Photo courtesy: Chris Schalkx. Retrieved from cntraveler.com
Surf culture is an integral part of Siargao, where palm-flanked roads are lined with hammock-strung hostels and scrappy board shops. Local surfers, as well as folks from Manila, Cebu, and points farther afield, can be spotted everywhere from the white-sand beaches and brilliant blue lagoons to Catangnan Bridge, an 1,145-foot span on the island’s eastern side where they ride skateboards among the food stalls that pop up at sunset each evening.
Siargao used to be quiet, Agudo says, “a simple-lifestyle island” whose primary economic activities were fishing and farming. Then, in the 1980s, Western surfers came through and began spreading the word about a now legendary break called Cloud 9 (named after a Filipino chocolate bar).
Since then, Siargao has claimed a place on the global surf circuit and produced a homegrown crop of legends. Stars like Manuel “Wilmar” Melindo and Rudy Figuron, and now Agudo and her sister Aping, have flown the flag of the Philippines at competitions in places like El Salvador and Byron Bay.
Even with her bona fides, Agudo says that in Siargao’s surf scene everyone is equal, part of one community: “We all ride the same waves. Rich or poor, male or female, the ocean doesn’t discriminate. The power of Mother Nature is the greatest equalizer.”