Talikud Island
In addition to the main island, IGaCoS also has 7 islets that surround it. The largest islet, known as Talikud Island, is about 2,500 meters from Poblacion, Kaputian. The other six (6) islets are Big Liguid (28,092 has.), Small Liguid (4.5 has.), Arboles Shoal, otherwise known as Sanipaan (3.125 has.), Small Malipano (.1595 has.), Dela Paz (1.378 has.), Big Malipano (8.2858 has.) and Wishing Islet (700 sq.m.), respectively.
There are four baranguays on Talikud: Linosutan (pop. 1,177), Dadatan (pop. 1,244), Cogon (pop. 1,982) and the largest Sta. Cruz (pop. 3,924) all belonging to the Kaputian District. Sta. Cruz is also the where the wharf is located.
Though just a small island, Talikud is very popular as a scuba diving destination. Two of which sites are Mansud Wall and Coral Gardens. There are also several small resorts lining the exterior, including Isla Reta and Bali Hai.
Talikud Island has a wide variety of soft and hard coral gardens that are home to numerous exotic small tropical fishes. Not only small tropical fish, larger marine life can also be found in here like barracuda, tuna and jacks. Divers can also see fusiliers, sea horse, morays, sea urchins, garden eels, wrasse and parrotfish.
Boats for Talikud leave every morning at 6am, 7am and 9am (P50) from Santa Ana wharf in Davao. While it only takes a ten-minute boat ride to get to Samal Island, the trip to Talikud Island takes around 30-45 minutes, but it is well worth the trip.
References for this article include: eTravelPilipinas and samalcity.gov.ph
Hi Randy, Babusanta beach – very strange the name stuck and is even in your map. Babu Santa is named after my grandmother. She passed away now, at 98 (I think) a few years back. Babu is a title of respect (muslim word) meaning “sister”. When she was young, together with my grandpa and my father (the eldest) still a young kid, they homesteaded in an island near Zamboanga called Sacol. It is dominated by muslims, to this day. Anyway, my grandma was a tough woman. Her husband died young and she, my father and his brother worked very hard. She managed to save the village from a pirate’s attack by fooling the pirates elsewhere. From then on, she was called Babu Santa (short name of Crisanta). My family dedicated that land in her name and lots of vistors come in to picnic there. Very nice white sanded beach. There is no charge by us, but the caretaker there takes a small fee for himself from the incoming boats, I believe.
My father grew up on Sacol Island, and my mother told me he could speak 5 different moro dialects. Maybe one day, I will write an article about this.
Hi Ellen – thanks for sharing that, it’s a great piece of history. You have wonderful family ties to that whole region (Davao), and it’s great that you pass that on, both here and elsewhere.
I hope to visit Takilud on one of our trips there. Not sure if it will be the next trip, but possibly. We’ll make sure we make it to see the beach at Bubusanta. It might be a good spot to take the relatives, as I’m fairly sure they haven’t been there.
Hey Randy,
I went over to Talikud this past summer. I took a small boat there for a few hours. When there, I visited a school and spoke with some of the teachers there. They said they don’t have electrical power until 4 pm, when school is almost out. The students there never work on a computer because there is only one for the whole school, and there is no power anyway.
On the way back to the port in Sta Cruz, we stopped at a small resort to walk on the beach. I had a great time that day. That was the week my brother in law and I went on our around Samal trip on my motor cycle.
We stayed at the park in Kaputian which has small rooms and a treehouse room right on the beach. Only problem was there was not many places to get some food but we did find a small (only) place with some rice and fish. Had a great time. Note: getting down to Kaputian is difficult as the road is not complete and in some places very bumpy.
Hi Kevin – good to hear from you.
That would certainly be something I would like to do someday, a trip around the island. I understand the road to Kaputian is undergoing improvement, at least that’s what I got out of the article that I referenced in my latest post. It sounds like that was part of the agreement between the developers and the island.
I’ll probably have to settle for venturing out to various parts of the island the next trip. We tentatively plan on staying on the island a week, and then a week in Davao. Maybe the trip after next
I’m really getting ahead of myself.
But making it to Talikud shouldn’t be that difficult, especially if we are already on Samal. That I might be able to do next trip.
hi,
can you tell me what is the name of the boat that goes to talicud island at 7am? are there public boats from talicud island to kaputian at lunchtime?
Hi ca – I don’t have the answers to your questions. Maybe someone else will chime in with that information. As I indicated in the comments above, I haven’t been there yet.
Hello to everyone! Just want to ask how to get there in Talicud Island.
Hi Deserie – you take a boat from Davao (per the article) or from Kaputian.