tips for canyoneering in cebu

Hi guys! Thought I would revive this blog with a crazy adventure post.

canyoning/canyoneering

ˈkanjənɪŋ/

noun

noun: canyoneering

1. the sport of jumping into a fast-flowing mountain stream and allowing oneself to be carried downstream at high speed.

Yep. That's what we did. After reading multiple articles online and watching multiple jumping videos on Youtube, 
we finally decided to take the jump. Literally.
We followed the helpful tips on this blog and decided to go with 

Kawasan Canyoneering

Website: kawasancanyoneering.com.ph

Contact number: +63 905 333 2623
Email: kawasancanyoneering@gmail.com

Tips down below!

Some questions that I had prior to the experience:

1. Do you have to be a good swimmer?
No. I'm a horrible swimmer. I can barely swim 50m but I felt safe the whole time, you are equipped with a life vest and the swimming is hardly strenuous. Your guide is always with you 100% of the way. You only "swim" or wade your way through small sections of water - most are not deep and you can stan up in.

2. What do I wear?
Wear an old tshirt and shorts - you will be scrambling through rocks and boulders so don't wear something nice. Also wear your swimmers underneath as you will go straight to Kawasan Falls afterwards.

3. Do I need water shoes?
You can rent shoes for 50 pesos but I highly advise you bring your own grippy runners. The shoes they rent you have no soles and you will be scrambling on rocks A LOT and it REALLY bloody hurts - it feels like you're stepping on a lego every few minutes.

4. Are the jumps high? Are they mandatory?
The first jump is mandatory. It is about 2 metres, but BELIVE ME I was more than happy to jump into some cold waters and I wasn't even scared.
The second jump slightly higher, about 3-4 metres I didn't do and walked down.
The next jumps were also 3-4 metres and for some reason I found the courage to just jump down!
A lot of them are sliding over little waterfalls so there aren't too many jumps. Don't fret!

5. Do I need to bring food and water?
 Our guide kindly prepared us with a bottle of water and an energy bar that was placed into the front pocket of our life vest. There is also a food stall on the side of the mountain, but don't depend on it being there everyday. Once you reach the waterfalls there's a lot of food stalls, so bring some money for that! Otherwise, our tour group prepared us with a yummy lunch back at base.

6. Do I need to bring money? How much?
The company we chose was at 1500 pesos per person (the more people the cheaper) and 50 pesos for shoe rental. This was paid on the day in cash, we asked our driver to stop by an ATM on the drive there. You should also bring extra cash for food/activities at Kawasan Falls, the waterfall massage is 300/person.

7. When is the best time to go, and how long does it take?

There are rules that state the earliest canyoneering can start at 6am and the latest at 3pm.
We started at 8am and finished at the waterfall at around 1pm. The whole process lasted around 4 hours and YES time flies when you're having fun! You don't even think about checking what time it is.

8. Can I bring my camera, gopro, phone?

Yes! Technically you can bring a dry bag and store everything you need in it, but the bags do get thrown a few metres into the water so I wasn't comfortable in putting my camera in there. We bought some waterproof phone cases which worked a charm (you can purchase them around the entrance too) and our guide took photos and footage for us the whole way.

Many do choose to bring their gopro's but they also rent gopro's at the entrance to the waterfalls too incase you forget!

9. Where is Badian (Kawasan Falls)? Is it far away?

If you're staying in Mactan Island. Then YES. It is a 3 hour drive, the company we chose had a private car pick us up from our hotel at 5am and then send us back home afterwards as well.

There are little hotels you can stay at in the area so you don't have to wake up super early in the morning.

The whole trip took us just about 12 hours (including 6 hours of travelling, and 6 hours of fun!)

Here's a rough memory recall of how the day went:

• 5.00AM Private car pick up from hotel

• 8.00AM Arrive at Canyoneering base camp in Badian

• Sign paperwork, get geared up

• We recommend you pick up some breakfast on the way 

(We stopped over at McDonald's hehe) or you can purchase food in the area as well

• 15 minute dirt bike ride to the mountain - thought I was going to fall off, but it was crazy fun and safe

• 15 minute walk down the mountain - this was BRUTAL, it was SO HOT and it felt so much longer than 15 minutes

• Scrambled on the rocks, swam in beautiful waters, and jumped for almost 5 hours
• At the end of your canyoneering you will walk for a further 20 minutes through jungle like places

 until you reach the third and highest level of Kawasan Falls

  

• There's more jumping on the third and second levels of Kawasan Falls,

 but our guide did't recommend it as there had been an accident and it is dangerous

• The little hike between the levels is also quite strenuous and slippery so be careful!
• The first and ground level of Kawasan Falls is the biggest and BUSIEST

• You can have a "waterfall massage" here where you hop onto a raft with about 10 people

 and they pull you into the PAINFUL waterfall - an experience to be had!

• We headed back to base at around 1.30pm and had a lovely lunch then started the drive back at 2pm

• We arrived back at our hotel just after 5pm (the traffic there is horrendous)

Let me know if you have any questions about canyoneering down below.

I am SO glad I took a leap and decided to do it, looking forward to attempting it again in other places around the world!

If you want to see it in live action, see my Youtube video below :)

Till the next adventure!