Durano Eco Farm and Spring Resort

We are halfway through the month of May and rainy season is just around the corner which means, riding will be less often by then. Although, PAG-ASA predicted an El Niño which starts by the middle of this year and ends for almost a year, there's no stopping the rainy season so, unpredictable rains will come any time of the day, everyday. Besides, El Niño was reported to strengthen by the end of the year. Okay, I am not saying that El Niño is a good thing because it's NOT.


The Planned Ride

So, summer season is almost over, let's try to make the most of it while it's still here. Technically, there is no summer season in Philippines. My initial plan was doing a solo ride somewhere in the northern part of Cebu but my wife wanted to come along (again) with our princess.


Really, I can't remember doing a solo ride because my wife and daughter always want to tag along but it's fine. Because they want to come with me, I quickly scanned the internet for some place to cool down in the north which doesn't break our budget, of course. It was already late Saturday night so I feel like any place where we get wet is fine.

Mesha is parked at the Church.

I stumbled upon some photos of an FB friend who went to Durano Eco Farm and Spring Resort. It is a cold spring located in Carmen, Cebu. It has a lot of pools and at that point, I was beginning to feel excited to go there. It has 8 pools but this is not your regular static-watered pools. Their pools are like rivers (sort of) because the water flows from the spring to the first pool, then to the second and so on. So a quick plan was done because it's already late and we'll do the rest of the plan of the trip tomorrow. This is how we plan almost all our trips. Hey, it works every time. :)

The Ride

Time check started at 6:15 am (prepared already) because we wanted to go to the church first before our trip. We wanted to attend the 6:30 am Sunday Mass. We went to our usual church destination, St. Joseph of Mandaue.

Then, after hearing the Sunday mass, we chatted a little bit of what's the rest of the plan for the trip.



On top of my head at that time:

Grabbed our breakfast here.

• Start the ride before the sun gets too hot on the road
• Go through a Jobi (Jollibee) drive thru and grab something for breakfast
• Eat at Danao City Baywalk
• Grab something for lunch at Carmen Public Market
• Finally, head on to the resort

That was quick and that's what we did more or less. We dropped by Jollibee Consolacion Drive Thru, grabbed some burgers and fries. Thankfully, we came there first since the mass at the church of Consolacion just ended and the queue piled up when we are done there.

Then, we head on to our next stop, Danao City Baywalk. When we got there, the sun was up already, probably around 8:00 am. The heat might not be bearable after a couple of  minutes. There were no cottages (or tables) in the baywalk so we looked around and we are glad that they have this playground for kids where there are a lot of big trees. It was just in front of the baywalk. When we crossed the road to get to the playground, there were signs everywhere of "No blowing of horn" so I kept that in mind.

We ate our breakfast at Danao's playground and after which, filled Mesha for some premium gasoline.

The Carmen Baywalk or Plaza still under development.

After breakfast, we were back on the road and went to Carmen Public Market but before we reached the market, we dropped by their baywalk (or plaza) which was still under development. We can't just overlook the place because I assume this is going to be a good place to hang out when it's done.

Uragay Spring, crowded since it's a Sunday.

At the market, as usual on most of our rides, we bought a roasted chicken. Relatively cheap there for Php140, you can have the whole chicken. We also bought poso (hanging rice, lolz), 2 liters of water and 1 liter of softdrink (Royal). Then, we asked some locals on how to get to Durano Eco Farm and of course, they were kind to tell us the correct directions. The only thing was that there was no signage of Durano Eco Farm on the national highway or even the Uragay Spring, another popular destination here in Carmen. We thought the place is so popular, there should have been some signage on the main roads. Yes, we missed the corner going there so we had to go back. It is the corner nearest to Carmen's National High School.

We got to Uragay Spring first (Durano Eco Farm is a little farther) and there were a lot of people there. It's on the side of the road so you can see what's happening there. Crowded and really not surprising because it's a Sunday. Durano Eco Farm was farther than we expected from the main road and the not so good thing was that it was not located on the side of the road. You have to trek the rough, stony, dusty, slippery (you name it) roads. The place is not that well developed yet so I thought it can be forgiven but motorcycle riders going there especially with back rider(s), be focused always here and anticipate tire wiggles.

This is on our way back, that tiny corner there are the rough roads you will encounter.

The Spring

Durano Eco Farm and Spring Resort has a total of 8 pools (yes, that many). The water from the spring flows to the first pool, then to the second pool and so on. After the 8th pool, the water flows to the river. So this is not your typical static pool. These are 8 fresh water pools (no chlorine).

We paid Php60/head on the entrance. My daughter only Php30 so we paid a total of Php150. The parking area is free. When we got there, there were already a lot of people so there were no more cottages, tree houses and tables available and we couldn't just go find some corners there near the pool areas and place our things and foods there. It's not allowed but why didn't they just don't allow more guests in. One of the good things in the resort is that there is no corkage fee on foods and drinks. But to alcoholic drinkers unfortunately, no alcoholic beverages are also allowed inside.

We ate first at some place far from the pool area and then we left our food on their canteen. I trust that no one will eat our leftovers, lolz. Then we headed down to the pool areas. It was crowded, as expected but the waters were still cold and you will love it. We enjoyed a lot because most of the pool areas were covered with trees so the sun's heat was not a problem. We actually wanted to get under the sun because sometimes it got really cold.

My daughter had some nice swimming practice. We only tried the first 3 pools. I have heard that the succeeding pools are deeper. The very first pool is their kiddies pool with knee-deep waters. The second one, where we stayed the most can be as deep as my chest.

All in all, we love the place. Will we get back there? Sure, but next time, we want to go there with reservation (on peak season) or go there on weekdays because it can get a little crowded.

They also offer overnight stays at their tree houses. You can also check out their farm.

After we plunged into their pools, time to go back to the city with time check, 2pm. We also checked out their farm a little bit. Not much there since they are still developing the place. We decided to head to the city early because tomorrow's another start of work week.

When we reached Consolacion, we decided to stop over at SM because we haven't been there yet and also to grab some Mang Inasal's Halo-halo. We also heard it has Team Pacquiao store there so we also checked that store and bought some souvenirs from idol Pacman. We only bought an "MP" sticker because the shirts and other items, though nice are a little too expensive for us.

Then, after eating some refreshing Halo-halo and yummy pancit, we checked out an exhibit next to Orange Brutus (which was next to Mang Inasal). It's Consolacion's history. We are currently financing a house in Consolacion and soon, this will be our new hometown so we decided to check out some of its history. We learned a lot and it was nice to know more about this town.

It was a really great day and we finished it with some good massage at Yoga Thai Massage in Mandaue.

Budget Breakdown

Gas 3 liters          = Php156
Breakfast             = Php120 (at Jobi)
Lunch                 = Php250
Entrance Fee          = Php150
Snacks and MP Sticker = Php220

Total                   Php896
(These are estimates and there are items that were included and excluded.)

For more photos, check my album at facebook. Until my next ride report. :)

Ride Safe! Ride Scoopy!