Buddha's Surf Resort, Siargao: Surf's Up, Feet Up

Our twin-engine turboprop bird unsteadily circled above the island for about twenty minutes. The air was tense inside the cabin. Not so much because we were terrified of a rough touchdown, but because we were worried about not touching down at all. That the near-zero visibility will force the pilots to abort landing.

The captain came on as I tugged my daughter Luna's seat belt tighter. I caught "Try... South quadrant... Approach...". In case you missed it — "Try"!

I tugged my seat belt tighter.

Buddha's Surf Resort, nestled amidst towering coconut trees.

A few more minutes passed, then finally, the sound of screeching tires. Not the kind of landing I was bracing myself for. Twas relatively smooth. Eerily calm under the glum weather.

I heaved a sigh of relief.

A thirst-quenching island welcome.  

The hubby, my daughter and I hopped off the plane and huddled to share a brolly we grabbed from the ground staff at the foot of the stairs. We joined our travel buddies Melo of Out Of Town Blog, Ron of Flip Travels, and Lai of Pinay Travelista at Sayak Airport's teensy arrivals hall. Soon as we got our backpacks, we headed to the airport's parking lot and were ushered by a driver to his van where three foreigners from our flight were already waiting.

Ze icon.   A van ride from Siargao's Sayak airport to General Luna costs P300 per person (one way) and can easily be arranged upon arrival (if heading straight to another town, hire a habal-habal). Trip lasts forty minutes, and passengers are dropped off at the doorstep of their respective hotels. Our accommodation was booked beforehand so we simply uttered Buddha's Surf Resort to the driver before conking out.

Wall art at Buddha's Surf Resort's restaurant.  

Buddha's Surf Resort lies between the municipality of General Luna and the famous surfing spot Cloud 9 (where the annual Siargao International Surfing Cup is held). A convenient location for both surfers and non-surfers. The staff promptly assisted us in unloading our luggage when we arrived and led us to the reception-slash-restaurant. Our stay was a sponsored one and the manager, Chris (with a crown of gorgeous curly locks similar to that of the hubby's before middle age deprived him of hair), gave us a quick intro of the resort as we sipped our welcome drinks.

  Rooms are housed in a building separate from the restaurant and communal lounge area.
Resort Amenities:

All rooms have air conditioning and hot water
Daily housekeeping
En-suite bathroom for each room
Free Wi-Fi throughout the resort
From January 2014 all direct bookings include breakfast

Oh that humongous key chain. You certainly can't lose something like that.  

Accommodation

 

Although the property's quite vast, the resort is currently offering only five rooms. Which guarantees guests seclusion. My family was given the superior room while the others were assigned in the family room.

The superior room on the second level was every bit ideal for our family of three. Its floor space is insanely immense. The bed, although too high for our toddler to climb on, is colossal as well and had pristine sheets when we checked in (I still dream of its softness 'til this very day). There's a flat screen telly and a hard drive that contains heaps of movies. A desk that made us digital nomads cheer, and a private balcony where we whiled away the rainy afternoons. And oh, there's a Loudbasstard amplifier in the room which we weren't able to use but raved about anyway. Its rate as of writing is P2,650 per night (about UD$60), brekkie included.

The superior room's private balcony.
One of the three beds in the spacious family room.  

The family room on the ground level has two adjoining rooms with two aircon units. It also has a flat screen telly, a desk, and a balcony with deck chairs. Current price is P3,000 (US $67) + P100 (US $2.20) per head, includes brekkie.

Standard room is at P2,200 (US $50) per night. And guests could choose either queen or twin bed.

Buddha's Surf Resort's restaurant.  

The Food. Oooh man, the food!

The restaurant's menu has a pretty wide range of food and beverages. For starters, the brekkie choices included in the room rates are tops. The Big Buddha Breakfast is enough to last me 'til mid-arvo, and the banana pancakes (the fluffy kind, not the Thai kind) are simply amazeballs. Loved their bowl of muesli too.

Big Buddha Breakfast for the big appetite.   Their mains are also smashin'! My faves are the chicken in red curry (recommended by the staff, and not as spicy as it may seem), chicken adobo, and carbonara (super duper creamy). 

The resort takes pride of their Thai-themed menu. Am not a big fan of their pad thai but I fell for their chicken mango cashew salad (cause of unavailability, they added pineapple instead of mango, which surprisingly came out well).

Upon request and with proper lead time, the kitchen can whip up a feast for a party.

On Thursdays, local artists perform at the communal lounge area. It's open to the public and you could request for your food to be served  there.

Activities

Buddha's Surf Resort is totes equipped for surfing lessons. Surfboards, motorbikes to transport guests and their boards, and pro instructors — like Marlo who *ahem* recently rubbed elbows/boards (lol) with a rockstar. In the water.

Cause Marlo's cool like that. Photo from Buddha's Surf Resort's Facebook fan page.
Slacklining. Where I applied most of my morning energy on. This local showed me how it's done backwards.  

If you're a non-surfer, there are other activities that the resort can host/arrange for you. From kite surfing to diving to fishing to kayaking to stand up paddle surfing. They also organize island hopping trips. 

Won't be surprised if you'd rather 'waste time' at your balcony, sitting on a deck chair with your feet up, staring at nothing in particular. Like we did.

So will we actually spend our dibs for a resort like this? Definitely! In fact we extended our stay at our own expense — okay wait, we only intended to because the resort owner didn't let us pay for the last night as well. But yah know, the thought's there.

Buddha’s Surf Resort 
Catangnan, General Luna
Siargao Island, Surigao Del Norte
Philippines
Email: buddha@siargaosurf.com
Mobile number:  +63 (0)9199 456789 (SMS only)  +63 (0)9282 079631 (all calls)


ShareTweet

This page was viewed times.