From Ocean to Summit to Sea

Last June 21-24 in the year of the Lord 2013, hehe! My friends and brothers of APHIO visited me here in Davao City, they like to have some tour and to experience great adventure in the island of Samal. So I made a short list for them to be prepared -a four days itinerary.

First day morning we went to Bankerohan, the biggest market in town. Bought some chicken and pork, rice and seasonings, etc., and of course drinks and trail foods, trail foods for our drinks, hehe! After the food preparation in the house of flies we visit Eden Park, the largest park in town.

This park consist of 80 hectares land, they have Butterfly Garden and Horse Back Riding, etc. This picture, yeah that’s an artificial horse. I did not ride the real one ‘cause I’m like a horse and I can ride like a horse, nyahaha! Just kidding. Anyways, we did not make it the rest of the park because it’s getting dark. The best time to go there is early morning and rent a minicab so you can have a whole day tour on the entire park.

After that we went to Jack Ridge resort and restaurant. I don’t know why they called it resort; I don’t see any beaches or shoreline, joke haha! They have lots of close cottages, bars and a fine restaurant.  The place is in the top of the mountain. You can see the city lights while having a fine cuisine and great scenery of tunes and music. A nice place for lovers, family and friends, friends who are in love or friends with benefits, hikhikhik just kidding! 

This is one of Davao City’s finest tourist destination. And this mountain is one of my training grounds ;)

On our second day, we went to Samal Island. The start of our journey and adventure, we called it “From Ocean to Summit to Sea”. This is my 6^th time to visit the island and our first stop -Monfort Bat Cave. The biggest bat cave in the whole wide world, hehe!

After that we went to Hagimit Falls, our jump-off point to Mt. Puting Bato. We stayed there for 3 hours. Picture2, chika2, food preparation, swimming and site seeing, hehe!

And of course in every great adventure there is a finest man behind. I am the ocean, I am the tree, there’s a world inside of me, charoooot haha!

After swimming at Hagimit we start our trek around 1300 hours then we reach the summit of Mt. Puting Bato before 1700 hours. Then sweep the area for a nicer view, for pitch-up and sweeter meals to prepare ;)

This is the view of our campsite. We just brought two tents for the three of us and a modified lantern for a better ambiance and lights. These lanterns are made with small candles, plastic bags and bbq sticks. It came from the original mind, nyahaha! It's sturdy as oak but when it rains, I’m sorry hehe! And for our foods, we prepared marinated chicken and pork for heavy meals. Salted and mixed with soy sauce, kalamansi, vinegar, onions and garlic. It will last for several days, depends on how you cook and to your budget. And also we prepared some eggs, skinless longanisa and coffee for breakfast. These are enough for 2 days get away.

I did not bring any canned goods because it’s avoidable for me, it can cause heavy backpacking and aftermath destruction to our beautiful nature. I’m a mountain person, not only naturalist or environmentalist but I was born to it. 

On our 3^rd day, a trail blaze traverse to Canibad beach. After we reach we rest and charged our phone and camera then have some snacks before leaving the island.

Late afternoon we arrived at Talikod Island. Spend overnight and have some fun. Swimming, foods and drinks, hehe! And witness the biggest full moon on earth -recorded June 23, 2013.

And on our 4^th day, last day of our itinerary. We went back to the city then visited the Crocodile Farm before ETD’s of my friends back to Cebu. 

This is the largest crocodile farm in the country, the habitat of my late friend Lolong, haha! You can find lots of animals here; it’s like a Jurassic park but no dinosaurs, hehe! They have also souvenirs made with crocodile skin like wallet, shoes, bags, key chain and also crocodile cuisine (exotic foods) served like sisig. 

So this is it. My simple way to entertained and accommodate friends. Ciao ;)