Wandering Tourist – Fish Interaction,
Barangay Calag-Itan
On Easter Sunday, we had a sunrise
service at the Fish Interaction facility (Fish Sanctuary) in barangay Calag-Itan. The service started at 5 in the morning so naturally JJ was
asleep during the whole the service. After the service we stayed at the facility
and enjoyed the morning. Our group was the first to enjoy the day's activities: watching/feeding the fishes in the sanctuary.
The facility has a decent road approach.
It is an old freighter pier with what is left of an old warehouse.
On the pier little thatched nipa huts have been built that can be rented for a
100 to 200 pesos (about $2 - $4).
There is another nipa hut on the shore that's privately owned
that rents for 200 pesos. And there are also tables lined along the shore
that are available for use.
There is a house on a point north of
the area. It can be seen from our fish pen and I always wondered
what is was (light house or shore house). Flor and I hiked down the
beach to check it out. There was a path to the house that followed a
water line and electric line. The house is a well built building with an upstairs deck. But
the house appeared to be abandoned. It looks like a great place to
get away from everything and just hang out for a couple of days. I
think if I owned the property I would keep it maintained and rent it
out although access is difficult. After we got back to the church group we found out the barangay
owned the property and had planned it as a lighthouse. But they
probably ran out of funding or lost interest.
We found a tree branch lying by the path that looks like that of a dinosaur tail because it is covered with what looks like "scales" that resembles the turtle scales so we thought we'd share it here:
There is a 10 peso (about 25 cents)
entry fee to the pier per person to get to the fish interaction area. Kids get in free.
The fish interaction area is the end of the pier. The water is
about 30 feet deep and you can see the bottom from the pier. People
are encouraged to feed the fish and there is bread available for ten pesos a pack if you did not bring any. Before the kids arrive you can get
in the water and swim with the fish. (Not quite the same as swimming
with whale sharks (see previous Oslob post) but it is still very
nice.
We took these pictures 10' above the water line using our cheap camera. To enjoy these fishes you have to be here early in the morning or late in the day when there are no swimmers. Bring a GoPro camera or something better to get the best result.
After the kids arrive and start
swimming, most of the fish scatter. The pier is about 10' above the
water line. And there is a ledge below the top of the pier that is
about 3 feet above the water line. The kids enjoy jumping off the
pier and the ledge and splashing around in the water. JJ had a great
time and was jumping off the ledge (I would not let him jump off the
pier, not yet). I was with JJ for a while then let the teenagers
take over. JJ was getting better jumping in and then swimming back
to the ledge. Our camera battery died at this point and we did not
get any pictures of the kids swimming. I am sure we will go back and
will make sure the batteries are good in the camera. It has become
my favorite place to swim.
Thank you for following.
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