Isla Reta in Davao: An island anyone would surely fall in love with

Instead of Samal Island, a friend who grew up in Davao suggested we visit Isla Reta in Talicud Island, as she always say, Samal is overrated. So, we made this our first stop in our Davao adventure...

From the airport, we rode a cab going to Sta. Ana Wharf (cab fare P160), this is where boats going to the island would depart and dock.  Before leaving the airport we were given this complaint sheet in case we encounter any negative experience from the cab driver, good thing our cab driver was nice and friendly.

Boat fare from Sta. Ana Wharf going to Isla Reta was P150 and from Isla Reta to Sta. Ana Wharf P80 only as we boarded a bigger boat going back to the city.

We passed by Samal Island and thought it was our destination, the white beach looks inviting from our view.

It took us approximately an hour to get to the Isla Reta and we were so amazed with how crystal clear the water was and how fine the sand was, you could immediately compare it with Boracay. It was really worth the travel.

I would say that the resort has 2 divisions, (1) the area which is a bit crowded - this is where folks stay for day-trips using the cabanas or pitch tents. There were also fan rooms in the area with common CR.

Tent Area

Common CR

And the other area that was not crowded; this is where folks stay overnight in rooms or cottages.

We stayed overnight and booked 2 rooms with 2 extra beds. The area where we were at was less crowded even if it was a long weekend, this made our stay very relaxing. We enjoyed dipping in the water and picture taking.

When we got to the island, we already have cooked foods courtesy of our friend's sister who prepared it for us on our way to Davao from Manila. The resort however offers paluto,  for an affordable cost, we would recommend that you avail the cooking service from the houses just outside the resort. You can buy fresh-catch fished like tuna at stores in the resort. We also brought canned goods for our breakfast; bought hot water and drinking water at the resort too.

Here are the resort rates and activities.

We enjoyed our stay and swimming here so much that we cancelled our day trip to Maxima in Samal before heading to the city.

 If you have snorkeling gears you will find so many fishes of different kinds, sizes and colors as well as star fishes under the water.

After an overnight stay here we headed back to the city for our next adventure, we indeed fell in love with this island.