Surigao del norte

Tibbs, Daku Island Surigao Del Norte

Originally uploaded by In Between Dreams.

Harley Ingelby of Coff’s Harbour, Australia, proved that it’s worth coming to Mindanao despite the travel advisories foreign countries issued on the Philippines.

This after he tops the 4th Lanuza Surfing Festival-Longboard Invitational held Nov. 18-26, where he posted one of his biggest ever in an all Australian finals.

Ingelby, the current world professional no. 3 surfer, performed superbly in all events and maintained his excellent form into the final where he posted two excellent rides — a 9.17 and an 8.13, giving him an outstanding final tally of 18.10 out of a possible 20 to easily win today’s finals.

“What a way to finish such an incredible week in the Philippines! We’re all totally stoked on this place, the waves have been so fun, only small but it’s such an amazing river mouth set up that it peels perfectly and offers massive scoring potential” said Ingelby after his win.

“I’m honored to win the Lanuza International Longboard and I’ll be back next year for certain and I can tell you all of us will be back. We love the place and the people and the waves!,” he added.

Gold Coast surfer Jackson Close of Currumbin, Australia finished second, Sunshine Coast Queensland surfers Grant Thomas of Maroochydore, Australia, and current World Champion Josh Constable of Noosa, Australia finished 3rd and 4th respectively in a high scoring final that saw all four surfers post excellent scores.

Congressman “Butch” Pichay, chairman of The Philippine Surfing Federation, announced his intention to at least double the prize money for next year’s event following the outstanding success at this year’s event.

While the waves throughout this year’s event were small, the quality of this intriguing river mouth sandbank still dished up long clean peeling performance waves which were unanimously regarded as excellent small waves by all the world professionals.

The four-day surfing proper event has high expectations for the perfect waves in the beach break surfing site.

Ten internationally world rated surfers will challenge for the US$ 10,000 prize. According to PSF Chairman Congressman Pichay, “it is expected that this year’s event will draw an even larger number of future shredders as the best Filipino longboarders mostly coming from La Union (like Luke Landrigan, a Filipino-Australian who squeaked by to win the heart-stopping 2005 finals in Lanuza) will be there to compete with the top rated foreign surfers.”

Pichay further said that along with the longboard contest, is the 5th Leg of the Philippine Surfing Championship Tour featuring the Top 12 Filipino surfers who came from the various surf destinations in the country. He also announced that the championship tour finals will be held in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur from November 30 to December 3, this year. (PNA)

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http://www.mb.com.ph/TOUR2006072970353.html

Surigao’s best known secret

One of the best known secrets that the province of Surigao del Norte has to offer, aside from Siargao Island better known as the “Surfing Capital of the Philippines, is the enchanting Sohoton Caves.

The place was named “Sohoton’’ because of the very unusual way of getting into this majestic group of islets. One must pass under, “sohot’’ in Surigao dialect or “suot or lusot’’ in Tagalog, in order to witness a breathtaking view of unspoiled nature that is a sight to behold.

Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) general manager and chief executive officer Robert Dean S. Barbers went to Sohoton Caves to formally turnover PTA’s Visitor’s Center to the Municipality of Socorro as part of its mandate to devolve the function of promoting tourism to the local government units (LGU). As a sign of appreciation of the town of Socorro to Barbers, the local officials of Socorro passed an ordinance naming the place after his father, Sen. Robert Z. Barbers Visitor’s Center in honor of the late Statesman who is considered by fellow Surigaonons as one of the best national leaders that their province ever produced.

In order to get to his captivating tourist destination, one would take a one and a half hour drive from Surigao City up to the town of Claver which boarders the province of Surigao del Sur and takes a 45-minute boat ride going to the municipality of Socorro where one would find a cluster of magnificent coral isles known as Sohoton.

Sohoton Caves can only be accessed by a small pump-boat during low tide for a window of opportunity to get the passageway to the numerous fascinating caves, crystal clear waters and amazing preservation of its bio-diversity and marine life. However, one must not be consumed by all this enthralling sights and must be very wary of the time before the tide rises or else one would be trapped into these magical islands.

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