General Santos, Mindanao
General Santos or “Gen San” is positioned on the edge of Sarangani Bay in southern Mindanao southwest of Davao. It is a world famous fish port where a majority of yellowfin tuna are auctioned off. It’s worth an experience to watch that sale but I didn’t make it this trip.
This picture is at the entrance to the city beach.
One of the main draws for tourists is to scuba dive Sarangani and experience something different from the dive factories of Cebu and Bohol.
Cambridge Dive, formerly Tuna City Dive and Partridges further down the coast are the only two dive shops that I am familiar with. I am not really an active diver but did make two quick dives at Maharlika beach where there are sometimes some rare rhinopias hanging about.
There is a small expat community that has chosen to live in Gen San for various reasons, most have spouses from the area. Some just prefer a smaller city to Davao where there is a fast growing group of immigrant settlers. The Philippines has a lot to offer to a retiree.
Gen San has a mix of Muslim and Catholic groups and peace seems to be a priority for both of them. Most foreigners would feel quite comfortable in this small but growing small city.
I found it particularly interesting to see banners hanging on a local mosque pushing non violence and a political solution to things rather than the violence you can find around Cotobato City.
Notre Dame.
General Santos is easily reached by bus from Davao, Cagayan de Oro, or Surigao using Rural Transit Bus lines. The T’Boli Hotel is located right next to the bus terminal.
Cambridge Farms Hotel and Restaurant, where scuba divers often stay, is in Purok Malakas. It’s a short tricycle ride of maybe 2 kilometers.
The Super Ferry has a run to Zamboanga every week. The promo fare is 980 pesos right now. It’s the easiest way to get between the two cities.
The drive from Gen San to Surigao is long (around 600k) but it’s really a beautiful run.
Lake Sebu is a day trip from Gen San. Mt Apo can be climbed from Kidapawan. Its a good weekend climb.
The pig waves good bye as you leave town towards Digos.
These blue USAID signs are a common sight in southern Mindanao. The USA, for whatever reason, has done a huge amount of projects in the area. Dams, footbridges, airports, roads, market buildings etc - someone familiar with the project told me that there were aprox 800 aid projects completed.
General Santos isn’t everybody’s cup of tea but I rather like the place. If you are not into scuba diving you might prefer Davao.Climbing Mount Apo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6OV0H6zhsg
Another informative page DP sounds like this could be our next trip. Always wanted to get down there for some diving and also climb Mount Apo. I checked out the web site for Cambridge Farms and looks very impressive.
Apparently the owner is involved in conservation work and spent a fortune for reconstructing some of the reefs there. I admire his drive and determination.
Would be interested in knowing how big is his operation as I read he is also retailing gear, sound like quite a big shop. Does one need to book in for a dive?
We would probably come from Dapitan so thats quite a long drive.
Hi Bruce,
General Santos is definitely off the beaten track for scuba diving but Chris just loves to dive. If divers happen to show up they are welcome to join.
Sarangani Bay slopes down to depths of 2000 meters and really has some unique critters.
Tuna City Dive is definitely not the dive factory you find in tourist areas. (PS the city recently had them change the name to Cambridge Dive - apparently over an issue with the use of “Tuna City”) ridiculous but….
The shop is small and does not actively go after divers even though the potential is there to go big if one chose to.
Chris and a local tuna buyer, “John”, had teamed up to do an amazing reef building project in the bay. The hugest impact has been right at the beach in downtown General Santos. The beach there is relatively clean and swimable when it used to be just a great big cess pool.
They installed a total of 5,000 concrete domes in various locations around the bay (at their own expense). They were just trying to improve the bay , because it is their backyard and they dive all the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CLa8yvBeJM
Bruce, I think you would really enjoy a week down there. Most of the diving is shore dives, there is a narrow plateau before you get to the wall where you can dive at whatever depth you like.
Check Chris’ site to see some really good pictures of unusual fish. Chris doesn’t take pictures but some of the photographers that dive with him, sent him a few to post.
Chris is low key, very experienced diver and a pleasure to have a few beers with at the end of the day.
His wife runs the hotel - there is a variety of accommodations and price ranges.
There is a Dunkin Donuts down the street by the market - What more could you ask for?
dp
Hi DP, have you dived at this artificial reef? I’ve heard about this dome project as early as 2005 happening around there and I’m assuming it must have be teeming with life right now. I’d like to check it out at some point. If only we can persuade many people to do this for the other over-fished parts of the country.Sigh.
Hi Leng,
The domes were spread out in areas that were in the worst condition. For example - many were put right at the beach in General Santos itself.
That was at one time basically a sewer, but now life has returned and the beach is undergoing a major facelift.
Sarangani Bay is huge and bottoms out at over 2000 feet. That makes for interesting wall diving.
One of the most bizzarre dive sites in the world has to be at Maharlika Beach. Years back there were about 50 karaoke machines set up in nipa hutas along the shore of this “resort”. You could walk into the water with the blaring music blasting away and slip into the quiet underwater world and be greeted by leafy rhinopias and other really weird stuff that you just don’t see very often.
Mercifully, the salt air has taken it’s toll on these machines and there are only two left.
I am not really a diver and have switched to snorkeling because it’s less hassle and its also a dollar stretching strategy.
Try to take a look at Chris’ website and see some of Stan de la Cruz’s pictures. He is a great photographer and got some interesting shots of these fish.
There is a lot of rare macro clinging the the wall and it’s worth a look if you are interested in trying something different.
As far as the artificial reefs - it looks to me that coral is starting to take some of the domes over. I saw one lionfish quite happy with “his” dome and didn’t seem in any hurry to leave. (Took a few pictures).
scuba link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CLa8yvBeJM