Yuri at Costa Marina Beach Resort

I really don't know how much salt and saltwater Yuri ate and drank last Sunday.

I am no beach bum for a couple of reasons. First, I'm a mall-and-airconditioning kinda girl rather than an outdoorsy girl. Second, I don't know how to swim. #confession

However, when Yuri was growing up and beginning to develop a mind of his own, I noticed his certain affinity to the water and the outdoors. Water plus outdoors equal to beach, right? So I was willing to drag my butt to the beach all for the love of Yuri! Good thing Samal Island is just 30 minutes away!

Long story short, after too many cancelled plans, postponed dates, and change of venues - our first options were Villa Amparo or Playa Azalea - we finally found ourself in a beach that is a lot nearer to Davao but still beautiful on its own merit: Costa Marina.

Only 15 minutes away from Davao's shore, Costa Marina is a popular beach getaway for many Davao locals because of its affordable rates. I also chose this resort because it's a lot "quieter" than the more popular Paradise Island.

Well, it wasn't really quiet that day since we were surrounded by a lot of barkada-type groups who were drinking. That's the downside of going to the beach on a Sunday. Nevertheless, I still appreciated that the beach wasn't crowded.

Just like what I had thought, Yuri immediately fell in love with the sea! It was love at first sight and he wasn't even slightly frightened of the waters.

When we went to deeper waters (me carrying him of course), he even wanted to let go and swim on his own. Not yet, baby!

Then, while other kids (like me) would scrunch up their faces upon tasting seawater for the first time, this kid of mine licked his lips and said, "sarap!" It was hard for me to keep him from drinking more. My goodness!