Lanuza Bay: A Hidden Surfer's Paradise

Debunking misconception, Lanuza Bay is not only the seawaters covering this municipality but also including those seawaters that stretched to the other five municipalities of Carrascal, Cantilan, Madrid, Carmen and Cortes.

Traveling from the province's capital of Tandag to the borders of Carrascal and Claver (the former being the last town of Surigao del Sur and the latter is the first town of Surigao del Norte), are the fascinating sites of the Lanuza Bay located against the mountainous backdrop of the majestic Diwata Mountain Ranges that separates the two provinces.

In these hinterlands of Carrascal, specifically in the highways of "Nobenta" chances are you will see illegal loggers who might be persons close to local officials or DENR personnel because they freely do their illegal tree-cutting activities freely. Or, they might have bought the whole mountain from somebody else.

Thanks God there are "driftwoods" (seemingly dying trees because they have no leaves) that strongly anchored on the rocky mountains. Although loggers are not attracted to these trees both environmentalists and artists have enough reasons as to why these trees exist.

But whether it serves someone's artistic or ecological purposes, the fact is that these "driftwoods" in the Dahican mountains strongly fastened together the soils and the rocks that prevent landslides.

While Carrascal offers scenic and beautiful mountains, the Cantilan Bay on the other hand, provides variety of nature's bounties.

The crystal waters of Cantilan and the absence of chemical pollution provided plenty of fish and beautiful reefs within its islands and islets. But all are threatened by Liba-liba, a destructive fishing activity that is currently mushrooming in the area.

Mount Iniyakan is another interesting place in the heart of Cantilan town. Here, you will be enthralled by its welcoming cave openings or cool dip at Lake Danaw. Setting your sight down, you will be amazed by the presence of white beaches and dotting islands and islets, another beauty that God added to Lanuza Bay.

Not far from Iniyakan's shore is the Ayoke Island with crystal white sand. Although, it's very far compared to the famous party island of Ibiza, Ayoke's natural endowments totally toppled that of Ibiza. The water is ideal for swimming and other water activities like diving and snorkeling.

The shore in the town of Madrid parallels the famous Maui beach. The rushing waves to the coconut-dotted shorelines produced good pipes which are ideal for surfing.

Madrid's Danao River adds up more attraction to the town. Just across is the historic remnants of the Daang Lungsod, a trading center harshly ravaged by a tsunami in 1952. With Daang Lungsod's remains, you can tell nature's gentleness and wrath in its extremities.

Traveling onwards leads you to the wetland park of the municipality of Lanuza at Barangay Bunga. Here you will see mangrove everglades which are important to the marine ecosystem.

Moving farther, you reach the Lanuza Park and Sanctuary where you will be entertained by fish cages, and more astonishingly are the nipa huts atop the cliffs overlooking the sanctuary.

While relaxing and taking pleasures of the waters and its gushing waves, the good smell of sea foods will attract you as they are being delectably prepared at the Sanctuary Cafe‚ nearby.

A few meters away from the sanctuary is the famed and alluring Magkawas Falls that attracts volumes of nature-trippers and cool-bathing enthusiasts daily. The cascading waters serve as temporal therapy to your sorrows and will size-up your joys.

The main attractions are the big piping waves of Lanuza that attract a lot of surfers both from the town and from outside provinces. The good waves draw away fishers but attract more surfers to the coast. Because of this, an annual surfing competition was held and was supported by the Department of Tourism (DOT) with no less than the former tourism secretary, Richard Gordon, himself present during the prestigious event. Today, foreign surfers started to storm the surfing grounds of Lanuza.

The town of Cortes has made a great promise to their future generation. Its local officials, who are environmentalist, themselves pushed for the preservation and protection of marine resources so that depletion will be avoided.

At present, they established nine fully protected fish sanctuaries courtesy of the cooperative efforts of local fisher folks who envisioned a good tomorrow. The Capandan sanctuary revealed the richness of the marine flora and fauna. These are but vital in the advancement of marine ecosystem. The thick sea grasses serve both as hatching area and feeding areas for different marine lives. Thus Cortes town got the title of a natural aquarium in Lanuza Bay.

There are a lot of things to speak about Lanuza Bay. The great number of people that depend on the resources of the bay picture man's needs for its resources. There are more that Lanuza Bay can offer. But the question is, how long can the fisher folks and the government sustain their best collaborative efforts in preserving the bounties at sea?