Fastcraft Boarding Maze: CDO to Camiguin

The setup in this port is a bit tricky, at least for the first-timer like me. I went inside and waited at the wrong place!

Thanks to the orderliness and relative quiet of the whole port area – or I think it should be no thanks hahaha! It was probably due to the absence of them big passenger ships or the time of day (or both) that what I thought was already the departure lounge was only an area for non-passengers awaiting the arrival of their friends or relatives!

Eh who would have thought! It was quiet and ‘peaceful’, plus the whole thing is already inside the secured big fences, way away from the street! After the ticket booths and pasalubong stalls!

Here was the sequence...
Thus, reaching this place...This is that place. I sat there a moment, thinking I would soon hear a boarding call. Good I saw that porter on the right, being followed by a woman passenger (owner of those bags) who I earlier saw also bought a ticket on the same fastcraft I was taking!

So I followed them. Haguuuy nanay! I realized I still had a long way to go omegosh!

See this pic here?!Yeah, you go out of the previous building (above pics) and cross to this one!

But that is not yet “there”! You do not enter that big door (that’s for the big ships to Manila, I read) but you head left instead and walk onwards!

That’s it… onwards to the end of the building! Follow that porter!

And while walking, following that porter, I saw this to my left...Where the... what the…! Ah, anyway, I think those passengers already have tickets so they let their taxi enter all the way here.

And then…

Sige pa, lakad pa… you see the door at the end, right?! That is it! But not quite!

Entering that door, this was what I saw...Notice the black arrow? Yeah, that’s where it should be going for fastcraft passengers. But did you notice that thing beyond the forklift out there?! Well yeah, that is my ride, the Paras Sea Cat! And OMG my chest started thumping. Yah yah.. I was not excited whaahehehe!

Okay, not quite there yet.

Follow the line, carry your roosters if you are like those manongs, and the line enters through that narrower door.Hey I thought I was going to see a movie!

And pay your terminal fee at the teller just below that “baggage allowed” tarp.It did not matter if I was aged, buntis or rolling on a wheelchair! Everyone toed this line and waited for their turn.I think people are less unruly in the mornings! Another new learning? Probably!

To toss-in a mere 3 pieces of 5-peso coins in exchange for this receipt that looks worth more than 15 pesos to produce! Of course am exaggerating...This receipt is just worth centavos via bulk production. But what a hassle for just 15 pesos ‘no?!

Anyway, as I said earlier, it was orderly here. Not even noisy, and passengers know how to fall in line. At Cebu's Port Terminal 1, its just even 10 pesos but you get bumped by many other passengers; some cross the line; others make their own line!

Oops! Another waiting area?Yes, but my craft was already being boarded, so I skipped this place like everyone else and turned left instead to go out of the building and unto the pier’s pavement.

To walk againFun to do for me, but I do know a number of people who will not like this hahaha!

Yeah! Wait, this one is not a fastcraft, it’s a RORO!So onwards I followed passengers and the porters lugging their bags and boxes!

Aaaaand…

That’s it! This was it? Oh my lalala, it looked too tiny! If the dark glass window is Business Class, so where is Economy? Just that open space at the back? Ayiiiiii!

But I calmed down, telling me myself and I that it was just lowtide so the craft looked tiny! See the gangplank? It goes from pavement to 2nd floor. Duuu!

Let’s talk more of this on my next installment!


To read the chronology of stories on this trip, click the following article numbers:
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52