Billabong Invitational Surfing Cup, Cloud Nine, Siargao
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Photo courtesy Billabong Australia
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The Billabong Invitational Surfing Cup competition at Cloud Nine, Siargao, (21-27 October, 2009) draws the best of the best in the surfing World to enjoin in celebrating this minuscule point on planet Earth, where the entire Pacific Ocean seems to want to come ashore in a hurry. Defiantly, for a brief moment, this one tiny piece of reef at Cloud Nine mesmerizes the mighty Pacific and causes a billion water droplets to rise in unison on their journey towards the beach and finally to crash in sequential applause along a three hundred metre long stage front.
Cloud Nine (Siargao) is aptly named, for even if you are not a surfer, the vision of those who are, riding elegantly through the longest tubes that form along Cloud Nine’s majestic right-hand break, can’t fail to make you smile, and smiling is the first step towards happiness and excitement ergo: Cloud Nine.
If you have not been to Siargao then you definitely have something to put on your bucket list for, in Siargao, you will find the classic tropical island holiday destination with a tranquil friendly culture that embraces visitors from all over the World. Perhaps exaggerated by the laid-back lifestyle of the Siargao surfing community (that expands at each end of every summer monsoon season) but in particular exaggerated by Mother Natures’ spectacle at he surfing hot-spot of Cloud Nine, Siargao accepts, absorbs and seduces the visitor with her tropical charm, island tranquility and exceptional natural beauty.
You can fly direct to Siargao Island from Cebu or you can fly to Surigao City from Manila and then take the ferry. If you plan to fly to Surigao and take the ferry then make sure you take a flight that arrives in Surigao before 11.00am, otherwise you will miss the midday ferry and have to spend a night in Surigao City (and last time I was in Surigao City there is almost nothing to recommend to a true island lover except that it represents your last chance to raid an ATM – our sources say there is still no ATM in Siargao).
For the most spectacular surf at Cloud Nine, choose a time when there is a tropical storm brewing out in the Pacific Ocean, near Palau. With a tropical storm over the Pacific, Cloud Nine has the largest surf breaks and the exaggerated southwest monsoon causes the face of the waves to stand up and curl back, giving the surfer the ride of his life . . . and photographers the images that pay for the airfare.
Links:
Billabong Invitational Surfing Cup Siargao 2009 event details