fish landing
Part of the reason why we stayed at the fishing village rather than the resorts in Gumasa was to be near the small-scale fish landings in the area. Thats where you can get the freshest of catches at a bargain, before they bring the bounty to the city (General Santos City) where the price doubles.

The boats started coming in at 2AM in the morning. These outrigger boats went out to sea the previous day and they fish close to shore using spear guns and small nets (and hopefully not with dynamites!).

The waves were still lulling me to sleep and my wife practically had to peel me off the bed (a straw mat on a hard bamboo floor - still very inviting given the cool breeze).

We arrive at the one of the fish landing just as they were offloading the catch. Then the transactions began - a few kilos of these, a few kilos of those. They were trying to sell me a good sized ray but I turned it down, don't know how to cook it :). We bought several kilos of indangan (surgeonfish) and a couple groupers (they only caught a few, mostly small ones). My wife wanted more groupers so we had to walk to another landing site and we see what they got there.


The prices went up a bit, probably because its New Year. It would be steeper if they figured you for a tourist. With my DSLR, I really looked like one. But I can haggle since I can speak their dialects, besides I'm practically a "local" :). In the end we still got a good price, knowing how much the groupers cost if we buy them at the local fish market.


sunrise
I still had a few hours before sunrise so its back to bed. Sunset the previous day was far from spectacular and I was hoping for some colors on sunrise. I actually overslept and woke up at about 6:00AM! I had to hurry to the beach to find some rocks :D. Luckily its still overcast and I thought I can still get some long exposure shots given the lighting condition. Overcast sunrise may not be that bad sometimes :).

The sky was overcast for several days already but my wife and I decided to push through with our Gumasa getaway (last Dec 30-31, last travel for 2008, sans the kids). Its been 13 years since we last visited that nice stretch of fine white (or light cream ) colored sand and word has it that the place is now "developed" (something that I feared and not too enthusiastic about).


Gumasa is a small fishing village in the municipality of Glan, a coastal town on the southern end of the Sarangani bay near the tip of mainland Mindanao. Its popular for its fine white sand beach that stretches for almost a kilometer. While popular for its beach, the remote area gained notoriety in the 1990s because of the kidnappings. Tourists avoid the place, they instead prefer the gray sand beaches on the northwestern side of Sarangani bay because of their proximity the city of General Santos.


Things have changed a bit in Gumasa. The (very) rough and dusty road that I remembered is now replaced with a paved rolling highway.


The simple huts near the beach are now replaced with resorts, some with grand accommodations and swimming pools. The resorts are concentrated on the southern end of the beach, where the beach area is flatter and the water shallower. The villagers who used to live where the resorts now stand were given relocations on the nearby hills and on the north-western part of the beach.

We decided to skip the resorts and instead stayed with one of the families we befriended (an interesting fact: many of the "locals" are actually Indonesians who came to make Gumasa their second home. Indonesia is just 16 hours away by outrigger boat ). I wanted to be closer to the end of the beach where the rocks are for "picture taking" reasons (luckily my wife understands my photographic needs :), she was my assistant the whole day, handing me filters when I need them).

We had our tent with us and we were ready to rough it out but they offered us the use of one of their open cottages, and their kitchen, and their utensils.


The dinner we shared with our hosts that night was a simple dish of fried balo (needlefish), freshly caught just off the beach. This is the Gumasa I remembered.

• From Gumasa, there is a rough and bumpy road (accessible only to habal-habals or motorcycles) going to Batolaki Point at the very tip of the Mindanao mainland. I heard the waters of Batolaki Point are very pristine and teeming with underwater life.
• Sarangani and Balut Islands are just a 1-hour boat ride (outrigger boats) from Gumasa. You can make a sidetrip to Batolaki Point on the way to Balut Island.