Monica met Alma and Mike when they used to surf together in La Union. A few years ago, they decided to build their own surfing resort and spent some time just traveling the country looking for the undiscovered surf breaks. They eventually found a place in Pagudpud, on the north east corner of the Philippines. Monica has been wanting to take me there on the last few trips we’ve had in the Philippines but it’s only just now that we’ve managed to get the time to fly up there.

We both haven’t surfed for a while, as neither of us have an inclination for the hoods, 6mm wetsuits and ice-cream headaches that are part-and-parcel with surfing in the UK.  So surfing back in the tropics was a joy.  We thought we’d sit out our first day there and just sit on the beach watching the waves but within minutes we’d grabbed boards and were out enjoying it.  Nice fun waves.  Every day we were out until we got too hungry, too tired or it got too dark.  Usually the only other people were Mike and one or two of the staff that would surf during their work breaks.

One of the nicest, most relaxing holidays I’ve ever had. Thanks Mon, my awesome wife for making it happen.  And thanks Kapuluan Vista Resort for the awesome company, food and accommodation.

When we were too tired to surf anymore we took two side trips to see the local scenery. The first was a walk to visit some nearby waterfalls. The second was for fruit wine tasting at the nearby village of Adams. The journey to Adams was an adventure in itself; the tropical typhoon Mina that had ripped through Luzon just a few days earlier had also ripped up the only road to Adams. It was a matter of traversing motorbikes over landslides, rockfalls and along narrow wire bridges until reaching the small isolated village almost two hours later.