Siargao, a tear-shaped island in central eastern Philippines, is famous for its surfing waves and is considered the country’s surfing capital. However, my family’s first visit to Siargao was not for the surfing experience but to get a first hand look of what the island has to offer in addition to popular surfing.
We arrived on a flight from another island called Cebu. Two days prior to our flight, Siargao and Cebu were both in the path of a typhoon but it was downgraded into a tropical depression later so we arrived in Siargao with a very good weather. We took a private van from the airport in Del Carmen that took us almost an hour to a resort in General Luna called Isla Cabana.
Isla Cabana
Siargao, in particular General Luna, has a variety of lodging options from the basic, cheap accommodations with shared bathrooms to mid-priced to exquisite resorts. We were traveling with our two young girls aged two and three so we chose one of the better resorts in General Luna called Isla Cabana.
It was the infinity pool that made me choose the resort. I recognized later that this same resort pool has been featured in Conde Nast Traveler’s article where Siargao was voted as the best island in Asia and in the world by its readers. The photo above was taken during low tide when the water recedes much to reveal a wider shore of powdery white sand.
On one of those rare breakfast moments this side of the only restaurant in the resort facing the pool was shockingly empty so I requested one of the staff to take the above snapshot.
More snapshots of the empty pool area that would later be filled up with guests.
Another angle of the pool area.
At times I would come back to the pool area to have some rum coke hoping I would be able to snooze a bit.
Local craftsmanship is heavily showcased in the resort furniture like this lounge chair which I tried while sipping my rum coke.
Next it was time for the stronger long island iced tea and the scenery kept me awake!
This is the other resort pool just to the right of the restaurant and the infinity pool area.
To the right of the infinity pool and restaurant is a cemented pathway that leads to the beach-fronting villas.
This is one of the beach-fronting villas in the resort. Other lodging options in the resort would be villas with garden views that dot between the lobby area to the pool areas and the beach. There are also new rooms in the recently expanded section of the resort adjacent to the lobby.
The room we had was truly spacious and well-appointed.
In contrast with the touristy Cloud Nine area that is a great place to catch stunning sunsets, Isla Cabana is located on the east side of the island facing east offering breathtaking sunrises like the one shown above.
The pool area is the best place to watch the magnificent sunrise after which you can have your breakfast right next in the restaurant.
It is also at this time that the pool is cleaned.
At night, one can just sit by the pool and watch the moon lights up the sky.
This was taken in front of the other pool area fronting the sea.
A lounge and entertainment area just next to the resort lobby is available for those who want activities outside their room but still within the resort.
Also a gym is available for that late night workout.
Outside The Resort
Surfing is the main draw of Siargao. Cloud Nine is where the high profile surfing happens and the area is located at an area north side of Isla Cabana.
Aside from surfing, another activity to do when in Siargao is to get into one of the boats and do island hopping. One island hopping option is the tour to three islands called Naked Island, Daku (Big) Island and Goyam Island which I took alone with a boat man and his assistant. An entire boat that can take in up to 8 people would cost around 3,000 pesos or roughly $60 for the 3-island tour. There are other tours that would take you to Sugba Lagoon and other famous spots around the island.
I took the photo above as we were approaching Naked Island. There were some local tourists spending the mid-afternoon charm of the tiny islet.
Later I used my drone for the first time to take a video of Naked Island.
After half an hour we left Naked Island and set for Daku Island. I only spent a few minutes in the big island because my drone ran out of battery, skipped Goyam and returned to the resort.
Food Experience
My eldest child was sick all the time when we were in Siargao so as much as her situation limited our roaming around the island, it also limited our food experience within the resort so I would review only our gourmet experience here.
Buffet breakfast is included in the room price so everyone takes breakfast in the resort’s only restaurant at the back of the infinity pool area. The wide variety of choices include widely Asian and Filipino plus continental. The coffee was very good too, one that passed my standard as a straight black coffee drinker.
The ala carte menu for lunch and dinner include notable dishes that were done very well like the Thai Green Curry Chicken…..
…..Filipino noodles called pancit canton…..
…..Filipino lechon kawali (deep fried pork belly)…
….gambas Al Ajillo….
…..and the Indonesian rice dish, Nasi Goreng, with pieces of meat and vegetables added topped with fried egg. I love fish so much but unfortunately no fish dishes were available due to the recent typhoon that passed through the island.
This pretty sums up our Siargao adventure that was limited to Isla Cabana and some island hopping. There still so much to discover and much to be done like a trip to Sugba Lagoon and spending some time in Cloud Nine area and hopefully we can do those things the next time we visit the islands of Siargao again, God willing.
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