.

My arms and thighs still ache. Probably caused by all the swimming. =/ My stay in Samal was fun though. I finally found my favorite resort in Samal! :)) And I also found the place to stay for my birthday! XD My sisters and I all went to celebrate there. haha. The resort was that awesome.

We took a roro (the ones that carry vehicles) to Samal. We brought so many things to just take a bangka going there. Hmm. If there is a bangka that goes to that resort :)) It is really far. How far?

Well, we passed by Bali-Bali Beach Resort, Bluejaz Beach Resort & Waterpark, Chemas by the Beach Resort, Costa Marina Beach Resort, Isla Reta Beach Resort, and Paradise Island Beach Resort. There were other resorts that we passed by but those were the only ones I'm familiar with >_< Oh, if you are wondering, Pearl Farm Beach Resort's found on the other side of the island. haha.

We've never been there so we had to get a guide. Just some random stranger in a motorcycle. Hmm, Samal, friendly people. :D When our car stopped, we weren't there yet. We had to go down a very steep and long stairway first. :)) It wasn't even straight. It went right-left-right-left..you get the idea. o.0 My feet and hands (because I was carrying the food) were aching so much that I wanted to just go home and not bother with this trip. haha. Well, I wasn't expecting anything amazing honestly >_<

When I got to see the resort, I was like OHMY, HOLY FREAK. I wasn't expecting that. You know what I saw? I saw a two-story house above the sea. Yes, that's why they call the resort Maxima: The house above the sea.
House which means nagiisa lang siya. It was originally the rest house of the Dizon family eh. When you look at it kasi, it really looks like a rest house. It even has that homey feeling inside which is what I really love about that place. :)

As you can see in the picture, the first floor is practically an open area. You can jump whenever. haha. I was kind of hesitant at first to jump. I'm not scared of the water. haha. I'm scared of falling. Yes, I think it's that. The feeling that you get when you fall. That split second in the air. Ugh. You just want to reach the water, you know. I don't remember ever opening my eyes when I jumped. >_<

Since it's an open area, we can push each other to the water. haha. I was never pushed because I never pushed. :)) It's fun to see people getting pushed to the water. haha. The bedroom on the first floor (you see that sliding door with a curtain on the left side of the picture?) is the biggest which is why us, kids slept there. That room's the perfect place to hide before pushing anyone! :)) Hide behind the wall, walk slowly, and PUSH. haha.

Oh, don't worry about hitting your head/feet/ass on the bottom of the water. We are a family of tall people and none of us has ever touched the bottom of it. It's too deep and the water's too salty. I wanted so badly to touch the bottom even with my hands but I couldn't. =( There are a lot of corals and even that, we couldn't touch :)) From the house, you can see the corals on the left side of the house (right on the pic). The water was that clear :D You might think that it's only 5 or 6 feet because you can see the corals already but don't be fooled! haha. The water's just really clear and the water's really around 10 feet! XD

They have this one long dining table on the first floor. Fit for around 10 people which is good because when we swim, we like to eat every once in awhile and sabay-sabay pa talaga. haha. I don't remember that there was a moment ever na walang pagkain sa dining table :)) Kahit nung tulog na ang lahat, may iniwan parin na pagkain. haha. Walang ants na nagpunta. Well, they have to swim first before getting there :))

In the whole house, they have three comfort rooms. Two downstairs. One upstairs. One of the comfort rooms downstairs smelled weird :)) It was like that na when my cousins went there. Something's wrong with their pipes. o.0 Just sharing :))

On the second floor, they have three bedrooms. Two of those bedrooms had a queen-size bed. The other one has two twin-sized beds. The house is fit for 10 people but they have extra cushions so you can still fit 15 people. Kami? Ilan ba kami? Hmm. 8 kids. 4 parents. One helper. One driver. So that makes 14. :D

My favorite spot in the house is actually located on the second floor. Michelle, my younger cousin, introduced me to the spot. She told me she's the only one who stays there. Perfect, it's isolated. I need time to read or just stare or think or do whatever alone. haha.

It's a balcony. If you look at the pic, you can see some parts of its roof at the left side of the second floor. There's one wooden couch with small pillows and a recliner beside it. From there, you have the view of some of the resorts of Samal. I see fishermen fishing (duh), children playing, the beautiful mountain and the clouds. It's also windy there. I read Paolo Coelho's The Devila and Miss Prym there. I'm done with Veronika Decides to Die. :D

It's so peaceful there and quiet. I even fell asleep just staring. It was nighttime, around 9. There was nothing else to do and I was tired so I decided to stay there. I thought there was a light bulb there so I could read my book but there was none so I just settled by just sitting and staring at the dark sky. Once in awhile, I stood up and stared at the fishes below. There were two spotlights under the house. It was weird because the fishes were so attracted to the light. haha. I stopped staring at them when my butt ached. I was sitting on the wood that was supposed to be the thing that prevents you from falling off to the sea. I went back to the couch instead. Continued my staring and eventually fell asleep. I suddenly woke up around an hour after when mom opened the sliding door leading to that balcony and woke me up. Mom was looking for me and she called my name out loud so naturally, I'd wake up. Too bad. I liked my spot there. It would have been fun to wake up and the first thing to see was the mountain. It was too cold though so I went inside.

