White Water Rafting - Davao - Philippines Travel

My best friend suddenly decided that we should go white water rafting. And it does sound like one frolicking adventure. I’ve never done it before but my friend has joined white water rafting in Cagayan once. So I was quite confident that such extreme sport is perfectly safe. We were told that there should be at least five people in one raft.

Since there is just the two of us, we decided to schedule our rafting on a Saturday, when there will also be other people wanting to do the sport. We were grouped with a vacationing couple from Colorado.

White Water Rafting Tumugan

We started at Tamugan, Davao City. We were instructed on how to put on our life vests and how to paddle during the white water rafting trip. That is, we should know how to do “easy paddle”, “hard paddle”, “forward paddle” and “back paddle”. Then, the “captain” assigned to us told us that we should practice rescuing a person who fell off the raft.

Also this means that each one of us will have to fall in the water. I didn’t like the sound of it simply because I don’t know how to swim. When it was my turn to fall, I considered negotiating. I mean, I don’t need to fall so that I will know how to rescue, right? My friend gave me meaningful smile. That did it. I let my body fall. And I seemed to keep on sinking. I opened my eyes and saw that the surface is moving away from me. Then it was coming near me again until my head came out. I decided right then and there that life vests are one of the most incredible things.

We first went through several small rapids, labeled by the captain as level 1 and 2. I was nervous at first but got the hang of it later. Then, the captain warned us that we will be reaching what they call the “washing machine” A what? He was referring to long stretch rapids that are level 3. I secured my feet to the rubber strap on the raft’s floor and tensely waited for instructions. I saw the raft ahead of us jumping up and then twisting around and around. And I also saw huge rocks.

Stuck While White Water Rafting

The captain was shouting instructions. Paddle hard! Stop! Brace! We were caught in one rock. Relax! The captain shouted. We were turning like a tiny small disc. And I don’t think I can look anymore. Paddle! Hard!

We’re not moving! We’re not going anywhere! We’re going to capsize! But then the raft flowed softly and we drifted away to calmer waters. There were shouts of joy. We left the rock and I left my fears. I thoroughly enjoyed the 13 kilometer river and the 25 rapids.

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