Surf’s Up 2009

Surf Season’s coming!  Usually it’s starting now but lately there’s just no waves on the beaches.  Hopefully by September there would be some swell coming up!  Definitely the months of October to December got really big crazy waves!

Preparing for surf season

1.  Buy Sunblock or Tanning lotion!

It depends whether you want to stay fair or get tanned, the important is, get protected from the Sun’s UV harmful rays!  Also, you might want to buy an anti-jellyfish lotion as well!

2.  Check out the swell forecast before planning your surftrip!

magicseaweed or wetsand

3.  Where to surf in the Philippines?

• La Union – ideal for beginners

In the Philippines, LU should be the first beach you visit if you’re just trying out surfing.  The beach is friendly because it’s just sand bottom.  You can surf here without really knowing how to swim because you can surf at around 5 ft.  Plus, there are a lot of surf instructors available.  There’s a Surf School there called Billabong Surf School and I am a student of this school until now XD

Accommodations, Room rates:

surfcamp
http://www.sanjuansurfresort.com
+63 72 720 0340
sebay
http://surfsebay.allhyper.com/
Tel. & Fax. +63-72-888-4075; Cel. +639107395698
surfmaid
http://littlesurfmaidresort.com
(072) 888-55-28
Cp#/Contact Person: +639205486112 / Sie

• Siargao

Siargao is a tear-drop shaped island situated 800 kilometers southeast of Manila. It has a land mass of approximately 437 kilometers. The east coast is relatively straight with one deep inlet-Port Pilar with a coastline marked by a succession of reefs, small points and white sandy beaches. There are similar neighboring islands and islets with similar landforms. The reefs and points are excellent for picking up any swell that comes along turning into clean, fast waves.

– surigaoislands.com

The pros of surfing from the Philippines and all over the world pick this spot for clean big waves building up from the pacific ocean!

• Baler

This place is not famous for a surf spot before until the movie “Apocalypse Now” (foreign film) was shot in this area.  The “soldiers” and the crew surfed on their break hours.  After the movie was done, they left their surfboards and surfing became “IN” or the Locals

• Badoc

This place is quite far and not many really go to trouble all the way to go up here when people can just stop and be satisfied by La Union waves.  It is situated at the higher tip of Luzon near Vigan I think.

• Samar

Samar’s waves are built up from the pacific too and they have a nice surf camp resort in this area.

• Zambales

2-hour drive from Manila and this is famous for advanced surfers as well.  They don’t have many surf instructors here though as compared to La Union.  This place is ideal if you want to plan a day trip surfing!

4.  Surfboard

You can definitely rent at surf resorts!  If you’re a beginner, you should ride a long board first!

5.  Surfing Outfit

For the ladies, you would need rash guards if you don’t want anything private become public! I bought mine for 800 at R.O.X. at Bonifacio High Street.  You can always surf on your bikini alone especially if the waves are just small and a little less violent.  If they waves are aggressive though, you would definitely need a safer outfit.

For men, rash guards are really not that required.  You can surf topless but it won’t protect you from any rash you might get from friction.

Happy Surfing!