Mangodlong and Buho: The Rocks of Camotes

Karst formations may be found all over the Philippines, comprising some 10% of its land mass. Most of these karst landscapes are found in coastal locations and would often be situated alongside white sand beaches and turquoise lagoons. The Camotes Islands are no exception and during our recent visit we were treated to the rock formations at Mangodlong and Buho Rock Resorts.

Mangodlong Rock Resort

It had been a long hot day when we arrived at Mangodlong Rock Resort – a sudden twist of the weather from the previous day which was cloudy and a bit cool. The sunny weather and deep blue skies, however, accentuated the colors of the fine white sand of the beach and the crystalline turquoise waters of this resort. It was something we wished we had experienced at Himensulan Beach the previous day.

Mangodlong Rock is a clump of karst formations at the end of a relatively short but wide strip of white sand beach jutting out from the southwestern part of San Francisco town/Pacijan Island. On top of the rock formations are a collection of open huts amidst a group of trees and shrubs. The whole scenery would have been perfect but for several concrete slides originating from the center of the rock formation, the whole manmade structure built in the shape of a giant orange octopus.

Concrete structures at Mangodlong Rock. Note the orange head of the octopus slide at the top of Mangodlong Rock in the left background.

This is probably our only complaint about the Camotes Islands. Some of the manmade structures here appear so artificial and do not mesh with the natural surroundings. It’s a pity when there so many scenic spots in such a small locality. Fortunately, things somewhat even out because the locals have been great at preserving the pristine nature of Camotes’ natural spots.

Mangodlong Rock Resort is owned by the same people behind Santiago Bay Garden and Resort so the entrance fee for guests staying at the latter is free. We encountered more guests here than at Tulang Diot or Bakhaw Beach, so obviously it is one of the more popular spots in the whole of Camotes. The resort offers private rooms for overnight stay, a swimming pool, beachfront café and bar. There is a PADI dive center here as well – the area offers one of the best snorkeling spots in the islands.

Buho Rock Resort

We’re not into cliff jumping, especially at our age, but we were still looking forward to visiting this rock resort. Another collection of huge karst rocks, the Buho Rock Resort is situated at the southwestern end of Poro town. The latter comprises the western half of Poro Island. This island is separated from Pacijan Island by a very narrow channel and we almost did not realize these two islands are separate as we crossed over the short bridge spanning the two.

We drove into this resort on the first day of our Camotes tour, after spending time at Bukilat Cave in Tudela town. The resort itself is situated on top of a series of karst cliffs and to get a better view of the karst formations we had to descend a steep flight of concrete stairs to the shoreline below. No problem with this descent but going back up seems a bit daunting for our past half-century knees.

For the meantime, however, the thought of the steep walk back up was far from our minds as we explored Buho’s karst formations. There is a series of concrete walkways that allowed us to cross over from the top of a karst tower to the next. At one of these karst formations is a set of diving platforms, one at around 20 ft. high and the other at 35 ft. The latter appears to be off-limits to guests when we came here. It also seems too risky to use during this time with the water level a bit shallow due to the low tide. But the highlight for a visit to Buho Rock for any adrenaline junkie is cliff-jumping and we’ve seen videos of visitors using the 35 ft. platform.

Descending to ground level allowed us to take a dip in Buho’s waters. There is no white sand beach here unlike at Mangodlong Rock Resort. But the water is crystal-clear and we’ve heard that the snorkeling here is quite good. The color of the water, like many of the waters around the Camotes Islands, is a varying shade of aquamarine and turquoise. Had we visited during a sunny day, the colors would have been even more remarkable.

The longer drive to Buho Rock and Bukilat Cave meant we wouldn’t be able to pack our first day of touring with as many destinations as we had wanted. (Bukilat Cave is more than an hour’s drive from our resort.) But the longer drive allowed us to see one side of Camotes that rarely gets a share of attention from visitors. Coming soon in our final post on the Camotes Islands series…