Sail Around Mindanao

Sarangani Bay

Sarangani Bay is the southernmost bay in Mindanao and probably the most westerly that you will want to sail to along the South coast. At the head of the Bay is General Santos City (locally "Gen San") also know as the "Tuna Capitol of The Philippines"; in fact the dressing, canning and freezing of seafood has developed here to become a major export industry for the City. The agricultural land in the vicinity of Gen San is perfect for growing pineapples and this is the centre for Dole's Asian pineapple production - another significant export income earner for the Philippines. Gen San has also become famous more recently because it is the birthplace and home of World-champion boxing idol (now businessman and politician) Manny "PacMan" Pacquiao

You can anchor along the East or the West coast of Sarangani Bay. The East coast features many sandy beaches with resorts while the West coast is a little more rugged but still offers good anchorage and access to habitations.

From Gen San overland you can access some of the most interesting, culturally significant and historic locations in southern Mindanao: spectacular Lake Sebu, home of indigenous T'Boli tribe; Maitum, where ancient burial rites record the faces and character of those who have passed in sculpted earthenware jars, where each jar is the repository of the bones of the individual; multiple river experiences such as waterfalls, rafting and tubing; and, mountain trekking Mount Matutuam (the tallest volcano in Southern Mindanao) or Mount Melibengoy, known as home to indigenous butterflies and Philippine Tarsiers plus featuring the crystal clear waters of Lake Holon embraced within its crater.

After Sarangani Bay most cruising yachts will choose to sail East to the Davao Gulf. The reason for this is mostly historic, based on rumors of concerns about safety and security. We are in the process of updating this section as we receive qualified information from cruising yachts finding positive experiences.

Sailing East from Sarangani Bay you enter the Davao Gulf.

The Davao Gulf

The Davao Gulf offers a vast expanse of water and a long, anchorable coastline, with cities, towns and villages around its perimeter. The Davao Gulf itself is known as a breeding ground for whale sharks, bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales.

If entering from Sarangani Bay then the first city is Digos City - capitol of Davao del Sur province. Digos City and its surrounding rolling hills and mountains is largely an agricultural center for export of mango and cacao. Digos has recently claimed the title of "The Mango Capitol of The Philippines" from the former Visayan island of Guimaras; the predominant mango grown here is the deliciously sweet 'carabao mango'.

One of the dominant features of the skyline to the North of Digos is Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines, topping out at 2,954 meters. You can overland to Mount Apo and there are organized treks to its sulfur coated summit. Many endemic birds live in the forests of Mout Apo.

As you voyage northeast from Digos you will find Samal Island and Davao City. Davao City is a check-in check-out port for yachts arriving and departing the Philippines, especially those voyaging from / to Australia or Indonesia, and is considered to be one of the safest cities in Asia for tourists. The Port of Davao is Mindanao's largest port and is usually busy with container ships and ferries, so most visiting yachts will prefer to anchor or moor off the West coast of Samal Island. Of interest perhaps is the sailing club on the West coast of Samal Island and the marina located on the North coast - see the Sailing Clubs Philippines and the Marinas Moorings Repairs pages for details

Davao City is also the location of Davao International Airport, with flights from Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways connecting it to the World.

The Kadayawan Festival happens every August and is Davao City's celebration of its founding - a time for the indigenous tribes of Southern Mindanao to showcase their unique cultures and artistry. It is also the time of year to enjoy the predominant harvest of the iconic durian fruit, along with many others.

Samal Island is famous with bat lovers, for it is the home of the World's largest colony of Geoffroy's Rousette Old World fruit bat. The Monfort Bat Colony cave on Samal Island is reported in the Guinness Book of Records and is home to an estimated 2.5 Million Geoffroy's Rousette bats. On any evening the sky will be filled with the emergence of the majority of the bats, as they exit the cave and fly towards flowering and fruiting trees around the Gulf; the Geoffroy's Rousette bat is responsible for pollination and seed dispersal giving Davao the widest variety of fruits for sale.

