Instead of going to Lamanoc Island by road, we can also bring you to Lamanoc Island by boat. After a short 35-40 minutes boat ride we are directly at the Lamanoc Island beach.
Lamanoc Point is not just a beautiful nature spot, where you can see various types of plants and animals, including some indigenous monkeys, but also has a long mystical history attached to it. Since pre-colonial times, it has been a holy spot, where local priests and medicine men, called baylan or tambalan, made their offerings to nature spirits, or diwata, who where believed to reside here, and where called upon to provide a bountiful harvest or good catch. These practices continued long after the Spanish had converted the islands to Catholicism, with people mixing their ancestral believes with the new teachings. Several Balite trees, with their numerous aerial roots add to the mystic atmosphere.
Some of the caves here served as a burial place, so inside you can find the remains of several wooden lungon or boat coffins, so called because they have been from a dug-out log, similar to the way boats where made, and old earthenware jars. Unfortunately these jars were broken by misguided treasure hunters, believing them to contain gold—all they got was human bones, and they desecrated a human grave and destroyed cultural heritage while doing so.
Inside a rock shelter, you can see some prehistoric graffiti. People used hematite (red iron oxide) pigments, found in the hills of barangay Katipunan, to paint on the walls with their fingers. A local believe says that this paint was the blood of pirates killed by angels.
Nature also has worked its art here. Inside the caves you’ll see some interesting formations of stalactites and stalagmites, including an entire row of small stalactites that give the impression of shark-teeth. Another curiosity is a giant clam shell embedded in one of the rocks, showing that these rocks have raised from the sea in the past.
This process of limestone rocks raising from the sea is still ongoing, as has been dramatically shown during the October 15, 2013 earthquake on the opposite side of Bohol, when Punta Cruz was lifted more than a meter, and as a result the coastline receded some 50 – 100 meters. After such an event, the sea will start eroding the relatively soft rocks, creating the typical overhanging walls you can see on Lamanoc Island.
Price: € 40.00 p/p
Tour includes boat ride, marine park fees and snorkeling at Lamanoc.
– Lunch on the beach and entrance to Lamanoc Island mystical tour are optional extras
This post is also available in: German
