Hinatuan Enchanted River

A Short Spring Fed River Of Impossible Blue Running Straight Into The Sea, Whose Source Nobody Has Fully Mapped · Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur

THE ENCHANTED RIVER IS ONLY A FEW HUNDRED METRES LONG. IT RISES FROM SPRINGS, RUNS STRAIGHT INTO THE SEA, AND IS A BLUE THAT PHOTOGRAPHS LOOK FAKED - deep sapphire in the middle shading to turquoise at the edges, with the bottom visible a long way down. THE SOURCE IS AN UNDERWATER CAVE SYSTEM AND NOBODY HAS FULLY MAPPED IT: divers have followed shafts to considerable depths without finding the end, AND AT LEAST ONE DIVER HAS DIED TRYING. THAT IS THE PART THE PHOTOGRAPHS LEAVE OUT, along with the crowds - THIS IS ONE OF MINDANAO'S MOST VISITED SITES and numbers are managed, with EVERYONE ORDERED OUT OF THE WATER AROUND MIDDAY FOR THE FISH FEEDING, a daily ritual announced over a loudspeaker. Go early, before the buses, and you get perhaps an hour of it nearly empty. It is worth arranging your whole day around that hour. Life jackets are required in the deep section, and the clarity makes the bottom look close.

Talisay, Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, Philippines

THE RIVER IS IN HINATUAN, SURIGAO DEL SUR, reached by road from BUTUAN or SURIGAO CITY - several hours either way - and is usually combined with TINUY-AN FALLS near Bislig on the same trip. IT KEEPS DAYTIME HOURS WITH AN ENTRANCE FEE; COTTAGES AND TABLES ARE HIRED SEPARATELY and go quickly at weekends. SWIMMING STOPS ENTIRELY AROUND MIDDAY FOR THE FISH FEEDING - everyone is called out of the water, the feeding is announced, and swimming resumes afterwards. LIFE JACKETS ARE REQUIRED IN THE DEEP SECTION and the water is far deeper than it looks. DIVING INTO THE CAVE SYSTEM IS NOT A VISITOR ACTIVITY and the shafts have killed. IT IS BUSIEST AT WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS; go early on a weekday.

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