Onward East from Davao and Samal the coastline is largely lowland but with mountains and limestone escarpments as backdrop. The lowlands are dominated by banana production, where the World famous Cavendish banana variety is grown for export, while the mountains and, in particular, the limestone escarpments offer some fascinating caving (spelunking) opportunities . . . anchor off Tagum City and contact the municipal tourism office for caving adventures.

The East coast of the Davao Gulf has numerous small islands with pretty beaches and a handful of resorts. Not as frantic as the waters around the West and North of the Gulf, the East coast offers many tranquil anchorages. As you approach the southeastern exit of the Gulf you will notice the mountainous peninsula featuring Mount Hamiguitan and its Wildlife Sanctuary. The Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the few remaining places where the critically endangered Philippine Eagle flies safe and free. The Philippine Eagle is considered to be the largest eagle in the World, in terms of overall length and wing surface area, but has suffered from a century of habitat destruction as the Philippines' once heavily forested mountains have been plundered for timber export. Maybe visiting the Sanctuary and having the opportunity to see these magnificent birds will be high on your Philippine bucket-list.

As you exit the Davao Gulf you will be leaving its relatively flat waters and start catching the lumpier waters of the Celebes Sea. The San Augustine peninsula has two more delights to offer that you may wish to explore: a rare pink sand beach just a short walk from the triple lighthouse structures at the "Parola". The three lighthouse towers (only one of which is now working) span more than 100 years of history: from the Spanish occupation, to the American occupation, to the modern day - solar powered and fully automated.

On Mindanao's eastern seaboard the first notable town is Mati, at the head of Pujada Bay. Many visitors have said that Pujada Bay is 'the most beautiful bay in the World' because the scenary features a largely unspoilt combination of beaches, rolling hills and forested mountains, all filled with Mother Nature's creations.

You can explore Pujada Bay and anchor off the town of Mati or your can bypass the Bay and sail on to Dahican Beach; still part of the municipality of Mati but facing southeast across the Celebas Sea towards the Pacific Ocean. Dahican Beach is known for surfing, skim-boarding and turtles. Dahican Beach is a good place to learn to surf or skim-board because the waves are relatively predictable and not too large. For turtles, the beach offers a wide area for digging a nest and laying eggs, with a fairly gentle downhill slope for newly-born hatchlings to descend to start their own Pacific Ocean adventures.

An important note here: the East coast of Mindanao is affected by the "Mindanao Current" that predominantly flows North to South offshore. The Mindanao current is probably due to the entire Pacific Ocean attempting to force it way through the two narrow straits (Surigao Strait and San Bernadino Strait), and around the North of Luzon and the South of Mindanao, in is effort to follow the moon's attraction. Best advice is to sail close to shore where possible, to stay out of the Mindanao Current when sailing northward.

After Mati you are now enjoying the magnificent mountain views on port and the unfathomable "Philippine Trench" and Pacific Ocean on starboard. Probably your next significant stop will be Bislig Bay, if for no other reason than you want to buy some supplies (especially seafood) and rest in a truly sheltered anchorage on its North shore. If you are into waterfalls then Bislig offers easy road access to at least half-a-dozen, including the Tinuy-an Falls - one of the tallest and widest waterfalls in the Philippines. However, if you are into beaches then you may have noticed or stopped at a couple of very long beaches, with very few people, at Baganga and Cateel.

Cateel is notable in recent times for being the landing place of one of the World's strongest tropical storms to make landfall anywhere on the planet. Super Typhoon Bopha (locally Pablo) made landfall just South of Cateel as a Category 5 Super Typhoon with winds of 175 mph (282 km/h) on December 3, 2012. Not only was it one of the strongest at landfall, it was also notable because of the low latitudes and rapid intensification from formation through to landfall.

You could say that once you have reached Cateel northbound then you are in the "typhoon belt", although to be honest: (a) very few storms ever come close to that far South; and, (b) the handful of storms (over the past 40 years) that have approached Bopha's low latitude and strength, have only occured in mid-November to early December.

