at Chinchan's face

Hello again Manila

By 2:15 PM, we started to board the cruise back to Manila. Mr. Bobby Aquino gave each one of us a a nice group picture. Then I fell into deep sleep during the whole cruise trip.

on our way back to Manila

Upon reaching the Sun Cruises Dock at Manila, Mr. Bobby Aquino and Mr. Ivan Henares again invited us to have a Manila Bay Cruise Dinner. All bloggers joined except Sir Ferdz and the singkit guy.

*who's the singkit guy then? I found out only when I got home that this singkit guy is actually Karlo de Leon, the 15th blogger. haha.  I really thought that he's just Ivan H's friend. Hello sir Karlo, nice meeting you.


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