Image courtesy Martyn Willes

The impending opening of a new marina on Samal Island confirms that the island is maturing into an all-round water sports destination. The all new Holiday Oceanview Marina will open its pontoons for visiting yachts from August, 2010.

GetWet has been watching the development of the Holiday Oceanview Marina since it first came onto our radar three years ago. As with most things on Samal Island, it has taken a lot longer than originally envisaged to reach a stage of functionality. Along with the adjacent property development and sub-division, the new marina is an integral part of a water sports vacation destination, about 30-minutes from Davao International Airport.

Image courtesy Busuanga Yacht Club

Finally, a new yacht club has opened in the Philippines: Busuanga Yacht Club. Located on Busuanga Island, Palawan, the Busuanga Yacht Club is attached to the Puerto Del Sol Resort, in the municipality of Conception, on the southwest corner of Busuanga.

If you are sailing, the Busuanga Yacht Club offers a perfect stopover on routes leading to either, the East or West coast Palawan passage to/from East Malaysia or, cruising the beautiful waters of the Palawan archipelago.

Image courtesy Girlie Cervantes

The Philippine Independence Day Anniversary Regatta in Subic Bay started as a very local sailing affair organised by and for members of the Saturday Afternoon Gentlemen Sailors (SAGS) – a motley band of sailing enthusiasts who wanted to sail in Subic Bay despite the challenges posed by fickle yacht club rules and the weather. They just went out and did it.

Significantly supported by Jun Avecilla’s Lighthouse Marina Resort Hotel, the Philippine Independence Day Regatta is now the best off-season competitive sailing event in the Philippines, and possibly the best in Asia in June.

Photo courtesy Joanne Booker - S/Y Pied A Mer

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.

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 Bernadette Villaluz

The 39th annual Iloilo Paraw Regatta will be taking place between 19th and 21st February, 2010, along the Iloilo waterfront. The Iloilo Paraw Regatta 2010 is definitely the longest running competitive sailing event in the Philippines and probably the longest running competitive sailing event in Asia, next to the China Sea Race.

One of the most interesting aspects of this sailing event is that most of the sails are uniquely painted for the occasion. Local schools and colleges are encouraged to let loose their art students in a frenzy of creative daubing and there are prizes for the best paraw sail designs as well as for the best sailing performance on the water.

Photo courtesy Martyn Willes

UPDATED 30/01/2010

Puerto Galera Cup 2010 Windsurfing Championship, 27-28 February, will be the second leg of the Philippine Windsurfing Series of 2010. The Puerto Galera Cup 2010 is open to all windsurfing enthusiasts from around the World.

The Puerto Galera Cup Windsurfing Championship will be hosted as usual by the Sandbar Beach Resort within Puerto Galera Bay - the Most Beautiful Bay in the World in the Philippines. If previous years are a guide then in 2010 there could be up to one hundred windsurfing sails and boards on the water, competing in categories from junior and novice all the way to National Champion standard.

Photo courtesy Humminbird

Humminbird will be showing their latest marine electronics at the Philippine Boat Show 2010 Sea-Expo, 19-21 March, at One Espalande, Mall Of Asia, Manila Bay, including the all-new Down Imaging software for Humminbird side-scan sonar equipment.

With the new Humminbird Down Imaging software on your Humminbird side-scan sonar equipment you become: a treasure hunter, finding those long hidden treasure ships; a marine surveyor, mapping the bottom of bays and rivers; and, a marine researcher, seeking out the pods, schools and shoals of elusive marine creatures. Humminbird Down Imaging software expands your side-scan sonar into a high definition below-the-boat solution with ultra high definition graphic displays that give you the full picture for up to 240 feet.