A Quick Trip to Saranggani

I'm a crazy traveler, and I think I have inspired others to follow my craziness. Hence, one day, when we were in Davao, our group decided to just head off spontaenously to Saranggani province, which is just 3 hours away. Well, think it's just Batangas if you're living in Davao, so it's not that bad.

Of course, we passed through Gen San, the home of Manny, but we didn't make a stop at the city. Instead, we headed off for lunch at Isla Parilla near the Saranggani capitol. I've been here twice before, and all for dinner. It's my first time to see daylight here, so it was refreshing visit.

Isla Parilla is actually a small manmade lake, if you would call it that way, where the owners decided to breed fish. I think they have bangus and tilapia here. The resort's accommodations and restaurant is built on cottages on stilts over the water. The place is relaxing for a sumptuous Filipino meal.

The food is not as cheap, but it was good. The presentation, as you can see in the picture, was very appetizing. We were all satisfied with this Sweet and Sour Lapu Lapu.

The reason why we came to Saranggani is because we wanted to see one beach: Gumasa Beach. Now, I have been trying to visit this place everytime I am in Davao, so finally, I made it here.

However, we were all disappointed with what we saw. I couldn't give details that much, since this trip happened 3 months ago already. The beach wasn't as fine and white as described in the blogs. I figured, maybe, we were in the wrong side of the beach. We searched another one, and found this one below.

We couldn't find good accommodations. They were either dilapidated nipa huts, or bare uninspired cement bungalows. This beach was better looking though than the first one. It was wider and had finer sand, but still, not meeting our expectations.

There were around 4 to 5 resorts in this area, and there were a number of visitors. It wasn't paradise as well as a result. The sun was too hot, so we decided to stay in the shade. We were looking for a restaurant, but couldn't find any, except for the small eatery shacks in the resorts. 

In the end, we decided to go back to Davao and head to Samal instead. Our visit to Gumasa was deemed wasteful, but at least we got to see first hand what it is like. I wouldn't visit Gumasa all the way from Manila. If I were in Davao or in surrounding areas, I would probably do. I wouldn't make all the effort though to go to this place.

That said, this goes to show that each experience is different. Again, I want to explain that this was my opinion of Gumasa. I may come back, probably after getting more tips from those who have enjoyed the place more.