Our adventures in the Governor’s Rapids was far from over even after the boat tour of the river stretch, the cliff jumping and the river swing. From the river swing, our boat moved further upstream. As usual, we got to appreciate the beauty of nature along the riverbanks: rock formations, thick greeneries and occasional sightings of wildlife, all undisturbed by human progress.

A few minutes into the boat ride, we reached our penultimate activity in the rapids: spelunking. When we reached the place, a large group of tourists were there before us, so we had to wait for a while before we were able to enter.

Once inside, we were welcomed by darkness. If not for our guide’s flashlight, we would not be able to navigate the cave. The cave was notable flooded and noisy with hard water splash typical of a waterfall. It did not take long until we finally reached the waterfall inside the cave.

Hindi namin masyadong nakikita ang paligid kaya hindi rin kami sigurado kung may maayos kaming kuha sa dilim, so just quick photos and we headed to the exit. The exit was a downward narrow crevice where we needed the help of a rope tied to a stalactite to descend safely.

When we have descended safely, we boarded our boat and moved further upstream to the point where we actually started the river tour. It was the part of the river where the water is shallower and rocks could be seen peeping through the water. Consequently, the current in that part is strong downstream. We were rightly at the rapids. There, we alighted and were told by our boatman to wait while he gets the inflated tubes for the river tubing.

Our boatman returned carrying three tubes, then he asked us to follow him. We walked a bit upstream until we reached the point where he went down to the water, laid down the tubes and asked us to settle down on them.

Sitting on the inflated tubes was quite challenging. Due to the force of the current, the tubes kept on moving, so our boatman really needed to help us to keep things stable so we may sit on the improvised floatation devices. When we were seated already, our boatman started pulling us to the deeper part of the rapids until he boarded a tube himself.

Since we are definitely going to get wet, we used the GoPro to capture some snippets of the adventurous experience.

Yes, I know, I don’t really look full of adventure. Inaantok pa rin talaga ‘ko.

Ran, on the other hand, was holding the camera, so he got the great shots!

It took us around two and a half ours to finish all the activities in Governor’s Rapids. We then thanked our boatman and guide, gave him a tip, then we took a bath to freshen up. It would still take a little less than an hour before be reach Cabarroguis, the capital of Quirino. We will stay in the capital for the night.

Our adventure in Governor’s Rapids was a worthy finale for our first day in Quirino. This enchanting province, which is off the beaten path, is way too underrated. It is landlocked, stashed away from the hustle of urban life, and not along the way of major thoroughfares. Aptly, it is the forest heartland of Cagayan.