Date.com Goes Whitewater Rafting

Date.com is expanding into The Philippines with the intention of offering free access for Filipinos, at some time in the not too distant future.. No trip to Cagayan de Oro would be complete without taking on the many rapids of the Cagayan de Oro River. We went on May 14, 2008, and had a great day, with no rain.

The photos do not tell the full story as we had no waterproof cameras and they had to be put away whenever we went through rapids. On the final rapids I did keep my camera out to get some video of us going through one milder set of rapids, but my camera still got wet and started misbehaving after that. It’s fine now, I just kept it turned off for a couple of days and let it dry out.

Lunch time posing for photos, some of the girls: Rhia, Marissa T, Chen, and Wennie.

Others from the Date Team: Nino, Chris, Marissa D, and Marvin.

I have been rafting on the Cagayan de Oro River three times before, but only the basic course. This was my first time on the advanced course, which starts 14 rapids further upriver.

The raft that I and my wife, Marissa, were in had two cameras in it. Mine and one that belonged to the Kagay Rafting Company. We did have a waterproof bag I kept my camera in most of the time, but one of the guides kept his in his vest pocket. This basically exempted our raft from being tipped over, as we had to keep the cameras safe. The other raft had no such exemption and was unceremoniously tipped over in the first set of rapids.

I am pretty sure the tipping of the raft was intentional, but it came as a surprise to everyone. The raft turned completely over, with Meir and Marissa D underneath it. Meir “rescued” three of his team members, pulling them back onto the raft.

Marissa, above, at lunch, recuperating after the raft capsizing. I took this photo because she was still stunned from the experience. She can’t swim, it’s her first time on the river, and she ended up under the overturned raft. I can only imagine how she felt.

I noticed that Marissa was crying when the jeepney dropped us off at our office after the trip and I thought she was crying because she was happy to be back in familiar territory safe and sound, but rather it was because she had just received a message that her grandmother had died. Marissa is on leave still, and our hearts go out to her.

Above, it is good to see that all our team-building efforts have paid off as Marissa D and Marvin take a pee in the river together (joke lang).

I have noticed on previous trips that after taking lunch the girls all tend to go for a short swim in the river before getting back in rafts. It’s okay to get in the water, just don’t drink it.

Cagayan de Oro White Water Rafting Video 11 MB

Cagayan de Oro White Water Rafting Photo Gallery

Kagay Rafting Company Photo Gallery

In addition, Kagay Rafting provided me with another set of photos they took which comprises the last Cagayan de Oro River rafting event.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 06:21 and is filed under Cagayan de Oro, Globalization, Offshoring, Philippines Business, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.