Months before our trip to the largest city on the island of Mindanao, I had already been searching the Internet for a list of must-see places and attractions in Davao. I stumbled upon Flickr and saw a great number of awesome Davao photos but my attention was caught by those gigantic sculptures of durian and the Philippine eagle.

We decided to look for these gigantic sculptures during our last day in Davao, since our flight bound to Manila was scheduled in the afternoon. One of our colleagues, Mimi, who was from Davao served as our tour guide/photographer for that day and took us to the People’s Park.

continue reading People’s Park in Davao City →

Davao is well blessed with over 23 dive sites in Samal Island alone and is truly a haven for scuba divers and underwater photographers. So as part of our planned activities in Davao last February 2008, my friends and I decided to go diving in one of the many available dive sites in Samal Island, the Marissa Reef.

Marissa Reef is approximately a 30 to 45-minute boat ride from Sta. Ana Wharf Davao and is situated at the southeast side of Samal Island near the Pearl Farm Beach Resort. It was named after the person who started the underwater photography in the island, Marissa Florendo, who also happened to be the daughter of the discoverer.

continue reading Diving at Marissa Reef in Samal Island, Davao →