There are a number of ways to reach Siargao. As I was scouring the net for promo fares, I was in luck when Airphil Express had a seat sale. I randomly searched for some available seats and ended up booking 2 seats bound for Surigao. I didn’t really know much about the province so I researched and found out that it is a gateway to Siargao. Only Cebu Pacific has direct flights to Siargao while AirPhil Express only flies to Surigao, then you need to ride a ferry boat from Surigao to Siargao.
So it was set. Cebu-Surigao. Weeks before our scheduled flight, representatives from AirPhil Express contacted us that the direct flight Cebu-Surigao on the date we booked was cancelled. As a compromise, they gave us another option to reach Surigao. The trip will be Cebu-Manila-Surigao and vice versa on the way back.
We did not really know about details of connecting flights so we asked the rep questions and thought that it was still a good deal. Little did we know that the connecting flight was hours apart (long hours). We initially thought that upon arriving in Manila, the connecting flight will be an hour or 2 later but it wasn’t. The prolonged stay in Manila meant additional expenses specially food (and airport food is really expensive).
In time for our flight, I am just so burnt out I wanted to just lay down and forget about the trip. Then it hit me, I don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to go to Siargao, the Surfing Capital of the Philippines. My spirit was slightly up caused by forcingly convincing myself that it will all be ok.
Upon arriving in Surigao, we headed to EY Pensionne to checkin. We did not make any prior reservations, just what we also do, (Note to self: Need to change this attitude) and we were more discouraged to find out that they were fully booked. EY Pensionne looked really neat and we were dying to lay down on a mattress and doze off. Good thing we did not need to look further as just fronting EY Pensionne is Metro Pensionne Plaza.
After checking in, we headed to the public market which was a short ride away from where we stayed and bought foood for dinner and some essentials for our trip to Siargao. We then dozed off early as a reward for finally reaching Surigao and also, outrigger boats leave from Surigao to Siargao at 6AM (Bretphil Express) 10:45AM (Dapa Express and Arjie2) while RORO leaves at 12NN. We needed to ride the earliest trip so as not to compromise the to-do list on the itinerary. Boats going to and from Siargao don’t have hourly trips, so if you missed them for the day, you will have to catch them again the next day.
I was up early (as always) and woke’s Sheena’s sleepy ass. She just responded with a groan. After failed attempts to wake her up, I started to raise my voice a little bit and off she went running to dress up. We were in the Boulevard (where outriggers normally anchor) 5:45AM and was disappointed with what we found out. The boat is full and they are not taking any more passengers as there is a Coast Guard doing the head count and he is not leaving until the boat leaves too (can’t blame the officer). We found out that most of the passengers have boarded the boat as early as the night before. The sidewalk vendor then told us that there is another Bretphil outrigger boat leaving on the other side of the port in 15 minutes bound for Del Carmen, Siargao so we hurriedly hopped into a tricycle (like most of the other chance passengers) and went to the other side of the port. Just as we stepped in the to board, another Coast Guard came out of the boat and then instructed the captain to leave. We were just out of luck. I immediately blamed Sheena for waking up really late. After a few minutes of pondering, we decided to go back to Metro Pensionne Plaza. Luckily, they have not yet cleaned the room we occupied so we were able to continue our stay. As early as 9AM, we headed back to the Boulevard and was exhilirated to find out that the new outrigger boat was just still sparsely occupied.
We slept most of the time during ride from Surigao to Dapa Port but you won’t really be able to sleep soundly as the stiff bench paired with the noisy roaring engine of the boat sounds more like trying to sleep in a rock concert than being lullabyed. As they slowly raised the tarpaulin (it had to be put down to protect the passengers from getting wet from the splashing sea water caused by the speed and the smash of the outrigger on the seawater), a smile was slowly painted on my face as I slowly pictured a sign with PORT OF DAPA written on it.
At last SIARGAO!
Later, we found out that missing on the 2nd Bretphil boat bound for Del Carmen was a blessing since the road from there to General Luna in Siargao is one heck of a ride and it would cost us more than the ride from Dapa port to General Luna.
Next up:
– Ocean 101 Beach Resort (General Luna, Siargao)
– Island Hopping in Siargao
– Magpupungko Beach Lagoon
ataya! long boat ride jud! haha.
i remember the first time i went to Siargao, we took a boat from Cebu to Surigao, and another boat. from Surigao to Siargao. although quite long, it wasn’t as stressful as this!
@Ed resulta sa way klaro nga research, planning and time management ahaha
I found your blog when I tried to find other terrible experiences of passengers who got their flights cancelled by Airphil. I am glad you enjoyed your vacation despite the many setbacks.
Did you have to argue with them so much so they could offer you those flights? They cancelled our Cebu to HK flight and offered us to fly out a day earlier than scheduled. This means that my family of four will be wasting our domestic tickets to Cebu, our hotel accommodation in Cebu, as well as jeopardizing our intended transit to Macau on the date of our original flight. And if fly on the date that they proposed, we’d also be staying an extra day in HK all at our expense!
Since I am not amenable to the flight change, they are offering me a refund and I must say it is a convenient way of setting us aside when our flight is already days away!
To add more spice to my unresolved problem, I have spoken to 8 different people (long distance) regarding my issue, and I have discovered that they have been blatantly lying to me so that I will no longer have the time to make arrangements and just accept their offer.
I won’t have any of it. If they push back the amount on the card, we may end up receiving it in 45 days minimum. I am frustrated and very upset. Do you have any suggestions?
@Izzy that is a big problem that you have there. Ive heard a lot of problems with airphil specially if you got your ticket at a promo rate.. some flights are either cancelled or rescheduled. we were just lucky they gave us an option to take the connecting flight via manila. has the problem been resolved yet?
naa moi ma suggest nga barato nga ka stayhan sa siargao koya at least 300/night lng bah..??matsalams!
@Anonymouse – sa Ocean 101 mi nag stay maam. Affordable ra ddto. Not 300PHP/night and I doubt if naa in-ana kabarato pero dili man pd kaau mahal ang Ocean 101