Island Garden City of Samal

What to do. Where to go. How to get there.

Island Garden City: Samal

There has been quite the confusion about Samal and Davao City since the new president took seat. Just to be clear, Samal is not under Davao City. It is however, under the same region: Davao.

At around 7 am, we checked out of our inn at Davao City (12 hours stay), took a jeep to Victoria Plaza (P7). We bought water from 711, where Belle also bought her lunch and I bought mine from Chowking - sue me 😂. From Victoria, it was a long ride by jeep to Sasa (P10).

At the Sasa pier, we waited for the bus to take us to Central (P40 all in). Barges from Sasa pier dock at Peñaplata (P15/head if you don't take the bus). We preferred the bus because from Peñaplata to our first destination, it would've probably costed us each P50-100 more. Sasa to Peñaplata travel time is around 15 minutes.

 

Davao Central is a supermarket (?). It is where you can ride the bus back to Davao (I can't remember if it's also the last bus stop). There are also habal-habals (motorcycle) and tricycles there. They have the same rates but I suggest you take the habal-habal instead because the tourist places in Samal are far from each other.

Central to Hagimit Falls by habal-habal P50/head. Travel time is around 20-30 minutes.

Before entering Hagimit, we paid P5 for environmental fee and P50 each for the table. I can't remember if we also paid for entrances or it's already included in the P100 we paid for the table.

I don't know how to swim so kuya, the guide, was actually at the side ready to pull me out of the water after I jumped. The whole time before the jump I was like, "Kuya baka matanggal bra ko" lol

Hagimit Falls was the highlight of our trip! We super enjoyed climbing waterfalls, rowing balsa, cliff diving (around 13ft I guess) and cave exploring. The cave was pretty small so there wasn't really any exploring to do. It was hello claustrophobia in there.

Balancing the bamboo raft is a struggle - it looked so easy in movies!

There are teenage kids there that would offer to take you around Hagimit and take pictures for you. That's why Belle and I had so many! Two of them guided us. It's up to you how much you'd pay them. We decided to give P50 each - they had to endure us for atleast 2 hours lol.

The walk back to Hagimit's entrance is tiring. Stairs!!! Not as tiring as Tinago Falls in Iligan City but ugh, still tiring. We noticed on our way back, they had these obstacle courses. I'm not sure if they operate during weekend when people flock (like Maxima Aqua Fun) though. Too bad they didn't operate when we were there. I love obstacle courses - I finished the longest one in the Philippines!

The good thing about Samal is that they have fare tariffs posted in their tourist spots so you know you're getting the right value for your money. Fare is expensive in Samal though :( We paid P100 each to Monfort Bat Sanctuary.

Entrance to Monfort Bat Sanctuary is P100/head. That's with a tour guide already. We arrived during lunch time and the tour guide was out so we paid P50 each instead and explored the place on our own. I thought there was a mountain and I had to hike up to the opening... but the cave (wth I typed cake) was actually a hole on the ground. Literally.

Belle and I aren't into wildlife much so a non-guided tour was quite fine and the cave was easy to locate from the entrance. Beware, they smell. What I saw in that cave, I imagine is what we would become in the future if we don't control our population. Fascinating and repulsing at the same time. I'm repulsed because of how many they are. Probably because I'm claustrophobic?

PS. I am super bothered by their penis.

Thank you filters for making us look like we got a tan lol

We spent some quite time after at Sunset - drying our undies jk sunbathing. We hurried back to Davao to wakeboard at Deca Wake Park but sadly, the traffic was bad :( so we ended up eating at a korean resto and strolling around Abreeza.

Plus 220 for food