Facts About Siargao Island – There is no doubt that the tear-drop shape island situated about 800 km southeast of the Philippines capital – Manila is now becoming as one of the hottest holiday spots for summer. From its impressive cloud 9 waves, picture perfect palm-tree lined roads, white sand beaches, turquoise blue and emerald green waters from its famous lagoons as well as its renowned local and international restaurants, resorts and hotels offering mouth-watering food. The island of Siargao is definitely a bucket-list worthy experience for every traveler type.

     But behind those great things in Siargao is its short yet rich and interesting history of how the island look like before and how it slowly became an international tourist destination magnet today. Get to know more about Philippines one of best surfing spots with our facts about Siargao Island. Let’s get into it!

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Facts About Siargao Island Everyone Should Know Includes:

1. Siargao Island is in the western part of Surigao Del Norte, Philippines province with estimated land area of 437 square kilometres (43,700 hectares.) The island has nine Municipalities namely: General Luna, Burgos, Dapa, Pilar, Socorro, Del Carmen, San Isidro, San Benito, and Santa Monica.

2. As per Wikipedia 2015 demographics, there are 94,270 people inhabiting and preserving the island. Siarganons main source of livelihood are from tourism, farming and fishing as the island are blessed and rich in marine life.

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3. Again from Wiki resources, the first sighting of Siargao Island was way back in 1543 by European boards and Spanish navigator named Bernardo de la Torre when they were trying to get back to New Spain from Sarangani province.

3. He even called the island as “Isla de las Palmas” or Palm Island in Spanish.

4. Siargao Island particularly in the municipality of Del Carmen is the largest mangrove forest reserves in Mindanao.

5. According to Vientodelmar website, in 1980 the simple municipality of General Luna, Siargao (Cloud 9) were discovered by Steve Jones and Tony Arruza in their search of what they called the “perfect wave.” They called it the “Jacking Horse” as its waves are exceptional that couldn’t be compared to other.

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Siargao Accommodation Book Via: AGODA  | BOOKING.COM

6. During that time Siargao hasn’t made a mark yet in the world and only few surfers knew about the island. Not until in 1992, when a famous photographer surfer named John Callahan visited Siargao. He photographed and published a story featuring famous surfers: Taylor Knox, Kevin Davidson and etc., managing to surf the huge waves in General Luna (Cloud 9). That publication then circulated and spread like a wildfire all over the world.

7. Since then numbers of tourist are growing as well as hotels, resorts, restaurants, shops and various water-related activities available in the Island. Annual surfing competition also happens in the Siargao Island totally making the local business tourism rises.

8. If you wish to visit the paradise island, just book a flight to Manila (MNL), Philippines or Cebu (CEB) then a flight to Siargao (IAO). Best time to visit island for surfing is during Ber months when waves are bigger than summer. Nonetheless Siargao is year-round travel destination let’s all just be a responsible tourist.

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9. From perfect sunrise/sunset, majestic waves, caves, lagoons and other sights. Siargao Island has been listed by various news and travel website like TripAdvisor, Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler along with Boracay, Philippines as one of the best Island and surfing spots in the world (General Luna & Tuason Point).

10. Number of songs were inspiredly written about Siargao including from Eddie Florano and Red Hot Chili Peppers after Anthony Kiedis – the front man of American funk rock band visit last 2014. Siargao Island has also been featured in local and international documentaries, TV shows as well as movies. The most popular once is the self-titled 2017 Philippine surf-romance movie directed by Paul Soriano.

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Featured Image Photo Credits: VenChu TV

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