Ma Mon

When the most serious of all lockdown rules was eased, we felt inspired to get out of GL and explore some of the islands surrounding Siargao. There are so many to options choose from, whether you’d like to island hop for just a couple of hours or a few days - so, how do you decide? 

The most popular trip offers a day tour of the three closest islands: Guyam, Naked and Daku. These incur some additional costs of environmental fees, docking fees etc. but this is a good way to hit three places in one go. Further afield, you can explore Socorro and the beautiful Sohoton Cove (still on our to-do list), Sugba Lagoon and its nearby islands, Corrigedor or Ma Mon. To head to Ma Mon, you must know someone who lives there who is your ‘ticket’ into the island; luckily for us, some of our landlord’s family live there so this wasn’t a problem.

On the morning of the trip, we headed to the local market in GL to buy 4 huge tuna fish, rice and 5kg of pre-prepared veggie mix for our evening boodle fight. We also picked up plenty of fruit, eggs and fresh bread rolls for the next morning’s breakfast. It’s customary to take a donation gift when you turn up to the island - it’s pretty far from civilisation and is a sand-based island, so they are unable to grow some essential items like rice and vegetables. Therefore we all clubbed in to donate a 50kg bag of rice to the families there, in exchange for them helping to cook our food on their fire!

Classically, although we had been assured that the tide wouldn’t make any difference from where the boat was docked, the low tide meant we had to sit with a couple of beers while we waited for the sea level to rise and set off on the adventure.

When we arrived, we cracked open some more SML and set up our tents and hammocks before the sun set. We also dug into the epic feast of tuna, veggies and rice, followed by a huge watermelon and plenty of Tanduay. The boys also created a fire from dry palm leaves, which we sat around for the whole evening and returned to, to warm up after a midnight skinny dip in the rain.

The next morning we woke up and enjoyed a huge pile of scrambled eggs, pan de sal, smashed avocado and fresh fruits, spending the whole afternoon chilling and only moving in between the beach and the sea. Some of the guys went for a walk up to Point 5, which is a steep hill which gives views over all the neighbouring islands. Our friends also swam to the closest island, which is a 5k round trip! It was also possible to take a boat there to the closest sari-sari store you’ll find, if we needed any more fresh fish, beer or vegetables. 

I would 100% recommend visiting this beautiful place, meeting the lovely souls who call Ma Mon their home and enjoying a whole night away from the hustle and bustle of GL.