White Water Rafting in Davao

Saturday we were invited to go white water rafting by Mr. Dizon - who owns the Mt Apo Highlands Resort we stayed at last weekend.  The Dizon family owns a lot of the tourist attractions in the area and he offered to let us go rafting for free.  All 12 of the group and Jan were invited, but only 4 ended up going.  It is a little ominous that the rafting trip starts and ends at a crocodile park.  The Crocodile Park is a wildlife conservation area and a zoo - there are crocodiles of every age and size, but also tigers, orangutans, snakes, and a lot of birds. 

The guides get everyone to sign a waiver then fit you with a life jacket and helmet.  You are required to watch a safety video (which starts with a skull and cross bones logo and the words "Paddle or Die"), at which point I thought Christophe might try to go home.  Then we all piled into Jeepneys for an hour ride to the river put in.  

Blue Thunder Jeepney



Piled into the Jeepney





Cecile, Christophe, Sarah and Izaskun Still Dry



 As soon as you get to the river they show you paddling techniques, tell you the guides' commands and demonstrate how to pull someone back into the boat.  There were several groups and boats on the trip.  We got our own boat and met our guide, Mac.  Mac loaded us in the boat and had us take turns getting in the river and practice "rescuing" each other while we were still in calm water - being wet actually felt pretty good and knowing your life jacket would work was good to know later.   



Christophe "rescuing" Cecile



Sarah "rescuing" Izaskun

 We started out pretty good, here is some video of some early rapids.  We even give ourselves paddle "high fives" we are so proud of ourselves.

  

 

Sarah Overboard



Then things started to go right/wrong - we ended up in the river a lot.  I even ended up in the river all by myself - sorry the guides didn't get video of that one, but there are pictures.  The team was able to pull me back pretty quickly, but I got a really good taste of the Davao River, it wouldn't be my last... 





Cecile, Izaskun, Mac, Christophe and Sarah on the Davao River


Here are the first rapids we lose the whole boat in - I'm in the red helmet, grey shirt and yes, I'm under the boat drinking more of the river.

How you were supposed to go through those rapids

At this point in the trip, our guide explains that having a light boat is making it harder for our boat to get through the rapids, now he tells us. After this wipe out the guides decided to make us go through the rapids last so other boats could pick us up, instead of running us over.  A note about the Philippines that I have now learned, when a Filipino says "don't worry, don't worry" - WORRY!

The guides took over 600 pictures and videos of every boat in every rapid, here are some of my favorite pictures. 

 

 

 

You are in the river for about 4 hours and they stop the group for lunch along the way.  Lunch was fine, except for rice - we are all pretty tired of rice.  

Izaskun, Christophe, Sarah and Cecile

Now back to what you really want to see, more wipe outs.  I would like to point out that we were not the only boat that ended up in the water, and there were 2 guides in kayaks zipping around to pull you back to your raft.

Kayak Rescue



Man Overboard on another raft



This lovely set of rapids is called "Drop and Suck" and we did not do it right

Here is it done correctly, whatever

We are getting pretty good at rescues - Cecile just got "dunked" during this rapid



Raft in the Cave



The scenery along the river was

beautiful, and it was a little overcast so we were sunburned.  You pass small farms where children come out to wave.  There were also small river crossings of cable cars and sometimes just bamboo rafts that drivers pole across calm spots in the river.  There was even a small cave you could paddle into with water dripping from the ceiling. 

Here is the long caravan of rafts in our group and some great rapid shots of other boats, the guides had their hands full.

We finally made it to the take out point, we were tired, a little bloody from the rocks, but we had fun - until we had to pile into the Jeepney for the ride home. 

We Made It!



Christophe, Mac, Izaskun, Sarah and Cecile



We didn't get back to the hotel until 5, so I was able to grab only an hour of sleep and a quick shower before we went out for my birthday.  The team was nice enough to plan a dinner and some clubs.