CLOUD 9 - Phillippines

[richardl]

Looking at doing a trip in August.
Any one got any info on waves / set up / trip?

[andycumo]

yep.. its a fuken trek

[Freshie Boy]

hit up the surf charter websites, they usually have a load of info for ya, hope uve got a bit of the green tho to get there.

[brendo]

been twice in the 90s. it can be fickle. first trip no bigger than 3ft for 2 weeks. 2nd no smaller than 3 and up to 10+. i went 2yrs apart and the place had changed dramatically then. the crowds were bad, and the local government was promoting surfing heavily., including a surf comp. the place is a mission to get to, but its a beautiful place with friendly locals. but that was 9yrs ago. times change....

cloud9 is an awsome wave. compared to backdoor. its managable for most level of surfers up to 4ft or so. but when its thick and headhigh plus, you wanna be confident in your ability and equipment. its a pure barrel, you may get a reo in every now and then. i kept a diary and on the best day of both trips, it was flawless 4-6, i got around 25 waves and was slotted on 95% of them. i still remember it now, and made the lug in worth it!

there are other breaks around, and theres boats to get you there. we found a little bit of exploring helped get away from the crowds.
try the point around the corner, its a bit like ulus. surf high tide only.
also rock island. we surfed it ok, at 3ft, reminded me of the pass at byron. a good fun wave.

cloud9 is responsible for the walloping of my lifetime, 8ft, driven and bounced on the bottom for the entire wave, stood up in shallows with ribs fucked up,blood everywhere, and a week outa the water. but its well worth the trip! try to find out what its like now, it could be some kinda indo circus.

stay at davos camp in front of resort, im guessing he still owns it. its cheap and looks straight over the break. good luck

[Beanpole]

Always wanted to go there. How is it with J.I?
There's a lot of very anti western extremists in the southern philipines and nth indo.

I remember even on Lombok years ago on my honeymoon you could sense the vibe. Had a rifle pointed at us for climbing a headland to check the coast out.

[brendo]

first time i went we had one guy with machine gun and one with 12 guage shotty, patrolling the camp at night in case we were raided by pirates. apparently at the time, they were raiding resorts at night. when i went back though, that seemed to have settled down. these days its pretty heavy from what i gather, but that is more on mindano. it truly is an awsome place, with good waves, almost as good as that left i surfed somewhere in the pacific last year with one other guy........but thats another story......

[borneng]

When is the best season to go there? Thanks for any input in advance.

[brendo]

now! go now! prime months july - oct. you will so many perfect barrells, you will want to do reos for a month when you get home, cause youll be sick of em..lol