So I have already survived the first two days. The arrival and first day of island tour!
The second tour package I’ve availed was the land tour which includes Sugba Lagoon and Magpupungko Rock Pools. And luckily, we managed to convince the guides to include visiting the bent tree as well! You can try convincing your tour guides too!
At 7:00am, I was picked up by the van, it was an hour ride to Del Carmen. You have to get a heavy breakfast as bringing food to the lagoon is strictly prohibited unless you’re going to let the staff from the lagoon cook you a sumptuous seafood meal. Yum!
I can recommend another option which my new friends, Dudz and Dee took. This is going to be another itinerary for the day though. Only if I had the courage to drive alone using that automatic motorcycle, I could have been with them. But I already scheduled mine with kuya Bebot. But I sure will tell you about it later. ;)
Before riding the boat, there’s a mandatory picture taking with your boatmates at the pier near the tourism office and you’ll have to claim it at Php50.00 after the lagoon tour. You can even have a view of the place with 4, 000 ha. of contiguous mangrove in Del Carmen alone and approximately 8, 600 ha. of mangrove in Siargao! And out of 54 mangrove species worldwide, 44 can be found in Del Carmen, Surigao! I am not kidding.
So during the boat ride to Sugba Lagoon, enjoy the Bahamas feels this place gives you.
Well, for the tour I have availed, it also included either kayaking or paddling (Php100.00 each) and the table (Php100.00) excluding the snorkeling gear though for Php200.00 (unlimited use).
And so by 8:00 am, we went to Sugba lagoon which gave us another two-hour ride and stayed there until 11:40am. There’s not much fish in the lagoon but you can sure jump at the famous platform, make sure to take a picture first, if you have a gopro cam, take it with you on your jump!
It’ a good thing as well is if you have time for the sunset here, go to the mangrove wharf, make sure it’s low tide so you could take a good shot. I was not able to do this as we were based in General Luna which was at the other side of Surigao. Maybe one boat ride will cost you around Php500.00.
But anyway, I had to stick with the tour schedule so the next stop was Magpupungko rock pools.
We had lunch at one of the huts, it was still high tide at 2:00pm and the water current was strong. You must have a dry bag here as you might get slipped.
Actually, you should always bring a dry bag with you alone wherever you are in the island.
So after a short natural pool dip time, we headed to the bent tree. It was just at the roadside when you’re heading to General Luna from Del Carmen. And there’s no fees or anything at all.
I really am very envious how the kids can do three turns on the rope just by holding at a single rusting metallic handle!
And when I tried to climb up at that bending coconut tree, tried to swing, I immediately fell. Yet it was a good experience! And another new friend, Jachim, took the video of me swinging!
The tour ended at 4:30pm, so I played table tennis for a while with another guest at Villa Solaria, took the numbers and facebook page of Jach and Mark. Until 6:00pm, I prepared for another chill night until 8:00pm, went out with Jach and for almost three days without a proper sleep, I felt the sleep coming over me. LOL.
So we went early and had a good night rest for the first time.
For Dudz and Dee's itinerary, they rented a motorycle for themselves instead. Drove to Del Carmen at 6:00am, had the Sugba Lagoon to themselves at 8:00am. They rented a boat there for 2800.00 including a tour to two remote unknown islands to tourists which Dudz told me they had the islands to themselves on that day! So DIY sometimes has its own amazing perks!
Again if you're alone, it is highly recommended to join tours and meert friends and you can do DIY on your own by then. That's a tip. 😉
On the fourth day...
It’s surfing day finally!
So I wore my rashguard, rushed to Cloud 9, had a good first breakfast at Shaka Cafe and started the Surf with Dudz and Dee along with gladys who’ll take the photos of us for Php325.00 each!
Her Sony camera has this incredible lens that could focus and zoom in even though you’re there, just enjoying your first surfing experience with a professional instructor for Php500.00 an hour.
If it is your fist time to surf, I suggest that you prepare your muscles to get sore as you need to paddle hard to get to te waves and do the three step preparation, push up, right or left foot bend (whichever you’re comfortable with), then put your other foot in front of the bending foot, bend your body altogether to balance and ride on the waves!
If you are a first timer on this, it is highly recommended you try it at the Jacking Horse just very near the Cloud 9 where the surfing cup is being held so you kind of feel like you’re one of them!
After the surf, we headed to the beachfront cafe called the Loka Cafe. They sell beer for Php60.00 each and a very good banana cake for Php50.00 and you and sit in a place with a carpet, a big umbrella, big pillows with leather case that you can sit on comfortably.
So we had a beer together from 9:00am to 11:00am, shared stories on our jobs, had a taste of what seems to be a big tortillos chip with coconut jam made of cacao and God it was delicious!
Since it was Dudz and Dee’s 3rd anniversary, they had a dark chocolate cake (Php250.00) and pizza (Php215.00) from Aventino’s, just in front, left side from Villa Solaria.
Then I rented an automatic motorcycle for Php500.00 since it was just for a day (Php350.00/day if you’re borrowing it for a minimum of two days).
We headed to the coconut tree view on the top of the road and to Tayangban cave pool which was a total of one hour ride. The trail to the Tayangban cave pool was an hour only. So we were done by 3:00pm, did not have much time to go to the Pacifico (Pacific Ocean) sadly as it will be another 2 hour ride back and forth and they had their own schedule ealy dinner as well and I don’t want to ruin that.
One good thing though, we were able to visit the Malinao beach, plainly a white sand beach. Took some photos then I headed to Kermit Surft Reosrt while they headed to Harana Beach Resort. The best time is to wait for their afternoon pizza time (5:00-9:00pm) or happy hour (4:00-6:00pm), so since I was there at 4:00 pm, saw @maramatokong in the Gwapitos area just jokig around, I sat on my chosen spot, waited for an hour as I was able to choose my pizza carefully.
Tuazon pizza famous for its truffles ingredient was my choice for Pp550.00. They also serve beer and cold and hot coffee for a reasonable amount.
Then it’s time for souvenirs! It will be the last night so it has to be the best.
The party’s scheduled at Rumbar. Since I stayed at Kermit until 6:00pm, bought souvenirs and prepared for the night, at 8:00pm, I went to Rumbar.
A very good thing here is that, people born with different races are here to party, dance all the way up, drink to their limit and take a bath at any of the beaches. The beach at Kitya’s was open during the night. You can enjoy the night beneath the twilight there for free. It’s near the cemetery but it’s not a delicate place you can just leave your bags and even take a bath at that beach naked. You can own it and have it to all yourselves through the night! It's just very low tide. So it will take a hundred or two hundred meters before you can reach the actual level of water at normal sea level.
Here are the party schedules. I was not able to take the other schedules for one whole week though.
Party Schedule:
Friday – Jungle Disco and Octopus
Saturday – Harana and Rumbar
Sunday – Kitya’s and Bravo
Monday – Rumbar
Tuesday – Harana
The Primitivo bar holds an artists night every night as told by Louie who came all the way from Boracay (since it was closed) and continued to live the island life. That maybe the reason why they play a good music, they have so much time to chill out and hone their talents here.
For the last day, since my flight was 12nn, I had to check out at 10:30am at least. So I woke up at 5:00 am where there’s moon and sun at the same time. Drove to Cloud 9 and Shaka Cafe. Headed straight to the top of the road and at 8:00am, after I had my last breakfast at Shaka cafe, I prepared my bags and ready for living.
I already missed the place the first minute I passed General Luna. I sure will come back, Siargao.
Thank you for taking the time to read everyone!
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Thank you! Til next time!
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