The Reef Resort is ArkPad’s floating resort in the Davao Gulf, a few hundred metres off Kaputian at the southern tip of Samal Island: fourteen glamphouses and two ArkPad units standing on a working fish farm, open to day visitors and overnight guests.
Samal Island sits across the water from Davao City in the southern Philippines, and Kaputian is its southernmost district. The Reef Resort floats a few hundred metres off Kaputian Beach, far enough out to stand in open water and close enough that guests reach it by boat from the shore. Getting there means the ferry to Samal and a drive down the island, and the resort makes no charge for the crossing at the end of it.
The resort is a cluster of hexagonal Hexafarm platforms. Fourteen glamphouses of 290 square feet stand on them, along with two ArkPad units of 490 square feet and a service deck under a thatched roof with the restaurant on it. Solar arrays on the decks supply the power, and the resort makes its own fresh water. Kayaks, paddleboards, water bikes and an inflatable water park are moored alongside, and guests swim above the reef.
Underneath them the farm keeps working. Milkfish grow in the inner cages, rabbitfish and shellfish occupy the outer ones, lobsters live on the netted floor, and seaweed and mussels hang around the outside, so that the species keep the water and the nets clean between them. The restaurant serves what is harvested there. The first harvest came in during September 2024, a year before the first overnight guests.
The resort opened in September 2025 and takes day visitors as well as overnight guests. Videos of it drew a wide audience: a Filipino-language clip passed 1.6 million views and an English version 570,000. The glamphouses and the units are sold to individuals, whole or in fractions, and owners stay in them; what that ownership involves is set out by ArkPad itself.
How Samal Island’s Reef Resort is laid out
Built on site
As of Q3 2026
- Fourteen glamphouses and two ArkPad units on the Hexafarm platforms
- Service deck with the restaurant under a thatched roof
- Solar power and its own fresh water
- Milkfish, rabbitfish, shellfish, lobster, seaweed and mussels in the cages beneath
- Inflatable water park, kayaks, paddleboards and water bikes
In the master plan
- Further ArkPad-D units moored beside the platforms
- More rooms, with the number of them roughly doubling
What people ask about Samal Island’s Reef Resort
Where is the Reef Resort?
In the Davao Gulf, a few hundred metres off Kaputian Beach at the southern tip of Samal Island, across the water from Davao City in the southern Philippines.
How do you get to the Reef Resort?
By ferry from Davao City to Samal Island and a drive south to Kaputian, where the resort’s boat makes the last stretch. The transfer is free and comes with a stay or a day pass.
Can you stay overnight?
Yes. Guests sleep in one of the fourteen glamphouses or in one of the two ArkPad units, and the resort also sells day passes that include the boat transfer, swimming and the water activities.
What is farmed under the resort?
Milkfish in the inner cages, rabbitfish and shellfish in the outer ones, lobsters on the netted floor, and seaweed and mussels around the outside. The species keep each other’s water and nets clean, and the restaurant on the platform serves what is harvested.
Can you own part of the Reef Resort?
The glamphouses and the ArkPad units are sold to individuals, whole or in fractions, and owners can stay in them. What that ownership involves is set out by ArkPad itself; the resort’s own site is linked above.