Island hopping
is one of the most entertaining things to do in
a country blessed with 7, 107 islands. It is the best way to explore and perceive the
beauty of an island for
me. I experience it as a pleasant, carefree and enjoyable adventure that has never been so amusing and simply is the best thing to do.
Ever since I was a child, Island Getaway
have been a part of my life. Occasionally my family would go and spend a whole day, sometimes even
a couple
of days in a resort to celebrate or plainly just to reunite to renew and edify
family bonds. Needless to say that these are the
times
that a new passion unfolds within me and conceives a typical dream. A dream of owning
an isolated island wherein I could spend the day in a beautiful balcony along beside the sea,
lazily swinging in a hammock while musing over the grandiose beauty of sunrise
and sunset everyday. Unfortunate enough, not everything
in life goes about the sea. Nonetheless the
magic of an island is undeniably insatiable.
Generally
every island has its own beauty, variety and its own kind of splendor. So I believe that not only exploring the flora and fauna of every island is spectacularly impressive but
also its verdant forest and every species therein . Evidently every island has its own peculiar and unique stories to express and this
is what it’s all about, a story of my islands
hopping spree.
It was
March 2004, almost
at the end of the school year, the class
agreed with each other to island hop as a farewell
celebration. At about 7 o’clock in the morning, I headed quickly to Magsaysay Port fearing that I
would be too late and miss the merry go round.
As I got there, everyone was busy preparing all
things that we needed for the day. After about half an hour our rented boat was
all set, so excitedly we all get into the boat and slowly started our journey,
marvelously exploring the cluster islands of the
Garden City of Samal.
The Island Garden City of Samal, also known as IGACOS is situated on the border of Asia Pacific and is nestled in the southern part of Philippines. IGACOS is just minutes away from Davao city regarded to be one of the biggest cities in the Philippines with large economic base. Samal Island is one of the best islands in Philippines, the most visited island in Davao and one of the most famous in Mindanao.
As we circumnavigated the island, we saw numerous awesome havens and diverse kind of resorts from ordinary to extraordinary, each featuring different kinds of clean and white sand shorelines. The island itself offers various marine reefs, tranquil waters and numerous sea creatures. Normally we got the urge to stop by to muse on something or a place that captured our interest.
As the sailing went on, our curiosity was culminated upon unexpectedly stumbling over a lonely mysterious island, invitingly lured us to stop by. It was encircled with clear waters, cluttered mangroves and littered with different kind of weeds. Out of our inquiring minds the boatmen told us that the islet's name is “Wishing Island” but local dwellers called it as “Enchanted Island”. Hearing about it adds up to our eagerness to see why it was called like this. Without double minds, we all climbed into the islet with a high level of excitement, eventually turned into bewilderment and sadness the moment we laid our eyes on the place. The environment was enveloped with silence dressed with melancholy. There was a neglected, stale, pompous vacation house there with two big long defective slides coming directly straight out into the ocean, which were for me really dangerous slides and not a good idea to enjoy too. The scene has a picturesque image with fun and happiness of the past that was silently telling us a tragic tale. Probably that’s the reason why it was being abandoned. Wondering about what happened to that place, the boatmen voluntarily talked rumors about it. They said that the vacation house was owned by a wealthy family and deserted it after a tragic death of their child while gliding on the slide. Another story had something to do with the island visibility only during low tide. Since the island is only visible during low tides, visitors who go there are always advised not to tarry long, but a group of friends did not mind the warning and went partying on the island. They got drunk, became wild and to their surprise a storm came on a hot midday causing them to panic wondering how to escape from the island. Unluckily no one was able to get away from the island and all were horribly drowned in its shallow waters. I don’t know if the stories were true or not, nor can ever find any proof or person for the tales authenticity, but one thing I know, visiting that island was really wonderful. Wishing Island may have a shadow of a gory and a forlorn aura but it was interesting enough and indeed enchanting. Visiting that island was really unforgettable, it did culminate our curiosity and undoubtedly complemented our day.
Now Wishing Island has become a favorite landmark of IGACOS...
