Siargao Sunrises, Sunsets and In-Betweens

I feel like this place can’t be real – but yet it is. The colors here are incredible, the beaches are practically empty, the water is perfectly warm, and the food is pretty good. I just don’t know how it gets better than this! I definitely started this trip off on the right foot.

And before you get tired of all the sunrise and sunset pictures – just know I culled these down by a large number. There are LOTS more pictures just as incredible. Though to note – some of these are grainy just because I made them smaller for uploading (seriously the Internet here is like living in 2002)… sigh… but when I get to terrestrial Internet then I will likely update some pictures with better quality.

The sunrises here are just as breathtaking as everything else on this island – the one bad thing is that they start right around 5am. So I’ve been getting up early and wandering out to the beach to watch the sun come up. It’s the most peaceful and relaxing thing ever.

On Friday morning and Saturday for sunset, I went down to Cloud 9, which is the main surfing area here. Saturday evening, there was a small rainbow that was just perfect – you can kind of see it in the picture below.

As I was watching everything going on at Cloud 9, I saw this girl learning to surf – we’re going to pretend this is a picture of me, because I’m 99% sure this is exactly what I looked like during my surf lesson!

And then a few more of just playing around on the beaches near the surf break. Like everything here, they were practically empty!

On Saturday, I decided to spend most of the day hanging around the main town – General Luna, and reading my book in the lagoon near where I was staying. As I walked to General Luna, I can upon a group of kids who immediately saw me and said “HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI” as Filipino kids seem to do whenever someone passes. So I stopped and said hi, and they told me how pretty I was… that’s another topic for another day, but it’s very different from the States (and incredibly awkward for me… how do you respond to that?). Everywhere I walk it’s all “You so pretty” and “OY Guapita!” (Guapita means pretty apparently). And then there are the marriage proposals. So the Philippines has definitely solved one life problem – if I ever decide I really need a husband, there seem to be many willing men on Siargao. (Mom, that’s a joke. Promise. 🙂 )

Anyway, back to the kids on the beach – as they were walking out of the water to come talk with me, I saw one wearing a Kevin Durant OKC Thunder jersey. I was shocked to see it this far away, but took a picture as proof. I then wondered if maybe it got sent here for sale when he left? Not sure how it made it over here, but it was a sight to see!

The lagoon on the beach where I was staying was gorgeous, and when the tide was in, the lagoon had about half a meter of water. So it was perfect to sit in and read my book! And like everywhere else… I was either the only one in the lagoon at all, or there were maybe 2-3 other people along the entire beach.

And then we come back to some sunsets – I really just can’t get over the sunset here. I love having the time, and taking the time, to just sit and watch it go every evening. It’s so serene!