Cemetery
Direction: Mainly left: The main surfing area of Cemetary is a 500m stretch of reef with about 5 different left-handed peaks to choose from. However, there’s also ‘Cemetary right’ which is a right-handed wave that you get to by paddling out to the right where the boats drop you off.
Level: Mainly Intermediate but can be beginner to advanced depending on season & swell.
Best wind: South West
Best swell size: 4 - 12 ft
Best swell direction: North East
Best tide: Low. Cemetery can be surfed at any tide but is best around low tide. However to avoid crowds you can go at high tide but the waves will be a bit smaller & fatter.
Best for: The intermediate surfer looking to nail some big but manageable waves. Surfers of all levels during summer when most other spots are flat.
Crowd factor: Medium. Cemetary is a very popular spot and a lot of people go there when it’s working but because it’s actually about 5 or 6 peaks on a long stretch of reef everybody gets spaced out and you can usually find somewhere to sit in the line up without too many people around. In fact, it’s probably wrong that we call this whole area Cemetary when in fact it’s about half a dozen distinct surf spots.
How to get there: Take a boat from the boat station on Tourism Road. It’s just across from Siargao Corner Cafe. So Google that location and then follow the dirt road across from the cafe to the beach and you’ll see all the motorbikes parked and boats going to the break. It’s only a short boat ride and costs 150php per person for the round trip. Because many people are coming & going from Cemetary at all times you can immediately hop on the next boat going out there.
Fun! Back in the day there were no boats going to Cemetary so the only way to get there was to walk at low tide & many of the locals still prefer to walk to Cemetary. So if you wanna feel the old Siargao vibes then walk out to Cemetary from the beach around an hour before low tide and surf for a couple hours and then walk back. It’s actually a nice way to get to the surf.
Kind of wave: Cemetery never seems to be the same wave twice and you never know what you’re gonna get. That’s part of the fun! Update: I’ve now been surfing Cemetary for 10 years and I still think this is true!
In big and off-shore conditions cemetery can grow into huge mountains of waves rolling in slowly from a great way off. Very hard to catch but if you're in the right spot and paddle hard you'll get an easy take-off into one of the biggest waves of your life. If there's big waves but the winds not quite right then it can be choppy, bumpy, sloppy, and huge.. however, there's still plenty of chances to catch a monster wave during these times! When it's smaller it can be glassy, breaking perfectly at shoulder high and an absolute joy to surf... or It can also be sloppy and hard to read with hard, fast drops into waves that flatten out as soon as you stand up. Sometime's there's a strong current, sometimes there's not. Sometimes it barrels, sometimes it doesn't. There are sometimes right-handed waves to take but not always... usually it's a left. Because cemetery is a long-reef there are several breaks that make-up what's known as 'cemetery' and surfing each different peak will give you a totally different experience. But in my mind, the perfect Cemetary is a foot or two overhead with off-shore winds creating super long left waves that are easy to catch, get up, and ride on.
This is the joy of cemetery. You just never know what kind of waves you'll find until you get there.
Speical note: Cemetary right!! This is actually a recently discovered / surfed wave and most people still consider Cemetary to be only a left-handed wave. When the boats drop you off paddle out to the right instead of left and you’ll find Cemetary right. This is actually a super fun and easy right handed wave to surf. 95% of people going to Cemetary are just surfing the left but for regular-footed guys try Cemetary right and you’ll probably love it!
Surf season: Spring thru fall. Cemetery is very affected by even small winds because it's an exposed surf spot with no protection from the wind. Anything but off-shore winds will produce sloppy, hard to surf or even dangerous waves. For these reasons cemetery is not surfed at all during the winter. During summer it’s quite small but is still one of the few places you can surf. From June to September it can be knee to shoulder high depending on the swell so it’s great for beginners or anyone looking for a spot that’s working. However, in the summer I suggest bringing a bigger board, it’s painful watching these guys on tiny shortboards trying to catch waves haha. In the Fall, which is our peak season, and in the Spring, Cemetery is an amazing spot to surf in! Even when it gets big it’s still got a fatter, slower take-off and easy to surf wave. This is why Cemetery is one of the more popular spots, enjoy!
