“[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his place, this scene.. is way beautiful than I’ve imagined!” I blurted out. I was literally running towards the beach side. The eastern horizon is showing orange hues of sunrise.
“Oh boy! Panic time! ”
I hurriedly set up my photography gears, stared at the horizon and started composing shots in my mind. “Darn! I’m at lost! Where should I start shooting!?? “
The hundreds of mangroves lining up the shore of this beach and the low tide created a surreal backdrop to the upcoming sunrise. There are hundreds of possible composition you can make but the 8-10 minute window is all the time I have. I started to shoot from left to the right side of the beach.
Here’s some of what I took:
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Of all the places I went to in this road trip, Sunrise Boulevard in Baganga Davao Oriental surprised me the most. I’ve only heard the potential of this place from friends. There are no place to stay around and it’s 20+ minutes from either Cateel or Baganga town proper. Most tourists flock to this place when the sun is high up or late in the afternoon. This probably explains the paucity of sunrise shots that reveal its beauty at dawn break.
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[hr] [box type=”info” border=”full”] Thousands of mangrove trees line up the coast of Davao Oriental. These mangrove protected the coast of Davao Oriental and its inhabitants during storm surges and typhoons. It is both unfortunate and surprising that a typhoon carved a surreal backdrop that is Sunrise Boulevard today. The combination of “stoic” mangrove trees and the beautiful sunrise made this a great spot for picture taking. The LGU of Davao Oriental turned the place into a monument to the mangroves and became a tourist spot thereafter.[/box] [hr]
[hr] [box type=”tick”]Recommendations:
If you are a photographer, you’d definitely appreciate this place. Go to this place before dawn and on low tides so you can plan up your shots. It’s 20 minutes away from either Cateel or Banganga town proper. I saw some beach front covered benches but I have no information if overnight stay is allowed here. I saw a few tourists trickling in as early as 6 in the morning so it might be good to go there much much earlier.[/box]
