Philippines – Cloud 9, the most famous wave in the Philippines

Siargao is a teardrop-shaped island in the Philippine Sea located 800 kilometers southeast of Manila, in the province of Surigao del Norte.

It extends for about 437 square kilometers and the east coast is relatively straight with a deep inlet, called Port Pilar.

The coast is characterized by a succession of coral reefs and white and sandy beaches.

The island of Siargao also contains large mangrove forest reserves and long stretches of wetlands.

There is also a small uninhabited island near Siargao called Guyam Island which has become a popular stop for tourists on island hopping tours. This Filipino island is known, above all, because here it’s possible to challenge one of the most famous and appreciated waves in the world, called the “Cloud 9”, which is the undisputed star of the annual international surfing competition called Siargao Cup, which takes place in month of september.

The wave in question was discovered by some surfers on vacation in the late 1980s and named after the American photographer John Seaton Callahan as a tribute to a chocolate bar of the same name.

In March 1993, Cloud 9 was featured in the American Surfer magazine, which named it one of the ten best surfing waves of all time.

Also, surfing here is relatively cheap, with a large number of accommodation, restaurants and bars to pick.

On the island of Siargao and on the neighboring ones that are always part of the Philippines, there are other quality waves, but none have reached Cloud 9’s fame and this has consequently led to overcrowding of visitors so big, that among surfers it is known also with the name of “Crowd 9”.

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