My Tale of The 2 Danao Lakes

“Jay, fasten your seatbelt and behave… stop complaining” so said the mother.
“Why does he always get to sit by the window?” retorted the kid.
“He’s still a baby, you’re a man now. Make your brother happy, okay?” replied the mom.

So “Jay” was silently pouting all throughout take-off as he was seated on the aisle, beside me. This was a very short 20 or so minute’s flight from Cebu to Tacloban. Being a small ATR plane, the seats are two abreast on each side and the mother was traveling with her two sons. So younger kid of about 3 years old and mom were seated 16AB while “Jay” and I were 16CD across the aisle. He was silent but I knew he was veeeery disappointed so I tried to ‘salvage’ the situation. Yeah yeah, when it comes to kids, I don’t know why they affect me so much.

“Hi, your name is Jay? How old are you?” so I opened up. Still pouting, he glanced at me and said “I’m 5 years old, my name is Jason”. “SIR?” added the mom loudly as if to reprimand the kid for not using the word. He did not look at his mom but attempted a whispered “sir” as he looked unto the floor. “You want to sit by the window? We can switch places you know?!” so I said in the effort to lighten up the mood. He looked at me and nodded his head with much gusto. So we switched! And he was all by himself, talking to himself about the things he was seeing as the plane cruised along with some bits of clouds and the sea and the islands. The mother on seat B (and I on seat C) said “pasensya ka na ha, kay agi in nga bata madumtanon, diri nalat hiya nag-aaringasa”! I perfectly understood that (but sorry guys am not sure I can translate that very well) and told the mom “its alright”.

“Whoooooaaa, cool, they have a round swimming pool there” exclaimed Jason to himself as he was busy looking down where the plane was passing. That got me interested as I thought the expression was preposterously funny! So I leaned over and saw that he was looking at Danao Lake (we were flying over Camotes Islands). And I offered, “that is called a lake, it’s a body of water inside an island” (hoping I simplified that enough for a 5 year old kid). He looked at me and asked “can people swim there? its very small”! And I said “its veeery big, it just looks small because we are up in the clouds”. He did not answer, he was back busy viewing things down there.

Not very long, Jason was tapping my arm, though his eyes were down on earth still. And he said, “look sir, there’s another creek”! The mom half laughing quickly corrected it saying “lake Jay, LAKE”. He did not answer, just looked down to the lake and I said “yes, its Lake Danao”. That made him turn to me with a quizzical look with lips curled as if sizing up if I was lying or just plainly wrong. He then said, “it’s a new one”! I leaned over to the window and found myself in a ‘complicated’ situation hahaha. So, I carefully explained “yes, it’s a different lake, but it is also called Lake Danao. He nodded at least and asked “like two persons with the name Jason”?. Ah, I almost clapped while nodding hehe. At least he got it.

And we became friends – at least briefly – until landing when we had to say goodbye and proceed to our destinations.

Well… and hah! This is one of my feel good travel stories! Imagine it had to be a tisoy kid that caused me to realize something.

Yes, I realized I have been unconsciously passing by two lakes named Danao, every time in just a single pass. That is, via a commercially scheduled regular flight. On either of two airlines, in fact! Whoa! And the lakes are something like just 60 kilometers away from each other if you draw a straight line on the map. But mind you, they are located on two separate islands in two different provinces of two different regions. And both are major natural tourist attractions of their respective localities. Yes, I mean 1) Danao Lake in Ormoc City, Leyte – Region 8, and; 2) Lake Danao in San Francisco, Pacijan Island, Cebu (Camotes Islands) – Region 7. Oh wow, yes oh wow! This I think is rare, if not unique. Where else on earth do you pass by two different lakes of the same name in a single commercial flight?! Wow indeed!


So what? Well, nothing much really. I just feel good having realized that I could see those two wonders in just one pass. Thanks to the proximity of Cebu and Tacloban, planes used by both Cebu Pacific and Airphil Express are small propeller crafts, so that they don’t zoom above the highest of clouds, and we are able to see the two lakes. Yun lang naman hehe! And on my return flight, I tried my very best to snap a few pics of both lakes!

The rest about them, you probably already know. Or you will readily know if you google them. One is shaped like the number 8 and the other is shaped like a guitar. Do you know which one? One is just about 20% the size of the other. One is high up in the mountains, while the other is even lower than he area’s national highway.

Oh Danao! And we are just talking about two lakes, okay? Not the town and the city!

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