Day 7. Santa Cruz – Dumalag Point

We woke up at 5.30am which is pretty late by our routine so far. But we could afford some sleep after yesterday’s 52km.
Today’s distance was 27km to Dumalag Point where Randy, Sonni, Toby & Buko will join us for the 11km tomorrow to Davao.
Governor Miguel Dominguez has again come in with his relentless support. He [...]

Day 6. Tubalan – Santa Cruz

Woke up at 4am again. My body is craving for more sleep. Can’t wait to get to Davao.
Today’s wind is Hamigan (northeast monsoon wind). This morning, I woke up with a sore right shoulder. I got to be careful not to stress it this early in the expedition.
During the day’s paddle, three of us are [...]

Day 5. Don Marcelino-Tubalan

We woke up at 4am. Sunrise is 5am. It’s good to start early. Our destination today is Tubalan, Arnel’s hometown.
Today was hot with no wind. The sea was calm and glossy like a mirror. We passed by the 2nd light house just before reaching Malita.
While kayaking, it’s quite common to hear karaoke sound far away [...]

Day 4. Caboran-Don Marcelino

I woke up at night – diarrhea. In the morning, diarrhea still persisted. I took 2 Immodium pills and drank lots of 100 Plus. I had to stop the diarrhea and regain my strength quickly to face another day’s challenge. Once I started kayaking, diarrhea stopped. Thank God for that.
The Habagat (southwest monsoon wind) strong [...]

Day 3. Nuing-Caboran

Vice Mayor gave us a letter of endorsement for our next stop. The letter says we are good and nice people. This is the most unique testimonial I ever got in my life.
Thelma even packed lunch for us – a big bag of rice with corned beef wrapped in banana leaf. She is such a [...]

Day 2. Margus Pequeno-Nuing

Early start at 6.30am because we were going to round Tinaca Point, the most southern tip of Mindanao. That place is well-known for rough sea.
The sea was as calm as mirror at the start with long gentle rolling waves. It was cloudy and drizzing. We could see Sarangani Island & Balut Island just as we [...]

Day 1. Gumasa-Margus

Governor got us a banca for the section from start to Davao. That’s extremely generous of him.
We paid a courtesy call to Mayor of Glan, Enrique Yap who just woke up late from his birthday party last night. Today is his 44th birthday which is also Malaysia’s National Day.
Some local media came to send us [...]

Shopping & more logistics

Buzzy arrived with Randy from Cebu today. We went shopping for cooking utencils, food, medical kit, tool kit etc. The Governor of Sarangani has kindly provided a huge truck to transport the 3 kayaks and gears to Glan. The truck is called Saddam. It was used in the Gulf War.

Arnell, another experienced Philippino kayaker from [...]

1st report from Davao!

28 Aug 2009. Davao – The first logistic base camp
Last night at the Budget Terminal in Singapore, we had our first crisis. Bin Kan couldn’t check in because he only had a one-way ticket. Philippine immigration requires every traveler to have a return ticket. I had told Bin Kan earlier to purchase a one-way ticket [...]

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