It’s hard to turn down an invitation to go the beach.  Much more so if you’re going to a remote spot where the water is pristine, the sand is white, the fish is fresh from the water, there’s no cellphone signal to bother you and you have the beach for yourself.  As soon as I was told the destination was Sigabuy, I was good to go!

It was around a 4 hour drive from Davao City with one breakfast stop of around 20 minutes at Jollibee Tagum.  The road to Davao Oriental was a mixture of concrete, asphalt, and paved dirt roads.  To sum it up, it was a good ride despite the road development, in a year or so, the road to Sigabuy would all be concrete.

The scenery was breath taking when we arrived.   The clear blue water you could see and gentle waves rushing you could hear is heaven.  We then pitched our tents in a spot under a tree and set up the cooler and foldable chairs and table.  As soon as the chores were done, we were swimming in the water.  The fine white sand in the beach is also what you can step on in the water.  No aqua shoes, slippers or sandals needed to enjoy your swim.

There’s only so much you can do in the beach if you’re not going to go under water diving or snorkeling.  So naturally, what we did was to eat grilled fish and drink alcohol.  Before the sunset, we dipped in the water again because it’s hard to swim when it’s pitch dark and inebriated.  After dinner, we dozed off.  There was rain, but the tent kept us dry.

The next morning, we had a simple breakfast, dipped in the water some more as our last goodbye and freshened up.  Time to go back to the real world folks.  The ride to Davao City was smooth as well.  I must have reached Davao Imperial Hotel around 4pm.  There was little traffic in the city because of a motorcade.  It must be part of the Kadayawan festivities.  I also felt a bit sad for our fellowmen in Manila when I checked the latest news.  They are literally underwater.  This is a constant reminder not to mess with Mother Nature.  Going green, reduce, reuse and recycling, effective urban planning and whole lot more needs to be done in this country.  Sigh.  Anyway, hope everyone is having a happy Kadayawan!