Tripid to Siargao Island Surigao del Norte

  A dare and became reality, while having our breakfast, my husband and I were joking around about Siargao Island. "Lets go there,  take a bus and we are leaving this night " he said. "Say what? this night pronto, are you dead serious about it?" I asked. He told me yes. He ask me if  I can endure an 8 hour bus ride to Surigao Island. I willingly answered yes of course but there's  a hitch about the trip, the tripid budget challenge was set up to P6000 only. I don't know if we can pull this off  but the adrenaline rush of enjoyment and fun tells me that we can.do this.

Challenge:
1. Dont overspend beyond P6000 limit
2. Budget includes bus fare, boat fare, accommodation, food and etc..

We carefully plan and research the route, time and cheap accommodation of the island. No time to spare since we are leaving this night for the 8 hour  journey.

We started our journey by catching the first trip air condition bus to Butuan City (that is the 3:30 am) and paid P400.00 per head, quite expensive for me as “Tuklaserang Matipid” BUT we need to reserve our energy and butts for the succeeding rides. We have a comfortable bus with reclining and spacious seats. Primary reason of choosing this bus is to get through with the last trip ferry from Surigao City to Siargao Island that leaves 12:30pm for there will be no more trips in the afternoon due to the Pacific strong waves.

We arrived Butuan City around 10:30 am plus the 2 hours ride to Surigao City which cost P120.00 per head, most likely we will reach Surigao City around 12:30 pm, but alas! We reached Surigao City almost 1:00 pm, unfortunately, too late for Siargao Island ferry last trip. Despite catching the first bus trip to Butuan City we still didn’t make it, basically the 8 bus stops caused the delays.

There’s reason for everything they say, so instead of ranting, we agreed to settle the night at traveler’s inn not far from the port, it’s clean and safe for only P600.00. So far the road was okey, weather was cooperating but my tummy was yelling hahahah, good thing we have with us packed snacks and instant noodles. On the brighter side of not being able to make the last trip to Siargao was being able to rest and took a bath after our almost 9 hours road trip and sleep early.

We woke up at wee hours in the morning, took our breakfast, set up for Siargao Island first trip ferry ride at 5:30am, fare rate was P150.00 per head and we will reached Siargao Island in 2 hours. The ferry was ensured and inspected by the Philippine Coast Guard before leaving for safety and good voyage reasons.

Early morning at Dapa Channel

Siargao Island contains the largest mangrove forest reserves in Mindanao.We arrived at Siargao and hired a tricycle to the Ocean 101 resort in Gen. Luna.

 On our way to the famous Cloud 9,  minutes away from our resort.

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Weird looking structure at Cloud 9

Surfers practicing for the October Surfers Cup.

 

 After spending a day with  a surfer instructor using an egg surfboard, im ready to practice and experience surfing.

 

Grilled pork and Fries for only P120

We stayed in Siargao for 3 days and we spent only P5,800 for the food, 3 days accommodation, fares, surf instructor and surfboard rent and local transportation.

Matipid Breakdown
Bus fare + ferry + Local Transportation = P2,300
Accommodations (3 days) = P1,800
Food = P1,200
Surf Instructor  (1day)  = P 500
Total = P 5,800

We met our P6000 challenge yet we still have P200.00 in excess, we enjoyed the place, quite tired but the memory is worth keeping. I am a proud TUKLASERANG MATIPID.

Updates 2013
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