Travel: Dreaming of Davao

I've always wanted to visit Davao and to soak in the beaches of Samal island. To start 2012, my friend and I decided to go. I booked 2 nights at two different resorts (so I can also compare), a night at Hof Gorei and a night at Pearl Farm. 

Pearl Farm's infinity pool

After our Friday shift (Saturday morning) at the office, Armi and I went straight to the airport to catch our flight bound for Davao. We were a little worried with the traffic but all was good and we were able to catch our flight. After and hour and forty five minutes, we reached our destination. 

Tip 1: at the airport arrival area, there are free maps of Davao city that you can get to help you find your way.

It was a cloudy day and there was even a light drizzle when we landed although I kinda expected it already since I was constantly checking the weather days before our trip. We rode a metered cab from the airport and took us to Sta. Ana pier/wharf to catch our boat going to Hof Gorei beach resort. The boat schedule was at 11AM and we arrived at the airport 10 which gave us 1 hour of traveling time. We made it to the wharf just in time. (The cab fare costs 200 pesos from the airport going to the pier and you have to pay 10 pesos entrance fee so the cab can go inside). We got lost fora few minutes trying to look for the boat but eventually found it through constant communication with the resort. After an hour ride, we finally reached our destination. We were welcomed by the staff and served us our welcome drinks. Before proceeding to the rooms, we had a little orientation, basically telling us what time is breakfast, lunch and dinner and assigning us our own personal assistant during our stay. The resort is built along a hill so there's a lot of steps to climb but it'll give each accommodation a good view of the sea. I booked a quaint tree house room with a detached bathroom. The resort is very lush, although I guess a little maintenance would help to trim out the vegetation to make it look manicured. 

Our Hillside Round Hut

Our room has a good vantage of the property as well as the beach area. The view is definitely beautiful.

View from our tree house

After settling in our room, it was time to grab lunch. The resort can serve your food anywhere, good thing our room had its own veranda so we had our lunch there. The food is a little pricey but the portions are generous so its very filling, it was also very tasty so it was OK. After our lunch, we decided to go to the pool side to swim and take some pictures. 

Hof Gorei's Pool

After taking some picture and hanging out by the pool, we went back to our room to rest (meaning take a nap since we were still up all night). 

We had our dinner served at their al fresco dining area where wifi is available, unfortunately during that time it wasn't working. To cap our day, we had kinilaw na tanigue and a big bottle of Red Horse beer.

The next day, we woke up early and went t the highest point in the resort that had 200 steps or so. From the top, you have a good view of Davao and the nearby Pearl Farm. Also at the top is their natural spring water jacuzzi.

View from the hill 

After checking the highest point of the resort, we went back down to check the beachfront. If you are looking for a nice beach, you might want to skip this resort since its very rocky.

View of Hof Gorei from the beach

After that nice workout of going around the place, it was time for a quick breakfast (because we still needed to fix our stuff). We wanted to be back at Sta. Ana wharf by 9AM because that's the scheduled ferry to Pearl Farm. Good thing Hof Gorei called Pearl Farm to confirm that they will be dropping us off directly there.

Pier at Hof Gorei, off to Pearl Farm

Pearl Farm was very beautiful and approaching it, you can already see the water cottages that make the resort famous. We docked at the Parola and were given our welcome drinks. 

Arrival at Pearl Farm

There were also quite a few people who just arrived so we waited for a bit before proceeding to the reception area. Since we arrived way to early for the 2PM check in time, we checked in our bags at the reception area for safe keeping and went around the resort and take some pictures. 

Going around Pearl Farm

One of the pools at Pearl Farm

Cottages at Pearl Farm

View of the Parola

After going around the place, we were able to get a spot near the pool area so we decided to take a dip and after get some drinks. 

Relaxing at the pool

After a few hours, we saw a spot at the beach area so we transferred so we can swim at the beach as well. The sun started to shine so it made it perfect for the beach. 

One of the beach areas

Finding the perfect spot at the beach

We were thrilled when we already got to check in our room, because we can finally settle in. We got a Samal suite since I've always wanted to stay at their water cottages. The room smelled really nice and we have a good view of the nearby Malipano island and ofcouse the sea. Once settled, we had lunch at their Maranao restaurant. You can have the option to get the buffet or order ala carte. The food was very tasty and the portions were generous.

Our room

Tip 2: The Maranao restaurant discourages wet clothes in the restaurant, better dry up before eating.

Tip 3: Wifi is available at the Maranao restaurant. If you're lucky enough, you might be able to get a signal poolside and by the beach if you are close enough to the restaurant. 

During dinner, there was a live band playing (basically a singer and a guitarist who also sings) to entertain the guests. The band played for 2 hours from 7PM - 9PM. It was also nice that they had audience participation because one of the guests sang 2 songs. After dinner we headed out to the Parola bar which is at the 2nd floor of the Parola. Armi and I had a couple of drinks and had a nice talk with the bar tender. Time flies so fast and we didn't realize it was almost closing time, 11PM. We had our last call of drinks and told us that we can take our drinks to our room and so we did. We popped some chips from the bar and the drinking continued at our room.

Tip 4: The Parola bar's Happy Hour is between 4PM - 6PM where the drinks are 50% off. 

More cottage options at Pearl Farm

Our room is the third one from the left

After a good nights rest, we woke up a little early so we can have breakfast and make the most of our last day. We were the first ones to arrive at the restaurant so food was still fresh and hot.
Tip 5: Breakfast starts at 6:30AM.

From Pearl Farm, you can take a quick 2 minute boat ride going to Malipano island which is right in front of the resort. There's a boat going back and forth in 30 minute intervals from 9AM - 5PM. There at the island you can find Pearl Farm's villas. 

Beautiful entryway

We were lucky that we had the beach to ourselves. So we had time to take more photos and enjoy the beach.

Villas

We got back from Malipano island at 11AM and hurried back to our room since we were about to check out by 12 noon already. After checking out and settling our bill, we checked in our bags again at the reception area for safe keeping so we can still swim while waiting for our ferry back to the Marina at 4PM. 

From Pearl Farm, the ride back to their Marina (yes they have their own) takes about 45 minutes. If you fail to get souvenirs from Pearl Farm, they still have one at the Marina so no worries. From there, it took us under an hour to get to the airport. Once we were there, we learned that our flight back to Manila was delayed so we had time to go around the airport and do some last minute souvenir shopping. The stalls offered an array of goods from Durian products, pearls and typical souvenirs like ref magnets and keychains.

My trip to Davao was a great way to start my 2012 travel. I wouldn't mind going back, and this time, I wanna spend more time exploring Davao city itself. You'll definitely read about my return to Davao here.

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