Island Hopping from Davao



Team Sleeping on the way out

Sunday the team chartered a boat to go island hopping around Davao and try snorkeling.  We chartered the boat for about 8 hours - including 4 crew, lunch and snorkeling equipment for about 1000 pesos a person/roughly $23 us dollars!  The company is relatively new,

the boat was nice and it even had bean bag chairs on the deck to lounge in.  The crew had cool drinks and even brought around cool wash clothes from time to time.  It took about an hour to motor to the first snorkeling spot and a lot of the team napped. 

First Snorkeling Spot



The first snorkeling spot was a little off one of the islands nearby.  The water was so clear you could see coral about 15-20 feet below.  The water was really salty, and of course I swallowed some.  It was really easy to float and you could see some fish and coral below.  Cecile even dove for some starfish - they were everywhere, different shapes and sizes. We stayed anchored for a little bit, then piled back in the boat to head for our lunch spot.

We motored to a beach that had picnic tables and a resort with cabanas.  We got a secluded spot of beach all to ourselves - except for local selling pearls and seashell jewelry and fish and an armed security guard, oh well.  A lot of the team did end up buying from the jewelry sellers, we had a great fresh fish lunch and the guard was very helpful and nice.  Here are some pictures from our time at the beach, including my pink toes in the crystal clear water. 

The local fishermen brought a cooler full of fish to our table, and even though we had pork and chicken kabobs from the charter boat, we couldn't resist adding fresh fish to the menu.  This beauty is a local fish, lapu lapu I think, weighing a little over 2 kilos (5 pounds) that we bought prepared for 650 pesos/$15 us dollars!  The fish was picked clean and we gave the left over prepared meals to the local jewelry sellers.

The boat crew let us laze around, a lot napped - there were hammocks, grassy areas, and the crew even brought bean bag chairs ashore for us to use in the shade.  We had fresh coconuts from the trees above our heads split open for drinks.  Some of the team stayed in the water for what seemed like hours, but the snorkeling right at the beach wasn't the best.  Eventually, everything was packed back onto the boat and we headed for the last dive spot. 



Going In

We could see fish before we even got in.  As we were being tied off to a rock, a scuba diver appeared under our boat.  This was a very popular scuba and snorkeling spot and we could see why.  The coral goes from very shallow to dropping off about 25 feet in a hurry.  Little fish dart around in the shallow areas and bigger (less than a foot long) could be seen a bit deeper.  The coral was all shapes and sizes.  I swam through a swarm of little silver fish with blue horizontal stripes.  I saw striped fish, yellow and orange fish and more starfish. 

There were two people in our group that could not swim, and the guides took them out one by one to try snorkeling with life jackets on.  Everyone had a great time.  By the time we finished, I was exhausted and almost fell asleep myself on the way home. 

 I pretty much spent the day soaking in spf 30, but it was worth it - no sunburn!  A truly great way to spend my birthday weekend.

Back at the dock