How many of you have heard of Tangyad Beach?  Maybe even some people from neighboring towns of Cantilan in Surigao del Sur don’t know where it is. I’m one of the lucky ones to have thoroughly explored it once when I was in high school and to have been able to visit it again just a few days ago.

Cantilan, Surigao del Sur

Cantilan is a coastal town of Surigao del Sur in the big island of Mindanao as marked with a star. Sorry I couldn’t find a much detailed map of the Philippines. (Photo credit: Google images)

Cantilan is just a few minutes away on motorbike from Carrascal, my hometown.  Tangyad Beach is found in Cantilan’s barangay called Consuelo.  The beach has wonderful rock formations and is a sight to behold both at low and high tides.  At low tide, the water completely recedes and finding “beached” marine life like star fish is always such a delight. I just hope everyone will remember to look but not touch.  And if you can’t help to touch, at least put them back where they belong, alive.

To get there from Cebu City or Manila is to fly to Surigao City.  You can also take the boat from Cebu City to Surigao City.  From Surigao City, either take the bus called Bachelor Express direction Tandag City for Php 145.00 or an airconditioned van that goes straight to Cantilan for Php 160.00 per pax.  All buses and vans are found at Surigao City’s bus terminal right across the airport.

From Cantilan, it’s easy to get to Tangyad Beach on motorbike or motorized trisikad.  My husband and I went there on a motorbike while my brother, sister and bro-in-law hired a motorized trisikad for the whole afternoon trip for Php 400.

Marine life

Hermit crabs glaring at me for disrupting their peace. Sorry, sweetie, my husband just can’t keep his hands off you.

My class came here years ago for an excursion.  I think our teacher wanted us to list down the marine life we saw here.  It was a full day activity and I remember it was a lot of fun.  I remember seeing a lot of star fish and shell-fish but hermit crabs were the ones running the place.

This time the hermit crabs are still all over the place but the star fish are nowhere to be found.  Maybe because we didn’t explore it much because the water was still knee-deep and didn’t want our clothes to get wet.  Except for my sister, we all didn’t bring swimsuits. Silly, I know.

Here’s a series of photos of one crabby hermit:

I was told there are stonefish around so it is advisable to always wear flipflops when exploring the area.

Tangyad in photos

We were lucky it was a bright sunshiny day.  It rained nuts four days prior in Carrascal and Cantilan but the view that greeted us that day after Christmas totally made up for it.

December 26, 2013, around 2pm. The water is still knee-deep but it is receding.

There goes the explorer. His eyes bugged out when I relayed to him an hour later that there are stonefish in the area. He said he took off his flip-flops a couple of times and waded barefoot. Thank heavens he didn’t step on one or it would have been a big mess and I would be singing a different song about the whole experience.

These rock formations remind me a bit of Adršpašské skály in the Czech Republic. They said that millions of years ago that area was also surrounded with water.

The beach all to ourselves. It’s so quiet here you would forget the locals live less than a kilometer away.

I love quiet places, places away from the chaos and madness of city life. Personal space is almost impossible in the over-populated Philippines. But here, you can get all the space you want all to yourself and the best thing about it is that it comes with one of the best views nature has to offer.

Too beautiful for words.

To bring

If I would go back there again, these are the things I should bring with me:

1. Sunscreen and lots of drinking water.  The sun can be really scorching.
2. A blanket and a basket full of food.  There are “sari-sari” stores nearby but your choices would be very limited.
3. Snorkel and underwater camera if it isn’t low tide.
4. Swimsuit because the water is just too inviting.
5. Insect repellant.  Because I’m paranoid after the sandflies devoured me two years ago in El Nido.

To do

Enjoy the view, you don’t get to see it everyday, at least not us, poor mortals who live in a land-locked country.

Take lots of photos even if you had to be a paparazzo for the day.  The place is extremely photogenic.  Definitely no photoshop needed.

Climb and you shall be rewarded.

Explore even if you’re not dressed for it and you have to carry your iPad with you.

Lastly, goof around, have fun!  It’s for free and the memories you make will last forever.