Pearl Farm Beach Resort

Day 2. Second leg of our visit to Davao was our stay at a beach resort.

From Hotel Tropika, it's just minutes away to Pearl Farm Marina Wharf. This is exclusively for the guests of the resort and serves as a reception while they are waiting to board the ferry boat to the island resort. It is actually a four-bedroom hotel and could also be used for business meetings, weddings and other functions.

Pearl Farm Marina Wharf

From the wharf, it took us nearly an hour ferry boat ride to a secluded cove on the exotic Samal Island, which is now known as Island Garden City of Samal. It is the location of Pearl Farm Beach Resort, our home away from home for three days.

The Pearl Farm Beach Resort was actually a cultivation farm for luxurious south sea pearls before it was converted to a world class beach destination. Tropical Filipino Architecture is predominantly a main feature and is widely employed on most of the structures. World-renowned architect and national artist Francisco Mañosa patterned the structures after the lowly stilt houses of the seafaring tribes in the region and his successful design application gave this resort a unique and interesting character.

Arriving at the Parola, the resort hotel's iconic gateway, we (along with the other guests in the boat) were warmly greeted by the hotel staff, refreshing and delicious welcome drinks were also ready for the taking, recorded ethnic music played in the background, and the sight of crystal clear waters seems to beckon everyone to forget their worries and enjoy the day. And that was exactly our plan for this trip, to really enjoy and have a great time.

After getting hold of our room keys, we packed-out our belongings and had lunch at the Maranao Restaurant, the only food service in the resort. Needless to say, all our buffet breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, including room services were prepared by this restaurant. It is also the only place which is wifi- enabled. Our favorite however is their coconut shake. It is a must try, refreshing, filling and reasonably priced. Also, try their Pinakbet, a local vegetable dish cooked with prawns and shrimp paste.

Although we did not try snorkeling, scuba diving, or even jet skiing (it will be splendid if we had the chance), we enjoyed the crystal clear, emerald-colored seawater and fabulous infinity pool. Ashrie enjoyed it most as she discovered that she can now play standing on the kiddy pool’s floor, ditching her difficult-to-inflate kiddy lifesaver which we brought (not inflated) all the way from Singapore.

We were expecting a beach with fine, powdery sand but it seems Pearl Farm is short of beach spaces. That is probably the reason they compensate this loss of beaches with beautiful houses on stilts along the coast. The Malipano Island however has a wider beach area and can be easily reached by boat. It is also managed by the resort and if you have the means, you can stay in the Malipano suites and villas as well.

All in all, we had a great time staying in Pearl Farm. We were surely glad we made this trip. And of course, here are the photos:


Our boat to Samal Island

A row of hotel suites at Pearl Farm

Houses on stilts

Inside our ethnic-themed Hilltop Room

The Maranao Restaurant

The iconic Parola
with a bar on the second story

My favorite snapshot of MyGirls

Local Flora. I saw this on the road,
a lovely flower fallen from a tree

Crystal clear waters. No need for goggles to view the corals!


More photos on my Facebook account. Our Davao City tour and our stay at Marco Polo Davao are up next. Until then.