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NINETEEN We arrived in Surigao around 9pm and Lynn found us this really nice older guy with a multi-cab who took us to find a hotel. After two misses we found the Gateway Hotel. it was actually a pretty decent place and our room was 930php or about $17.50 a night. We had our dinner and then went to bed. Got up around 8am. I checked for emails on the internet the hotel provided and then we went off to town to look for the boat that would take us to Siargao. We found it and departure was 11:30am.
It is amazing just how much stuff and people you can load on to one of these boats. We found two seat in the lower section but it was too claustrophobic for me so I ended up sitting near the bow for most of the 2 hour trip. It was actually really nice with the fresh sea air blowing in my face. The Banca was doing about 16 kts which is pretty good speed for how loaded down she was.
We got to Dapa on Siargao around 2pm and then it was off to the town of General Luna where all the resorts are situated. We went directly to Patrick's Beach Resort which is owned by Andreas the guy I was going to possibly do a diving partnership with back in May before my health problems. Turns out I was fortunate not to have gotten into business with him as he is not liked around these parts by hardly anyone and has apparently ripped many people off in real estate transactions. Patricks was full so they referred us to their hotel neighbor next door. We got a rate of 1,000 pesos or $19.50 USD for an air con room located 25 feet from the beach. Turns out the owners of this resort are from Toril, Davao which is where Lynn is from so it was a good stay.We had dinner with them on Wednesday night.
Our first night here we were invited to a party at the Ocean 101 resort run by an Aussie named Mike and his wife. It is located about 3 miles up the road about 100 meters from the famous Philippines surfing area known as Cloud Nine. We got to the party around 7pm and there were around 20 people sitting in the outside dining area talking and drinking. It was really nice to meet people from Austrailia, Norway, great Britain and of course the good ol US of A. We left at around 10pm but heard it went on until 6am for some. While at the party we had a chance to look the place over and decided to come stay here on Thursday Wednesday March 15...As I mentioned previously, we came here to check the place out and see about buying some real estate. First a little about the Real Estate situation on the island. Siargao is good size island bordering the Pacific Ocean on its east side. The west side is mostly mangrove swamps and not habited. It lies Northest of Mindanao and Southeast of Leyte. I would say it is as nice a place as you would find in the Philippines. The island is very quiet and the people are friendly. All the good beaches run on the East side of the island but not in a continious line. In fact most of the beaches run in only small km segments. Dapa to General Luna, General Luna to The Ocean 101 Resort, and then Pillar to Burgos. Most if not all real estate focus is between Dapa and Ocean 101 Resort. Prices currently range between 250 and 1200 per sqm. The most expensive property becomes, the closer you are to Cloud Nine and it's surfing. There is one really fancy Resort called Pangsukian which is all inclusive and runs up to $200 USD a day per person. This resort is located between Dapa and General Luna. Nearby is the one of the Governors vacation houses. Close to General Luna are where most of the resorts are located as well as the more interesting real estate. Because of the surfing attraction, many foreigners are showing up and buying most all available beacfront lots. Unfortunately, like Dumaguete us foreigners are setting a poor example by paying asking prices and consequently prices have gone up quickly from about 250 pesos a sqm to about 500 pesos ($10 USD) per sqm now in the immediate vicinity of GL. The good news, is it will only go higher still. Between Dapa and Gl is what can only be described as a giant lagoon as it is proteced by a huge reef that runs the length of the Island from North to South with the very deep Pacific Ocean on the other side. The the water inside the reef is very calm and also clean and blue. The downside is, it is also for the most part dead. Dynamiting for fish harvesting has more or less eliminated most all the corals that were very abundant here only 20 years ago. Stories have it that back then you could catch fish with your hands. It is very sad but fortunatley, there is still an abundance of marine life on the outside reef. Even so it is still a wonderful and beautiful place. Frankly it is total joy with its tranquility. Sort of like Boracay before it became known. Any way, real estate wise we are focusing our attention between GL and the Ocean 101 resort. There is mostly white sand beach and then a mixture of white sand and rocks but, the water is nice and the view and sound of the waves breaking on the reef offshore is very soothing. We have tentatively found a 4600 sqm lot right on the beach for 600sqm. We are offerring 400 and might get it at 450 per sqm. It is about one km from cloud nine. It has road access and can easily be used for us privately or for a resort. The beach is nice but there are many dead and sharp rocks in the water directly in front of the proerty that will have to be excavated. This is no big deal and it will create a nice ocean pool for us as well as a channel for a banca we will eventually get. Most likely we will build a nipa house on the property for our personal and friends use and just sit on it and watch it appreciate in value.We are now just waiting for the offer to be accepted. Following are some photos of the property.BTW, all the rocks you see on the beach will be removed leaving only white soft sand.
2005
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