Surigao? Sure!

We flew from airport to aiport just to reach Surigao. The original plan was to reach Siargao, but the schedule of boat trips didn't allow us to do so. So there's always plan B. When we reach Surigao City, the skies are swollen with dark clouds far from the clear blue skies of Cebu. We had lunch at Mama Aida's Restaurant. It was a small quiet place, maybe because it was a weekday and we arrived in mid afternoon. We sampled some seafoods, we even tasted a shellfish which looks like a weird creature. The food is great. Afterwhich, we headed down to the boulevard to ask boatmen about the trips to Siargao, and to get to know the place also.

We were walking along the city streets when it started to rain hard. We were not expecting rain because it was already the start of summer.At every corner we often find men, in marine-soldier uniforms. They were just trainees the tourist consultant said. The place is very small but not sleepy.

Early that morning we took a trike to Mabua Pebble Beach. The weather then was very

pleasant, clear skies and it was breezy.The beach is very unique. The whole kilometer span was made out of round rocks. And the locals said it all came from the sea. I used to see this in rivers but not in beaches like this.  A hill separates Mabua Beach and Looc Beach. When we were hiking up, my sister told me not to look up, but ofcourse I did look up, as stubborn as I am. The straight flight of steps are really intimidating. But the view from the top is awesome. We never knew what will see on the other part of the hill. It was very exciting. The tiring short hike was worth it. The view is great picturesque. It was an escape. There is a small village but the place is almost deserted. The rocks there are smaller in size. There is a small cove where we took a swim at the end of the beach. We even met a local building a shed out of coconut leaves.

When we went back to Mabua, we waited for the fresh catch. A really big fish, we had it

grilled. While waiting we dozed off, because it was breezy, we felt like being hushed to sleep. But just in time, we enjoyed the lunch. After eating we rented a very small boat to take us to Basul Island. It is the scariest boat ride I ever had or will ever have in my entire life. The waves are big, and if I calculated it right, there is an 80% for us to capsize. But thank God we didn't because we don't even have any life vest. It was scary when I see the boat tilting to its side. When we reached the island, it was worth it. The place is almost deserted. The beach is made out of crushed corals and bits of little shells. We headed back to Surigao City, braved the big waves again. And asked the neverending question, "Are we ther yet?".