Samal Island is a very popular tourist destination. It is part of Metropolitan Davao, but is located 2 kilometers away from Davao City. Visitors cross Davao Gulf on a ferry boat to get to the Island. It’s official name is the Island Garden City of Samal. RD was still 3 years old when we last visited Samal, so he was quite excited to be going on this trip!

Every year, after each cycle is done at the poultry farm, and the buildings have all been cleaned and repaired for the next batch to come in, we bring the workers to the beach for an annual outing, of sorts. This year, we decided to bring them to Samal. We hired a bus to bring all 33 people (not including us because we brought our own vehicle) to Samal. It was RD’s first time to ride on a boat in our vehicle, and he was quite fascinated about it.

We had chosen to stay at a place called Madyaw Beach Resort, which was located in a more isolated part of the island as we didn’t want to stay in the more popular beach resorts fearing there would be too many people, and we wouldn’t have any time to bond with the workers. The beach in the resort we chose had a more sandy beach front than the coral-laden beaches of the more popular beaches located on the side facing Davao City, and we were quite happy about that! A bonus was that there not too many people there.

We all spent the day just lounging on the beach, while the others went cliff-jumping or riding on the bancas you could rent for P500/day. RD spent most of the day at the beach, swimming and playing with the kids of our workers, and having just a marvelous time that he stayed there till it was dark!

The next day, RD was up early at 6am and immediately headed for the water. All the other kids followed suit, and stayed there swimming and playing, only coming out of the water to eat breakfast, and then lunch. What a day it was! And what a really fun time we all had! As usual, the kids didn’t stop swimming until dark!

After two days at the beach, it was time to leave. However, we heard of this falls located in the center of Samal called Hagimit Falls,  and decided to drop by before heading for the mainland.

Hagimit Falls is located in the town of Penaplata. The falls is not just one body of falling water, but is actually a number of falls located in just one area. Visitors may choose which falls to visit as there is only one payment for all three main water falls in the area. 

We chose the one in the elevated part of the area as there were not much people there. It was here that RD tried to jump from an elevated part of the falls into the water. He did a good job but didn’t land in the water the way he wanted to. He calls it his “Jump Fail” and isn’t particularly proud of it. But we’re proud of how brave he was because he actually did it!