After Bislig there are many inlets and islands to explore along the way if the passion takes you, all the way North to Lanuza Bay, with its 12Km long, black-sand beach facing the NE monsoon and thus offering an almost perfect surf break.

After Lanuza Bay you have a choice to make: North to Bucas Grande and Siargao islands, or northwest towards Surigao City and the Surigao Strait.

If you choose to go North you can always go West later. Whichever you choose you will notice the ravaged hillsides and mountains above the North shore of Lanuza Bay. Unfortunately strip-mining has been apparent here for decades, in the search for minerals found nowhere else at the low cost of extraction that the Philippines features.

North to Bucas Grande & Siargao Islands

Busas Grande presents a maze of inlets, small bays and islands. It is largely undeveloped and has retained many unique wildlife habitats. Bucas Grande features the Sohoton National Park. Within the expanse of the Sohoton Park is the jellyfish sanctuary. Unique in that you can swim within Sohoton Cove with scores or thousands (depends on the season - March to May best) of stingless jellyfish.

Siargao Island is recognized as one of the World's top ten surfing destinations, largely because of the perfect tube that the "Cloud 9" surf break offers on Siagao's East coast, just North of General Luna town. In addition to surfing, the East of Siagao Island offers kiteboard, windsurf, scuba dive, snorkeling or you can enjoy some top-flight game-fishing for marlin, sailfish and dorado / mahi-mahi over the Philippine Trench (second deepest ocean trench on the planet, reaching 10,540 meters) - boats with gear and guides for hire out of Port Pilar.

The West side of Siargao Island has large areas of mangroves that you can kayak through to observe a wide variety of bird and reptile life. Also in the mangroves are indigenous Philippine crocodiles as well as saltwater crocodiles.

Northwest to Surigao City

From Lanuza Bay the strip-mining comes into clear view where the hillsides of this part of Surigao del Sur province have been raped for the nickel and copper ore they contain. You probably do not want to stop too many places here after Ayuki Island and General Island, until you reach Lapinigan Island and beyond.

If you are running short of rum aboard then the town of Gigaquit (pronounced he-ga-kit), Surigao del Norte, has a rather unique solution and is well worth a visit. As well as offering a very sheltered river estuary anchorage, the town has many nipa palms growing in the wetlands; harvesting the young nipa for the purpose of fermentation produces a white rum that is rated as equal, if not superior, to Bacardi Rum. If you purchase Gigaquit Rum in Gigaquit then the price makes it three to four times more attractive than the Bacardi equivalent plus, you will be helping the local economy and saving all the carbon dioxide that would otherwise be required to ship Bacardi to you from its source.

After Gigaquit there is a maze of islands ahead that span the waters between Surigao City and Dinagat Island. There is no one correct or fastest passage to take and, you can pass between any or all the islands if your yacht has a draft of less that 6 meters (according to Navionics charts). On entering Canal Bay, the deepest passage through the maze to Surigao City (mostly 100+ meters depth all the way) will be found by leaving Masapelid Island to starboard, then leaving Condona Island to port, then Bilabid Island to starboard and finally Lamagon Island to port. Some of the islands are tall and some not so tall so, depending on the wind on the day, you should expect some motor sailing, so be sure to top-up your fuel tank in Gigaquit before heading out.

As you leave Lamagin Island astern Surigao City is almost due West and there is only the island of Kabo to negotiate. You can pass clear North of the island or through the passage between it and Load Island (11+ meters according to Navionics charts).

Throughout the island maze you should keep your eyes open for different seabirds for, in addition to the Brahminy Kite, the white-breasted sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) is also resident in the vicinity, and you may see different species of boobies and terns. The waters are abundant with juvenile fish and the islands for nesting are very close, so life is generally good for seabirds here.

Surigao City

The Port of Surigao has recently become a fully yacht-friendly port with the direct involvement of the Department of Tourism and local water sports enthusiasts wishing Surigao to become the premier check-in/out port on the East coast of the Philippines. If you have questions about anything to do with Surigao del Sur and its many diverse island communities then this is the place to anchor. Please see the Entry & Exit section of this website for contact information.

