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SIARGAO, Philippines — When one says “island hopping,” it usually includes only a small boat ferrying visitors from island to island.
But in Siargao, the party boat makes island hopping more exciting — even on a rainy day!
Inside a Siargao party boat, the driver also dabbles as the disc jockey – and he is also enclosed in a booth like a DJ!
From his booth, the boat driver plays dance hits, and he is also open to requests. You can connect your own playlist via Bluetooth. He even curates the playlist depending on the weather — if it rains, expect songs like “Raining in Manila” and “Tuwing Umuulan” to boom out of the speakers – so if it’s unsafe to drink and dance inside the boat because of the bigger waves, the boat becomes a videoke bar, too!
In the party boat organized by the Philippine Airlines and Guide to the Philippines for media outlets like Philstar.com and influencers, three islands were included in the stops:
Guyam
Local tour guides told Philstar.com the island was named after “guyam” or giant “ants” that used to be aplenty in the island. (They assured there are none of these ants now that could bite tourists sunbathing or walking barefoot.)
The island has its own basketball and volleyball courts, swings, balancing rope, sea-soaked gazebo for dating or sunset watching, and other “Instagramable” spots. It also has hammocks, a snack bar, a souvenir shop and seating areas for enjoying live music by local musicians.
If you want to buy from the souvenir shop, however, you would have to wait for the musicians to finish their set because one of them is also the shop’s owner, seller and artist. Multi-tasking locals are common in Siargao!
Naked Island
Not to be mistaken as a place where birthday suits are allowed, Naked Island is named as such simply because it is a white sandbar where no vegetation can survive.
As such, it has nothing in it — no coconut trees even, but it serves as a blank canvas for relaxing, sleeping, swimming, snorkeling, sunbathing, book reading, and even enjoying Taho – watch out for the magtataho or Taho vendor.
Daku Island
A barangay community, Daku means “big” in Visayan, and it is named as such because it is the biggest one in General Luna, Siargao.
While it is best known as the lunch stop for Siargao’s famous boodle fights, it is also an ideal place to relax, swim, snorkel, experience Siargao culture, and even surf in one of its corners.
Cooked fresh and on-the-spot, Siargao’s renowned boodle fight lunch is composed of typically white rice sculpted to spell-out the island’s name together with some images from around the island, like coconut trees. The sculpted rice is bordered with large chunks of fresh seafood – boiled clams, shrimps, lobsters, tahong and grilled fish, squid, chicken and pork Liempo, to name a few – as well as slices of fruits in season like mangoes and watermelons. Everything is placed in big banana leaves, which one can also tear apart to “Sharon” or pack leftovers.
The best way to enjoy a boodle fight is like how locals and even foreigners do it – by bare hands.
All boats and lunch groups in Daku are given a 2 p.m. curfew, so by that time, they should be on their way back to the main island. Don’t worry, because this gives one less than an hour more of dancing, drinking, singing and TikTok video shooting aboard the party boat!
For hassle-free travels, Guide to the Philippines has a summer promotion to explore the country’s top destinations, including Siargao.
The nation’s flag carrier airlines, Philippine Airlines (PAL), now flies thrice weekly from Clark International Airport to Siargao, and vice versa. Bookings are via Philippineairlines.com. Flights are every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and departs from Clark at 11 a.m., and from Siargao at 1:35 p.m. — Photos, video by Deni Bernardo
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