Sidetrip: Siargao Island Hopping

Siargao, being the Surfing Capital of the Philippines, does not only have surfing as its main bread and butter.

Siargao is surrounded by a number of islands, some turned into surfing spots, some turned into tourist attractions. We did not turn down the chance of visiting three of these islands.

Siargao is a tear-drop shaped island in the Philippine Sea situated 800 kilometers southeast of Manila in the province of Surigao del Norte. It has a land area of approximately 437 square kilometers. The east coast is relatively straight with one deep inlet, Port Pilar. The coastline is marked by a succession of reefs, small points and white, sandy beaches. The neighboring islands and islets have similar landforms.

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Early morning, on the day of the island hopping in Siargao, we were informed by the habal-habal driver that another guest would be joining us in the island hopping adventure. We did not hesitate to let him join in as that would mean that the expenses would be divided by 3 (me, Edcel and the guest). All 4 of us (including Manong driver), tried to fit in on his habal-habal, good thing the drive to the starting point was just a few minutes.

First island that we visited is NAKED ISLAND, a shining bare white sand bar. When I stepped in to this island, I remembere Camiguin’s White Island. These two islands have similarities, (1) they both have no shades for shelter, (2) can be toured for a couple of minutes, and lastly, they both have crystal clear waters. Camiguin’s White Island is definitely bigger than Naked but its beauty sure does exceed the latter.

We stayed an hour and a half swimming on the lovely shimmering clear waters of Naked Island.

After our refreshing stay in Naked Island, we headed off to DAKO ISLAND, the biggest among the three islands we toured. “Dako” means big in the Visayan language. The island is laid with coconut trees all-over and according to Mr. Boatman, Dako Island has the sweetest coconut. Who wouldn’t want to take a sip of their sweet coconut? Tents here do not come free of charge. If you don’t want to pay, it would be best to just sit under the shade of the coconut tree.

We did not bother roaming around the island and used the time to take lunch, rest and recharge. A conversation over lunch opened as Nelson also wanted to visit Sohoton Cove. On our first itinerary, we wanted to visit Sohoton but our schedule did not permit us. The boatman offered us a cheap price if we wanted to pursue a trip to Sohoton but I forgot the reason why we did not push through with it and that is the exact reason why we will be heading back to Surigao again, to visit Sohoton Cave and the Bucas Grande Islands
After an hour’s stay at Dako Island, we headed off to the last island on the list, Guyam Island.Just 10 mins away from the main land of Siargao and is facing across the town poblacion of General Luna is the idyllic GUYAM ISLAND – a pleasant white sand beach.

Guyam Island has far more vegetation compared to Naked Island. The island also has an entrance fee. We have read some blogs and they said that you can swim or walk to the island during low tide and can definitely be reach though kayaking..I guess we only stayed for about 30 mins as we were heading off to Magpupungko Beach. Actually, we were confused if we will go straight to Bucas Grande from Guyam Island but we ended up going to Magpupungko Beach instead.If you plan to go Island hopping in Siargao, I recommend you try to talk to habal-habal drivers or boatmen that lives near the market. You sure will get the bang for you buck from this people.

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