Canibad Beach - (my)newly discovered

-Davao City, Philippines-

ok, before i start something that may mislead you, this post is not strictly about a Davao City beach. I consider anything very accessible and near to Davao city. More to the point, i consider Samal Island as part of Davao City, Philippines. It has been renamed as “the island garden city of Samal” only recently. Us vagabonds of Davao City, Philippines have trooped to this island for the longest time already and I daresay, you cannot access Samal except by boat or ferry from the wharfs of, you guessed it, Davao City, Phiippines. Ok, enough of that. On to the actual subject.
Last Holy Week 2009, our kali-escrima-arnis group Mandirigmang Kaliradman held our annual Instructors’ Seminar at Canibad Beach in Samal Island. I’ve heard about this secluded beach before but never had the chance to check it out. Secluded is a proper adjective to describe Canibad Beach. Stupid is the adjective for me for missing out on this for the longest time.

Now it will be futile for me to try to describe qualities or drawbacks of the beach with more adjectives without posting some pics here but of course I will not stop myself from telling my impressions of it.

I loved it. ‘like’ is too tame a word to use for Canibad Beach. You will miss out on the convenience of having a proper sari-sari store (there is one but be prepared to part with a considerable amount of your hard-earned cash) to buy whatever you forgot to bring(mostly this will be in the food/drink category).But you knew you were going to a secluded beach silly. It was nice during the time we were there because some campers actually put up their own little sari-sari stores, this caused the prices to become more reasonable while their supply lasted(We even had a halo-halo of sorts).
What about the amenities of Canibad Beach? Pretty good actually. You shouldn’t expect five-star amenities, it is of the Spartan category. Did I say that this is mostly a camper’s beach? Though there is a clubhouse of sorts where people can cook(a dirty kitchen is available, the only dirty thing you can describe at Canibad beach), attend to nature calls(clean comfort rooms cum showers) . The group stayed at the clubhouse and enjoyed the many hammocks there and the barracks type second floor for those who were slow with the hammocks and for our things. Some of us brought tents, too and put them up on the clubhouse grounds.

The days were great at Canibad beach. Enjoying the sea wet is very optional. You can enjoy the view while talking(read; drinking/singing/laughing/shouting) with friends but of course you shouldn’t ignore the sea and the sand of Canibad Beach. Bringers of books should beware, you’ll miss out on the nice.nice beach if you enjoy the ambiance too much while reading.

The nights were reserved for star-gazing, walks on the fairly long beach, serious drinking bouts, and of course: night swimming. All that and more at Canibad Beach. By the way, it is quite accessible from Davao City, Philippines if you know how(about an hour, most of it will be consumed by the ferry), there will be a bit of trekking/hiking involved but nothing a stroke survivor(me) cannot handle slowly with patience... So there’s the scoop(of sorts), I hope you get to enjoy Canibad Beach, Samal Island, Davao City, Philippines(with apologies to the island garden city of Samal).