Tinalon Cave Resort

Words flow out of my mind faster when I write personal essays, so to keep the momentum, I’ll continue writing about my experiences in Kulaman Plateau and take some breather from summarizing or quoting academic texts. As a follow-up to my posts on the hundred caves of Kulaman, I’ll feature today the one that is in the village of Tinalon.

Along with Lagbasan Cave, Tinalon Cave Resort is the tourist spot in Kulaman that has a strong presence in the online world. I see pictures of the resort in Facebook, and I’ve been planning for some time now to go back there and take a wide-angled photo for my Facebook cover. For now, though, let me just narrate my experience there two years ago. People I know say nothing much has changed since, so my descriptions may still be accurate.

Photo from here. No copyright infringement intended.

I wasn’t able to go inside the cave. The mouth was small and you had to squeeze through to get inside. Not enticing. The cave anyway, was not really the main attraction there. Most locals went there to swim. The resort had two swimming pools, one for children and another for adults. The best thing about the place was the water, coming from the stream flowing out of the cave and carried to the pools by large black pipes.

The water, however, was too cold for me. I had just got back to Kulaman then, after staying most of the time away from home for more than ten years. I had been used to the hellish temperatures of Isulan, Koronadal, and Cebu, and Kulaman felt like the North Pole to me. It didn’t help that it was drizzling when my companions and I went to Tinalon. I dove into the water, paddled like a dog, and sat on the edge of the pool shirtless and shivering. I didn’t so much as dip my fingers into the water again. Now that I’m used to the temperature of Kulaman, though, I’ll probably enjoy the water in Tinalon Resort.

As to the cave, some relatives who had been inside told me that it wasn’t much different from other caves. If you came to Kulaman for spelunking, it’s better to head straight to Lagbasan Cave.

The swimming pools in Tinalon were rather crudely made. The floor wasn’t tiled and was thick with moss, making it slippery and a little dangerous. Cottages for an overnight stay were available. It was a good place for a honeymoon. For the whole day you could swim, go inside the cave, swim again, and go inside the smaller cave (wink). If you’re the type who likes swimming in a chlorinated pool with artificial waves, Tinalon Resort is not for you. But if you’re a nature-loving backpacker, Tinalon’s simple beauty will charm you.