Photo courtesy Allan Riches

A long awaited cruising yacht rally, that aims to span BIMP-EAGA and the newly defined Equator Asia, was disclosed during a meeting in Davao City on Saturday, 13th March, when BIMP-EAGA members met at the Apo View Hotel in downtown Davao City.

The main impetus to this series of BIMP-EAGA tourism sailing events was an impromptu yacht rally, where cruising yachts sailed from Borneo to Palawan, during February and March, 2010. A series of sailing events now follow, aiming to bring groups of up to 15 cruising yachts at a time, under sail, from their traditional watering-holes in Thailand and Peninsula Malaysia, to Australia.

Photo courtesy Aware Aventures

Across the Internet there are a lot of websites promoting adventure holidays / adventure vacations but there are actually very few companies focusing on Philippine adventure holidays, and even fewer that offer more than a couple of adventure sports within a given package tour, so Australian based Aware Adventures is somewhat unique and deserves a mention.

Aware Adventures offer Philippine adventure holidays, starting in the heart of the Visayas, and take adventurers from Cebu to Bohol Island to Camiguin Island to Cagayan de Oro and back to Cebu. Over a period of twelve days adventure sports included: white water rafting, ziplining, rappelling, climbing, swimming, trekking, camping, caving, abseiling, kayaking, mountain biking and snorkeling.

Photo courtesy John Smart

The Deca Wakeboarding Park Davao is open for business. While traveling South from downtown Davao City to the Philippine Eagle Foundation, we visited the town of Mintal to see how far the Deca Wakeboarding Park had progressed since August 2009.

The facility is operational and, according to the Deca Wakeboarding Park’s Sales & Marketing Manager, Ms. Kisses Rañeses, people have been enjoying the wakeboarding in Mintal since 16th December. In fact they are queuing up to go wakeboarding every day. Kisses said that the Deca Wakeboarding Park will be the venue for the Waterski and Wakeboard World Cup Finals 2010 and the Asian wakeboarding championship, 18th - 21st November, 2010.

Photo courtesy Martyn Willes

The training of caving guides in San Isidro, Davao del Norte, is well underway ahead of the 10th National Caving Congress, Davao, in April. Experienced trekkers and caving / spelunking enthusiasts from Barangay Dacudao, San Isidro, last weekend had their caving guide skills honed under a training program initiated jointly by the: Davao Speleological Society, the Davao del Norte Provincial Tourism and with financial support from the Department of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR) Region XI.

Next weekend, further caving guide training (in advance of the National Caving Congress, Davao) will be offered for caving / spelunking enthusiasts in Barangay Igangon, San Isidro.

Image courtesy Asiapix

Ever since the Puerto Galera Yacht Club was founded, in 1991, there has been an Easter Regatta held every year whereas the America’s Cup is only held once the current America’s Cup holder has deigned to offer it up for competition.

The PGYC Easter Regatta is unique in that it actually extols the virtues of the sport of sailing and leaves hundreds of sailors and as many spectators wishing the America’s Cup could be so friendly and civilised. Unlike the America’s Cup, where every recent event has featured lengthy and costly court cases, the Puerto Galera Yacht Club Easter Regatta in 2010 will be no different from last year except it will mark the event’s 20th anniversary,making it even more fun.

Image courtesy John Smart

The Manila 10s International Rugby Tournament 2010 at the Nomad Sports Club is the biggest 10-a-side rugby tournament in Asia. Every year the Manila 10s attracts rugby teams & thousands of spectators from around the World to the Nomad Sports Club in Merville Park, Paranaque. If you are a rugby fan then you must not miss this event.

If you can’t make it to the event then you can watch the Manila 10s live on the Internet using the MyCam-Asia “Big Screen” view – it is not quite like being there but it is better than missing the event completely.

Image courtesy www.samal-island.com

UPDATED 27/03/2010

Dive Davao Festival 2010 is the latest in a series of annual scuba diving events designed to promote the superb scuba diving and snorkeling areas in the Davao Gulf, around Samal Island. Almost all of best Samal Island beach resorts take part in the event and offer special packages for scuba diving adventures, and snorkeling adventures for those who have not yet qualified as scuba divers.

The week long Dive Davao Festival 2010 (formerly: Dive The Gulf 2010) activities will climax on Saturday evening with the Caracoles Festival. The Caracoles Festival is a dusk-to-dawn party along Peñaplata Wharf and adjoining beaches, with music & dancing, food & merriment served all-night long.

Photo courtesy Aquaventure Whitetip Dive Supply

Introducing the Suunto HelO2 dive computer, for technical diving enthusiasts, at the Philippine Boat Show Sea-Expo 2010, more than just a boat show – the complete nautical lifestyle event for anyone interested in water-sports, beach resorts and he lifestyle of the rich and famous.

The new Suunto HelO2 is an advanced mixed-gas dive computer rated to 120M/393 ft, for technical diving enthusiasts who use multiple gases (such as nitrox, trimix and oxygen) to deep dive deep, for longer. Featuring the Suunto Technical RGBM algorithm and a Multi-gas Dive Planner, the HelO2 is designed to make your whole technical diving experience simpler, faster, and more flexible. The algorithm extends decompression flexibility into the world of technical diving by allowing continuous decompression.

Image courtesy Philippine Paragliding & Hang Gliding Association

The Philippine Paragliding & Hang Gliding Association was officially registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission this month in Metro Manila, to further develop the fledgling air-sports of paragliding and hang gliding around the Philippines.

Paragliding in particular is a burgeoning adventure sport that has attracted individuals from all walks of life because it gives the freedom of the skies, using the same principles the have kept raptors aloft since the dawn of the dinosaurs.

Photo courtesy Unilox Industrial

The Philippine Boat Show Sea-Expo 2010 is a great venue for the water sports professional to understand the technology that makes the nautical lifestyle cost-effective and environmentally friendly, simply by choosing the right propeller.

Do you know why there are so many different designs of propellers available for boats and jet skis? And do you know that buying the right one for your boat or jet ski can make you go faster, more safely and maximize fuel economy? Come and educate yourself at the Philippine Boat Show Sea-Expo 2010.