Doc |
Scott |
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Trained by Timmy Young NACD |
Trained by Paul Neilsen, IANTD |
| Mantaga |
Adventure |
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Bernil |
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Trained by Paul Neilsen, IANTD |
| Divers |
| CAVERS |
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Tigdao Spring
First of 5 springs we checked in the town of Anda got, our collective hearts racing.
It looked like our fresh water Pawod Cave in Mactan Island. No major tunnels found, but still a good exploration exercise... (Bernil)
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Kabagno Spring
Kabagno spring , a truly amazing place!
Fringed by cliffs, there is a 3.5 meter drop to the crystal clear blue waters below.
A real water exit problem.
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 How to exit Kabagno?
First try is climb up knotted ropes. Bernil, our able-bodied guinea pig barely made it out.
Then we sent our local aide to town to borrow someone's bamboo ladder. This, we secured to a "caimito" trunk with heavy ropes. Doc , our second able-bodied guinea pig made it out with nary a hitch.
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Sunrays refracted by the windblown tree leaves above creates interesting visual effects. |
Scott appears to fly through the clear water column. |
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Kabagno Spring |
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| A surrealistic view of Scott descending through the sun rays. |
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| Scott contemplating Kabagno Spring under the stalactites. |
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How to get your heavy cave gear out of Kabagno Spring without damaging it against the jagged cliff edges?
Dino and I devised this formula:
- Length of R rope X force applied = R moment
- Length of L rope X force applied = L moment
- R moment = L moment, gear stays in the middle without scratching against the cliff's edge
It worked! |
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Cenote: the underworld inhabitant's (local dialect - "dili ingon nato") window to the outside world.
This is the dili-ingon-nato's view throught the Kabagno cenote. |
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Banilad Spring |
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A small cave/spring is left after a major religious pilgrimage site conversion.
There is a tunnel that appears very constricted. |
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| A typical path to the cenotes through local vegetation known as "kanding-kanding". The large "balite" tree add to the myths. |
Kalorenzo cave/spring presents a typical Anda geological formation of stalactites and stalagmites and spring pool. |
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Kalorenzo Spring
On one breath hold, Doc thinks that he found and underwater tunnel. |
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Kalorenzo Spring
We sent Bernil in. He exited after penetrating a few meters due to localized constriction fringed by unstable-looking karst formation. |
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Canawa Springs
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A promising spring up in the boondocks of Candijay.
It was silted by the time we got there due to heavy rains for a few straight days before. |
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 We attempted to dive it. Poor visibility severely limited our exploration.
Hidden behind and under the jumble of logs, there must be a spring from where all this water comes.
We put Canawa on our must-do list for the next dry season. |
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| By Day 3, after not having found a significant diveable cave, we have resigned ourselves to being the usual tourist of Bohol. |
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Inambacan Falls |
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In these waters, the local folks catch arm-size mullets by spearing, dynamite and/or cyanide.
These head waters are at least 15 km from the ocean. These must be the spawning streams of ocean mullet.
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 Inambacan Falls
...... and, Bats they found
Doc is into mullets.
Scott and Bernil are into bats. |
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Mag-aso Falls |
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 After a very long winding flight of stairs, Mag-aso welcomed us with an awe-inspiring sight (and sound)...
"Boy" Rebosora, our local guide, and big brother to Mayor Cecille is shown on top of the stair. |
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Mag-aso Falls out in the middle of nowhere in the Bohol town of Antequera |
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... Mag-aso Falls
The new playground of Bernil's. |
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... Mag-aso Falls
Bernil and Scott must be the strangest looking tourists ever to set foot on Mag-aso - wet suits, hoods and all! |
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| Scott and Bernil behind the waterfall. |
Mag-aso Falls playtime. |
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Dahonog Cave |
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We expected to do Dahonog again as tourists. On the way there, as Bernil and Dino found going through the covered bridge as a photo op, Scott found this a scary moment - for his Explorer at least. |
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| Dodong and Dino getting ready to test their luck on the covered bridge on the way to Dahonog. Dodong Vallaser is our all-important coordinator from the Provincial Agriculture, Bureau of Fishiries Office. |
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| By accounts of the locals, we found some promise for this area. So, we geared up to explore. |
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| This proved to be the cenote of our expedition's first underwater cave. By way of chronological seniority, MAD Cavers is calling this - DOC's Cave |
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Doc's Cave
After 5 minutes of near zero visibility (the rains of the last few days have silted up the waters), I turned the dive. The team did not touch nor see Doc's cave. |
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| A few meters away from Doc's Cave, we found another spring pool. |
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| On one breath hold, Doc felt cold waters rushing from the void under the tree trunk. Another underwater cave! By way of next chronological seniority, MAD Cavers is calling this - SCOTT'S CAVE. |
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Scott's Cave |
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This promises to be more cavernous than Doc's. Bernil and Scott went in on a two-man team.
They turned the dive after 7 minutes without having touched nor seen the end of the Scott's Cave . |
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Ceiling Cave |
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Last destination for the day (people kept adding destinations as the day wore on) is Ceiling.
Right in the midst of this clump of coconut and banana trees and shrubs is an unassuming spring, that has a history of being used as a swimming hole. |
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First hand accounts of this "hole on the ground" reveal an extensive cave system, surface exploration of which was limited by the stalactites blocking the air spaces.
MAD Cavers is calling this one - BERNIL'S CAVE. |
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| Most caves have vertical connectors between shallow and deep parts. In Florida, these are called "chimneys". Bernil wants this called Bernil's Shaft. From here on we'll call all future discoviries as Bernil's Shaft until somebody says: "Enough already!" |
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Doc's Cave
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Scott's Cave
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Bernil's Cave
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