Things To Do in Bohol: Take a Dip In The Lagoon Of Hinagdanan Cave

After visiting the Chocolate Hills, we proceeded to pass by The Philippine Tarsier Conservatory which was highly disappointing that’s why I’m not going to write about it anymore. A stop at Hinagdanan Cave was our next agenda for the day and I was glad that we did include this in our very short Bohol day tour.

We arrived in Hinagdanan Cave at around 2pm, paid the entrance fee of PHP50 per person plus an additional PHP100 per person if we want to take a swim in the lagoon. To be honest, we didn’t really know what to expect as we didn’t do much research before going there. All I know was it’s a popular cave with natural light coming in from the holes in its ceilings and home to large stalactites and stalagmites hanging from above. Without really knowing what’s in store for us, we paid the additional PHP100 per person just in case. I was glad that we did.

Hinagdanan Cave, Image by Lemuel Leogene Reyes.

At the entrance, we were asked to fill out some information about ourselves – mainly our name and our city of residence. It was also here where we were met by a guide who I think wasn’t an official guide but I was glad that he was there to explain a bit information of the cave for us and also to take our photos. They are very well trained by the way in taking photos inside the cave. Our guide took my camera and played around with the settings to be able to get a great photo of us inside the cave. Everything happened quite quickly that I didn’t think of asking him to take a picture of the whole cave so I was left with only this photo of ours with our very tired faces.

We took a quick dip in the lagoon – a very welcome treat for us as it was already quite hot outside. The water was cold and refreshing. They have provided a life jacket for me as I’m not a very good swimmer and the lagoon was very deep. My mind kept playing tricks and I can’t help myself but imagine someone dragging my foot towards the bottom of the lagoon or me letting go of my gopro camera and there won’t be retrieving it anymore. Yes, I’m weird.

Hinagdanan which meant laddered was what they called the cave because of the method one must use to enter it when it was first discovered. The owner of the area was clearing the decaying branches of the land when he found a hole. Out of curiosity, he threw a stone into the hole and heard a splash. He then built a ladder to get into the cave and hence, the name the laddered cave as it was only thru this ladder that you can access this cave after it was first discovered. Now, a proper entrance of about a meter was built so you don’t really have to worry about climbing a make-shift ladder. The entrance was quite low though so you’ll have to bend all the way down to fit in it. It’s quite slippery inside the cave but there are ropes that you can hold onto to assist you. It was only as I write this post did I found out that it is not advisable to swim in the lagoon as it has been known to have a high level of karst pollutant which is normal for any sinkholes, caves and underground drainage systems. Well, I’m glad I didn’t know that before as I wouldn’t have enjoyed the quick swim that I did while there. :p

First image of Hinagdanan Cave is by Lemuel Leogene Reyes, used under Creative Commons License.