the gigantic Manjuyod white sand bar in Bais, Dumaguete is one of the most awesome natural wonders i've ever been to and enjoyed immensely. i heard so much about it from my sister Maica who was there years ago but she obviously strayed in her portrayal because all along, it made me expect only a small strip of white sand, when in actuality, it's HUGE. it stretches for miles (dumagueteinfo.com measures it at 600 hectares, including the submerged areas) along the coast of Bais and Manjuyod. if you scroll up and check the top photo, you can trace a line made distinct by where the sand bar ends and the cantil (sea cliff) begins. tingtong, ever the daring among us, wandered off to this line to see if there are corals bordering the cliff but he saw only the sand bar falling away at a steep angle to the bottom of the sea. for the first time, the cantil freaked him out. i wanted to check it out myself but missed the chance when i refused to go on my own.
but let this not worry you. the white sand bar offers a great expanse to run around in anyway, and if you're careful and attentive to the direction and strength of the current, there's no chance of finding yourself at the surface of the deep blue sea. the tide was low while we were there that even baby Ben was able to run around on his own. i would have wanted to burn myself more but the oldies were quite wary about the high tide pushing in and hurried to go home. too bad. i was waiting for the high tide so i can swim and not wade through the water. anyhow, i went home thrilled to have been there and to be able to sell this to you now.
the amora resort in manjuyod, where all of us were billeted, reserved one of the four cottages on tilts in the white sand bar. you can rent it for a whole day at P3,000 and plus P2,000 if you want to sleep over. another drawer for this area is that the deep seas some minutes away from the sand bar is a dolphin sanctuary. in fact, Bais more often go by the "Dolphins and Whale Town" than the "White Sand Bar Town".
in our plight to search for dolphins, we moved farther and farther away from Dumaguete and came very close to Cebu that i can already make out the vague green of the mountains. we came across schools of dolphins but they were not on a frenzied jumping and showing off their adorable mode. the boatmen told us that dolphins more likely put on shows on flat, still waters, and not on wavy seas. (the lesson is, start early.) but the search was not completely in vain. the search was actually where the fun was. you just get unlucky, i guess. unlike what animal shows in Ocean Park or Sea World make us perceive them, dolphins are not robots who are told what to do and fed only when they do it, they have their mood swings as well.
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weirdly enough, though the sand in the bar is close to white, the shores of Bais and Manjuyod, just 15 boat-ride minutes away, are not. it's close to black (why is that?). it's like the white sand bar was never meant to be there. it's simply a huge chunk of white sand lost at sea.
the amora resort that we stayed in was huge. tio perok paid a hefty extra to have it exclusively for us for 4 days. it's not an exceptional resort but we didn't mind because the people running it were very hospitable and took care of us very well. we made a sidetrip to Mabinay to see the Crystal Cave. the road to this small mountainous town is pocked with uneven pavements and huge holes, but the Cave was worth the bumpy ride (about 45 mins-1 hour from Manjuyod).
The Crystal Cave is filled to the brim with stalaCtites (from the Ceiling) and stalaGmites (from the Ground). to say the least, i was overwhelmed with wonder (photos to follow soon).
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