Encounter with the Monstrous Waves of Calicoan Island

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Before we really got to meet the big, but gentler waves of the Northshore, we went to a trip to Samar and met the monstrous waves of Calicoan.

It happened October of last year when we decided to go on an impulsive trip to Samar to celebrate the birthday of a my dear friend, Whacky. He was the one who introduced me to the idea of surfing and it being the "suyaon" as I was, I instantly took the bait and went to the trip with him. Originally, it was supposed to be Bbums trip but due to unforeseen event, not to mention the drama, only me, Niiru (Bulingit), Xtin, and Tborz (Whacky) got to pursue the trip. Also that was the last season for Habagat and moving towards to Amihan season, the perfect time to watch a surfing competition, The 8th Guiuan Odyssey Waves National Surfing Competition.

All aboard to the new 2GO ride!

Niiru and I

Tborz and Xtin

Day 1: Ormoc-Tacloban-Guiuan Episode

We were so excited then and we were blessed by the comforts of riding the new 2GO fast craft. It was like we were on an economy class airplane. Customer service was quite good and they're kinda organize. They also served food and drinks for those who wanted to eat something. But Tborz and Xton came prepared, and brought food with them. By the way, for this "surfing" trip, we'd like to thank Paul of Speedwalk for lending us two of his surfboards. We got to become posers and feel like pro surfers carrying the board bag. *grins*

Arriving at Ormoc, being the girl without a sense of direction, thought of ways on how to ride a surfboard, not knowing that we had to go on hours of riding a bus or vhire before we get to our destination. So I had a lot of time thinking it through since from Ormoc, we had to stop over to Tacloban then ride another vhire for Guiuan.

I got hungry with all the land trips and transfers and just slept most of the trip. But I still got to see the San Juanico bridge though, the longest bridge in the Philippines connecting Leyte to Samar across the San Juanico Strait.

Alas! We arrive in Guiuan. We decided to stay here for the night before going to Calicoan.

Marcelo's Place was affordable and cozy. Plus they had free wifi. It's the perfect place to rest and prepare for the surf the next day. Room was only 450 pesos per night, good for 4 people already.

The hallway to the balcony area

The hallway towards the rooms

The pavement to their restaurant

The restaurant with the ocean view

The good thing for this trip was that the people of Samar were very friendly and accommodating, unlike our experience in one of our beach bum trips. We even met a foreigner, who married a Filipina there. He told us that back in California, he was also into surfing. But now that he's old, his knees won't let him ride the waves already. He was kinda chatty and already finished a lot of beer, and still is not that drunk! He told us how proud he was of his wife. And also about his job and business and anything that he could think of telling us. But we had to cut his stories short so that we can rest and prepare ourselves for the waves tomorrow.

Day 2: Bring it On Calicoan!

It's time to go and meet the waves. But before that, a quick chow to fuel up some energy. Buy some food and supplies and we're off!

Look at those faces. Excited to see the gigantic waves while surfers from all over the country ride them. The competition brought all the best surfers of La Union, Baler, Siargao, and Guiuan itself had their own representatives as well as its neighbours, such as Tacloban and Borongan.

So here are the waves of Calicoan!

Shortboard division

Longboard division

And the Wahini (women's) Longboard division

While watching the competition...

Now, it's our time to take on the waves, the newbies tried to tame the waves but ended up just exploring ones "balancing" skills...

The waves were not that friendly to the newbies so we just bummed ourselves and played with the local kids who's favorite pass time is body boarding, preparing themselves to become future generations of surfers.