Biri Island, Northern Samar

Ahm, where to begin? I have been to Bohol, Boracay, El Nido, Batanes, Ilocos Norte, Sorsogon and these are places in the Philippines beyond compare. I know that I will have the same feeling regarding Sagada, CDO and Siargao which I plan to visit in the near future. So when my boyfriend told me that he booked us tickets to Samar and Leyte, I wondered what could we possibly see in there? Richard Gomez would be a good sight but of course this was not the intention. Sorry but San Juanico Bridge was not enough reason for me to pay for the cost of the plane tickets. But of course, there are just some places in the Philippines that I am ignorant about. Samar and Leyte only bring to mind General Mac Arthur, aswang and waray. I read books, I love history, but I don't know why I am poor in knowledge retention. Gah!! So stupid!! So I did a little research and discovered a bunch of interesting facts regarding Samar and Leyte. For one, San Juanico Bridge is the longest bridge in the Philippines spanning a body of water and that it connects Samar and Leyte. I also learned that the San Bernardino strait which I heard a lot of during our trip to Sorsogon separates the Bicol island of Luzon from the island of Samar in the Visayas. I found out that there is more to Samar than just the famed San Juanico Bridge like virgin islands, caves and waterfalls. If you love history, Samar will fascinate you. This province was expedited back in 1546 and it was named as Las Islas Filipinas where the name of our country was derived from. Of course, Leyte is another province rich in history but as to tourist spots there are just a few noteworthy as compared to Samar. As I was on my little research, by research, I mean, web navigation, I came to see pictures of this Biri Island. It is an island in Northern Samar, known for its rock formations. The pictures were intriguing and it turned out my boyfriend also wanted to go this place so he created an itinerary. God bless him for that. :) The day of our flight came, September 20, we were bound to arrive at Tacloban at around 1:00 pm. From the airport we rode a tricycle going to the terminal and then got on a van bound for Calbayog. It was a very long land trip, at around 7:00 pm we halted at Calbayog city and due to heated arguments and misunderstanding, we told the driver that we would be going to Catarman instead. We got to Catarman at around 8:30 and found a hostel to stay the night. It was a bit pricey, we paid for Php800.00 for an air conditioned room. The following day, we woke up really early and took a tricycle ride going to the city proper. From the city proper, we had to ride a jeepney going to Lavesarez where the port is located. It started raining hard but we journeyed on. We paid the boatman php300.00 for a special trip as there were no other passengers besides us. We chanced upon this statue on the way to Biri Island

The rain stopped while we were on the ocean, the water was deep blue at first

Then it was blue green

After more or less an hour we arrived at Biri Island, it was still a rural town, fishery and agriculture are still their primary means of living. Children would jump at the open sea as their past time, I guess when you live near the beach you don't need toys, the ocean would be your play ground. I envy these children, I never learned how to swim. tsk tsk. We found an inn, it was the price that we were aiming for, we paid Php400 a night, we just dropped our bags and proceeded with the tour. We rode a motorcycle going to the rock formations, this was the bridge where we dropped off.

Then after the bridge, we walked this shallow part of the ocean (neck deep when it is high tide)

Then we saw the amazing rock formations. No exaggeration. It really is enthralling.

There are about four major rock formations in this tour. Each has a pride of its own. The tourist told us that the age of the rocks are close to 20 million years, imagine that. :) Also, the rocks came in different shapes and sizes, no rock is exactly the same and no rock is ordinary. There are rocks that resemble a tortoise, rocks that takes the shape of books, mushrooms, cakes, paddle boards and many others. There is an ocean close to these rock formations and when there are huge waves, the water is trapped into the holes of these rock formations, they look like man made pools, some are really deep, some are shallow. We swam at one of these pools, (I don't know what to call it), the water was as clear as crystal and I really enjoyed. You could see the sky, the mountainous rocks and the ocean. I will surely long to see this place and swim again in these waters.