Cemetery
Surf guide
Five hundred metres of reef, around five left peaks and a right across the channel for the goofy-footers, Cemetery (or Pesangan) has room to spread a crowd and enough variety to find your own wave. It holds its shape when it's big, throwing serious walls of water onto the reef, and lights up clean and racy when the wind plays ball. It's all about that wind: this is an exposed break, so a light or offshore breeze can mean the session of the trip, while anything onshore turns it into an unreadable mess. Small days are forgiving and fun for beginners and longboarders (shortboarders can struggle for speed on the fat bits); overhead-plus days flip the script and even the paddle-out gets gnarly. Take the boat, it backs the local boatmen and keeps you off the urchins. Longboard or fish when it's small, shortboard or step-up as it grows. Hazards to watch: strong currents push inside on bigger swells and full-moon tides, especially over at Cemetery Right. Sea urchins and coral cuts are the reason locals push the boat over the walk or paddle. It blows out fast in the wrong wind, and the paddle-out is a workout on the big days. Where it fits: the bridge between the learner spots and the proper reefs. Comfortable here and Salvacion and Stimpy's are the logical next steps. Cemetery also absorbs a crowd better than anywhere else near town thanks to the spread of peaks, which makes it the sensible fallback when Jacking Horse and Daku are packed. Etiquette: spread out across the peaks rather than stacking on one, do not drop in, and give the local crew their waves. Take the boat rather than walking over the urchins, note your boat's colour so you can find it coming in, and leave valuables at home.
Ideal conditions
Swell direction
4-10 ft Northeast swells.
Wind direction
Southwest or no wind.
Tide
Cemetery can be surfed at any tide but the waves are best around low tide.
Wave difficulty
Intermediate
Suitable for beginners in summer months, and best suited to intermediate and advanced surfers over 5ft.
Wave quality
Good
Cemetery can be epic on its day, but a lot of variables significantly influence wave quality
Crowd factor
Moderate
A lot of surfers flock to Cemetery in the summer months. To avoid the crowds, consider surfing early in the morning, around lunchtime, or at high tide.
How to get there
Take the dirt path next to Derecho, directly across from Siargao Corner Cafe on Tourism Road, and follow it to the General Luna Cemetery, where you'll find parked bikes and local boatmen. From there it's a 5-minute boat ride, 200 PHP per person round trip, or 100 PHP one way. You can also paddle out and back for nothing, which is straightforward around low tide and makes this one of the cheapest sessions on the island. You can leave belongings on the boat, but not valuables, since boatmen make multiple trips, note your boat's colour and name to find it on the way in. Alternatively you can walk to the break around an hour either side of low tide, or paddle anytime if you're up for it, but the boat is recommended to support locals and dodge the urchins and coral. The launch is right on Tourism Road, so Siargao Corner Cafe is at the trailhead and the town's full spread of food, stays and rentals is close by.
Surf forecast & live wind
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