One other possible reason to stay a few days in Surigao City is to explore Lake Mainit (pronounced with three syllables: ma-in-it), to the South of Surigao City by road. Lake Mainit is notable as the deepest freshwater lake in the Philippines (around 220 meters) and it is the fourth largest lake by area (17,060 ha). Within the vicinity of the lake live four Philippine birds endemic to Mindanao, including: an owl, a nightjar and a kingfisher. The lake is home to resident freshwater fish and migratory fish that enter the lake seasonally from the Kalinawan River, which connects the lake South to the sea near Butuan. There are 28 rivers and streams that feed Lake Mainit and along its eastern shore are multiple waterfalls to enjoy among the forested hills. Well worth a stopover!

As you depart Surigao and head for North Mindanao you will probably not want to miss the Dinagat Island Group.

Dinagat Islands

From Surigao City to the North lies the island Province of Dinagat. The Dinagat island group comprises at least 73 islands making it one of the smallest, island-dense provinces in the Philippines. Most of the islands in the group are tall, rising rapidly from the surface of the sea, and with many inlets that provide sheltered anchorages from foul weather, ideal for cruising yachts. Dinagat Island was famous in WWII as the first landing of US Fores in the Philippines where they encountered the Japanese Forces (October 17, 1944).- the landing and the encounter heralded the infamous "Battle of Leyte Gulf".

The Dinagat Islands have numerous attractions for cruising yachts with sheltered inlets, white-sand beaches, forested hills and friendly people. The short list of attractions may be: Lake Bababu (W. Dinagat Island) - a freshwater lake connected to the sea via an underground passage that hosts freshwater and saltwater fish (the lake is accessed via a steep and rugged path from the anchorage immediately West of Lake Babau); the Kisses Islets (N.W. Dinagat Island) - named after Hershey's Kisses these tiny, round-topped islets rise steep out of the sea at the mouth of Libjo Bay, just North of Quezon town; and, Mount Redondo Bonsai Forest (N. Dinagat) features a 200-hectare natural "bonsai tree" forest containing at least six different tree species (bonsaied by virtue of the strong winds and the minerals in the soil).

Butuan

From the perspective of cruising yachts Butuan was not an outstanding place to visit (any more than any other coastal city in the Philippines) until 1976. In 1976 a group of local gold-seekers were searching along the Masao River when they found some timbers burred in the silt. When the timbers were removed and dated it was apparent that the find was that of an original "Balangay boat". - not seen on the water since early Spanish times. The first Balangays were believed launched around 2000 years ago, to transport people and or cargo between the islands of South East Asia and farther East from the Philippines. When an location was newly inhabited by a migrant group it was called a 'barangay' after the 'balangay' that brought them there – the term 'barangay' is still used today throughout the Philippines to define small communities.

Butuan's history and importance for trade can be judged by the age of the earliest balangay so far uncovered there: approximately 320CE. So when visitng Butuan you will be vising a place with a long, pre-colonial history. The first of the excavated Balangays is now displayed by the National Museum of the Philippines in Butuan.

Just West of Butuan is the town of Nasipit, which is home to the Balangay Marina Sailing & Yacht Club, where you can anchor off (it is a bit exposed to strong winds with a northerly component) or, you may choose to go a little farther West to the bay beside Nasipit town.

Camiguin Island

Known as the Island of Volcanos, Camiguin is made from no less than seven volcanos that are, fortunately, not active. Camiguin is a popular tourist destination and features forested mountains, cascading rivers and waterfalls, abundant wildlife and birdlife, surrounded by crystal clear waters and some exceptional coral reefs - good for snorkeling, scuba diving and freediving. One of the unusual attractions of Camiguin Island is its "Rainbow Waterfall" in the forest on the North coast where, only if you are blessed by the spirits of the forest, you will witness the rainbow appear above the waterfall.

To aid its development as a tourist island Camiguin has a domestic airport and a ferry port that links it to Balingoan, Misamis Oriental. From Balingoan Port you can take a bus South to Cagayan de Oro City or East to Butuan.

