Samal Island is located off the east coast of Davao , by hopping on a public banca near Sasa Bridge (1hr; P20). Jeepneys marked "Sasa" will take you to within spitting distance of the boat station., just 10 minutes or so by boat from Davao City. It’s one of my favorite places to go and do a little exploring. You can find everything on Samal from beach resorts to caves full of fruit bats! It’s really a diverse place.
But, how do you get there? I hear this question from visitors from time to time. There is no bridge connecting Samal to the City, the only way to get there is by boat. At the top of this post, you will see a photo of the “Island City Express” bus. This is probably the easiest way to get to Samal if you are traveling without your own vehicle. Around the Agdao area of Davao is where you can catch the Island City Express bus service. The bus will then carry you to the Sasa area and onto a ferry that will bring you to Samal. After leaving the ferry, you will be close the Babak, Samal, and the final destination will be Penaplata where you will get off the bus.
If you wan to take your own vehicle to Samal, you can take the same ferry, which you will catch in Sasa, Davao City. For around P300 or so, you can bring your vehicle across (the ferry ride is a little longer than on a banca, it takes about 20 minutes or a little more perhaps). I have enjoyed bringing vehicle there, because you then get a chance to drive around the island quite a bit and see more scenery than you can if you are on foot.
Another way to get to Samal is on a banca (small boat) to one of the resorts. Nearly every resort on the island (there are dozens of them) has a boat to bring guests to the island. One of the easy ones is to take the boat to Paradise Island Resort, then you can spend time at the resort for a while and exit out the back gate to explore the island. The boat trip is only about 10 minutes and cost is very cheap - I think it was P10 or P15 as I recall. The boat to Paradise can be caught just north of the Waterfront Insular Hotel.
The most exclusive resort on the island is probably the Pearl Farm Resort. They have a boat leaving from the Lizada area of Lanang. This is a new spot for them, as they used to leave from the Insular Hotel, but changed in the past few months to this new dock that they built last year.
In addition to these boats, you can also catch boats at the Santa Ana Pier which will bring you to Samal, and to Talikud Island, which is just south of Samal, as well.
Enjoy your trip to Samal!
No comments:
Post a Comment