Bicycling and snorkeling in Siargao

The end of a wonderful three months in the Philippines. Where to spend the last week? We were at the southern end of Panaon Island so the first thing to do was get a ferry from Benit to Surigao City on Mindanao. From Surigao City, however, ferries go all over the place. We decided on the surfing island of Siargao.

First we had a short ride on Mindanao from Lipata to Surigao City where we found an ear doctor who loved to bicycle and had even completed an Ironman! Ferda’s ear was healing well, he said, but she still wasn’t allowed in the water.

We enjoyed Surigao City’s waterfront night market,

took the 6am ferry the next day, and had a good breakfast in Dapa on Siargao.

First stop was the surf break at Guian where we were told there might be snorkeling at the far right side of the beach.

The most exciting thing I found was this cushion star (Culcita novaeguineae):

We arrived in General Luna early but took way too long to find a decent place to stay. For these last few days in the Philippines we had kind of hoped to find somewhere fun to hang out and rest. General Luna was not it. We did, however, spend two nights. The Philippines is firmly in the Coral Triangle, but the snorkeling had overall been disappointing. I had only done off-the-beach snorkeling. Maybe a boat trip would provide access to fantastic reefs?

Uh, no, I guess not. I liked this urchin (Echinothrix calamaris?),

this yellow boxfish (Ostracion cubicus?)

and seeing these four butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunulatus?) at once.

We took a short break at Naked Island where I tried to warm up a bit.

I might be spoiled from Raja Ampat. Ferda and I walked along the coast north of General Luna.

There were lots of tourists, but I couldn’t understand the appeal. We left, continued north, and stopped for a coconut at the popular Coconut Viewpoint.

It ended up raining a fair bit this day and might have even been raining when I decided to try the snorkeling in the Mapupungko Tidal Lagoons. That was a good call. I’ve rarely seen eels swimming out in the open, and here I saw two, two different species!

As in General Luna it took us too long to find (barely) decent accommodation in Pacifico, an uninteresting surfing village. Things finally started coming together for us in Siargao the following day.

Ferda swung back around in Burgos when she thought she had seen a fruit stand with jackfruit. No, even better, it was marang. The man had lots of them and took some time to find one that was ready to eat. It was Ferda’s first marang — super tasty, not chewy or sweet like jackfruit, instead sweet/sour with a durian-like custard consistency.

We coasted down to the end of a dead-end beach road in the tiny village of Tangbo, only to happen upon a brilliant place to spend the rest of our days on Siargao.

At night (with no moon) the fireflies lit up the trees like live, moving Christmas-tree lights. Looking up we couldn’t tell where the fireflies ended and endless stars began. The cool breeze, the turquoise water, the brilliant colors — this place was special. Wow, what a fantastic way to end our travels in the Philippines!

From Tangbo we started a long journey back to Antalya — a pleasant ride to Dapa,

a ferry to Surigao City,

and an overnight ferry to Cebu. Then it was 46 hours from Cebu to Antalya via Shanghai and İstanbul. Good to be home after 4.5 months on the road.