I couldn't sleep anymore so I read my book again. I tried to sleep after I got teary-eyed from all the reading. haha. The story's not depressing okay? Masakit lang talaga after reading ng matagal. >_< I was lying down on one of the beds in the 2nd floor pala kasi full na downstairs. I visited them para lang magusap kasi hindi talaga ako matulog sa taas and wala na akong ibang maggawa.

I ended up sleeping there anyways :)) I took Kuya Carlo's spot. He got annoyed cuz we kept on talking and talking. :))

Oh yeah, we tried feeding the fish different kinds of food. Just to see which ones they'd actually eat. haha. We tried Clover chips. That didn't work. Then, I tried feeding them tuna. Yes, tuna. Tuna=fish. haha. Maybe they'd be hungry enough to eat their own kind? :)) Humans do it. They didn't eat the tuna though. haha. They did eat Skyflakes and KoKoKrunch! XD But those fishes are weird. They'd wait for a few minutes first before eating them! Hmm. Maybe they've got enough food down there. =/

Other than swimming, we went kayak riding, and banana boat riding. The kayak was provided by the resort. Unlimited use, comes with the house rental. I only rode once with Bianca. I don't really like riding kayaks. One, they are not fast enough. Two, I had a half-traumatic half-idiotic experience with kayaks when I was young. hahaha.


Our cousins owned the banana boat. The banana boat could sit three people but we preferred riding by two's since the boat would be a lot faster that way and the boat will bounce a lot. :)) I rode twice, magkasunod pa talaga. T'was fun. Again with Bianca. Well, first, there were three of us. Bianca, Ate Ami and I. We were taunting Kuya Carlo that he was too sloooow. Really, the boat was too slow. We didn't even fall. When Ate Ami jumped off, Bianca and I wanted to have one more round. See if this time, we'd be a lot faster.
Hellsyeah, we were! I was the one sitting in the back and Bianca was sitting in the front. There was a spot in the middle which was Ate Ami's seat. I moved to her seat in the middle when suddenly, the banana boat went real fast. We were shocked because of the suddenl change in speed of the boat. We kept on laughing the whole time because Kuya Carlo really wanted us to fall. We never did. He kept on swerving and going really fast but we didn't fall! XD

As to Cassandra and Ate Monique..haha. Biggest banana boat losers ever. hahaha. Fell down twice. After their second fall, they didn't climb up the boat anymore. Instead, they were holding onto the rope that attached the banana boat to the speedboat. Three times Tito Joel had to turn the speedboat around to fetch them because they kept on losing grip to the rope. On the third time, we just went back to the house. We left them na lang. Tito probably got tired of going back to them :))


Michelle had one of those waterproof cameras made for underwater pictures. She took a video of me jumping off from the house. I WANT MY COPY! :)) She took pictures of us underwater too. Hmm, I want a copy of that one too! XD

What else can I share?

The sunset was so beautiful...
It gave me an idea! How about watch the sun rise?

I alarmed mom's phone at 5 AM. My phone's been turned off for two weeks now :)) And I left it in GenSan so yeah :D

From the bedroom downstairs, I got to see the sky when the sun was rising. I stared at it for around 10 minutes then went back to sleep. I was too sleepy. haha.

The next day, we had visitors. The Mundas, cousins of our parents.

"Tito, ADMU po kayo dati?"
"Yes, nung buhay pa si Eliazo. Teacher ko yun dati eh"

:)) Eliazo Hall is the name of the freshmen girls dorm in ADMU where Ate Monique is currently staying XD

Kuya Caryboy Munda (we can't call him "tito" since technically, second-degree cousin namin siya but he's at his late 30s already so we settle with "kuya") brought along with him is speedboat. That's how they got in the resort. His had a cooler at the back. Kewl. haha.


He took us around for a ride. Too bad it was too late to ride the banana boat. Aw. We were leaving soon so we swam for awhile. KAYAK FIGHT! haha. Nobody took a picture of that. Tsk. haha.

Cass and Ate Monique thought of it. Stand on the kayak and push each other until someone falls. Most of the time, they'd fall off by just trying to balance themselves. hahaha.

So basically, that's why I did in Samal. The last hurrah before going back to Pisay. I definitely recommend you to visit Maxima Beach Resort. It's the best resort I've seen so far in Samal! :D

They have a website: http://vacation.davaocrocodilepark.com/index.php?sec=1

If you look at their header, you can see my favorite spot :)) Yes, the one with the wooden couch and recliner :D You see the mountain behind the house? That's where we had to go up and down :)) Not so kapoy? ;)

So how much will it cost you?
OVERNIGHT
regular rates: PHP 7,500.00 (weekdays / good for 10 pax)
                    PHP 9,500.00 (week-ends / good for 10 pax)
(special rate) PHP 3,750.00 (weekdays only / maximum of 5 pax)
but I heard they charged Php13,000 per day on the whole month of December o.0
All bookings of more than 10 pax will be charge an additional PHP 250.00 per head per day.
In excess of 15 pax a charge of PHP 500.00 added for the host.