Jan 19 2009
The New Year Reunion At Costa Marina – Part One
For someone living in a tropical country like me in the Philippines, it seems weird for North Americans or European people to understand that I’ve never been to a beach for over five years. Now, if that surprised them, my local friends are more shocked when they learned that I’ve never been to the Island Garden City of Samal for the 21 years of my life. It’s a popular place in our region for locals and tourists where dozens of beach resorts of varying class and styles are waiting to be explored and celebrated.
On January 4th 2009, I was so lucky that my old high school classmates decided to set the venue of our reunion in Costa Marina Beach Resort. It gave me a chance to discover that there is indeed a paradise nearby my city. This post contains pictures that reveal the morning part of our reunion.
Meeting Place: Maryknoll High School of Panabo
A day before, we agreed to meet outside the school campus of our alma mater at 6AM. It’s not unusual that when you meet a group of people for an event here in the Philippines at certain hour, everyone arrives the next hour. Tardiness is never good but you know, it happens. So I arrived early at 6AM to know if my classmates have gained some punctuality. And guess what? Most of them arrived at 7AM as expected! Nothing changed at all, same old!
Out of over dozens of classmates we had in our high school, only twelve people confirmed to join the “reunion” including myself. From Panabo City, we rode an air-conditioned bus to a place in Davao City called Sasa, where we transferred to a boat for Costa Marina in the Island Garden City of Samal.
Boat Transfer to Samal Island
When we arrived in the wharf, we had to split our group into two for the boat transfer. I belong to group bound for the first boat. Like I said, I’ve never been to Samal Island until this event, so pretty much you can say that this was my first time to ride this type of boat. Although the sea between Davao City and Samal Island was pretty calm, I made sure that I sit near a lifejacket (just in case — hehehe). The boat took around 15 to 20 minutes for us to reach the island and since we are not frequent visitors, we decided to take pictures while we were still on the boat and immediately after we set our foot on the island.
It basically took us over 30 minutes of picture-talking since we landed considering the long walk before you actually enter the beach resort.
When we reached the entrance of the resort, a board reminded us that our entry is not free. Each of us had to pay PHP 100.00 ( or $2.17 USD ).
Costa Marina Beach Resort
Costa Marina Beach Resort is a unique blend of a nature and beach resort. There’s a nature-styled restaurant with matching tropical animals near the establishment (first time I saw a peacock there!) . The ambience of the place is rather romantic that I wished I could bring someone special and together be one with nature’s serenity. From there, the feeling was like we were inside a lush forest beside a pristine, white sand beach.
From Costa Marina, we can also view Davao City from the distance. All of that, along with breeze of cool wind in sunny mid-day, took away all our stress and worries.
In the next post, I will show you the activities we did in our little high school reunion besides swimming. Like this post, it will also be loaded with heaps of images that you’ll enjoy to see.
As for Costa Marina, this certainly isn’t the best beach resort of Samal Island considering that the fees are cheaper and local-friendly. Low-budget tourist can go here with no problems but if I would bring someone with more luxurious taste, the Pearl Farm Resort is basically the best beach resort to enjoy if you come to Davao City, Philippines.
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hi john,
i was reading your blog about costa marina. i was wondering maybe you can help me wih the contact info of costa marina because we’re planning to stay there this summer. i really need your help i was hoping maybe you can help me. you have my email..i hope you can email me. thank you for your time. have a nice day! god bless!-jo
@joann
I’m sorry to tell you but I don’t have the contact details of Costa Marina. Maybe you can try finding it through Samal’s official website: http://samalcity.gov.ph/