There has been recent rumor of a yacht marina planned for the southwest side of Camiguin island but at the time of writing there are still only rumors. We will update if the rumor becomes a reality.

Cagayan de Oro City

If you are in need of easily available supplies aboard your yacht then heading South to Cagayan de Oro Cty is a sensible choice.

Cagayan de Oro (or "C D O" as it is known locally) is a progressive city with a new domestic airport and almost everything you could wish for to restock the freezer, refrigerator and vegetable basket.

Cagayan de Oro is famous from WWII as the place where General Douglas MacArthur, after escaping Corregidor Island by submarine, finally departed the Philippines by air to Australia on March 17, 1942, when the Japanese invaded the country - it is where, at the old airport atop the hill to the South of the City, he made his famous "I shall return" speech.

In the mountainous areas South of Cagayan de Oro are some exciting rivers. The area is known for white-water-rafting adventures, so if you are seeking some distraction or excitement at this time then this could be the way.

Two other things about Cagayan de Oro that may be of interest to cruising yachts: there are frequent daily bus services from Cagayan de Oro to Davao City in the South - useful if you need international connections or are expecting visitors; and, there is a dry-dock facility in the port that has been used by cruising yachts needing below-waterline work and where reports from users have so far been favorable.

Iligan Bay

Sailing West after Cagayan de Oro City brng you to Iligan Bay. If a cruising yacht is looking for a place of interest with a Mother Nature perspective then the area around Iligan City will probably be the target.

Iligan City is known as the "City of Majestic Waterfalls" because it has eleven different waterfall locations to visit and each one has its own unique charm and environment. Some tall, some wide but all flowing year-round into pools for swimming beneath.

Understandably, with such high elevation water wishing to respond to gravity, Iligan is also a significant powerhouse for Philippine hydroelectric power. If you have specific interest in hydroelectric power you can contact the City Tourism Office and they can schedule a visit to the power plant at the Maria Cristina Falls facility - walk-in visitors are not accepted at the hydroelectric power plant.

After Iligan you may wish to visit Ozamiz City on the West coast of Iligan Bay. Your main interest would probably be religious history as there a numerous historic churches and shrines, plus a Spanish fort to be visited for historic colonial context.

After Iligan Bay your will want to continue West to Dapitan Bay and and Dipolog Cities.

Dipolog City

Dipolog City is bounded to the North by Dapitan Bay. To reach here as a cruising yacht from Iligan Bay you will pass Murcielagos Bay, which is an area of specific marine scientific interest for many reasons. Because Murcielagos Bay contains numerous designated marine sanctuaries it is not recommended to anchor here. If you are interested the marine ecosystems then we recommend instead to continue on to Dipolog Bay and return to Murcielagos Bay overland.

During the Northeast Monsoon Dapitan Bay is a very sheltered place to drop anchor for cruising yachts. Not only is Dapitan Bay sheltered, it is also a great place to stock up of fresh fish for the freezer from local fisherfolk. We imagine that one day a marina may be built here for cruising yachts, probably on the southern shore - it just needs someone with the vision and the financial backing.

Dipolog City is historically famous as the place that Dr. Jose Rizal was exiled, from Manila, for four years starting in 1892. He was exiled from Manila by the then Governor-General Eulogio Despujol because of his authoring of numerous books and papers that the Spanish perceived to be subversive - against colonization and the Spanish Catholic Church. During his time in Dapitan he built a school, and homes for his family and the students. Six months after his release from exile he was famously executed in Manila (December 1896).

Today, Dipolog City is known as the "Bottled Sardines Capital of the Philippines" and the "Gateway to Western Mindanao". Dipolog City is also known for possibly the widest choice of Philippine foods available along the Dipolog Boulevard every evening, to be enjoyed while you witness some of the World's most stunning sunsets.

Western Zamboanga

After Dipolog most cruising yachts will choose to sail North to Dumaguete (Negros) or West to Palawan (or Kudat, East Malaysia). The reason for this is mostly historic, based on rumors of concerns about safety and security. We are in the process of updating this section as we receive qualified information from cruising yachts finding positive experiences.