Exploring Surigao City: Mabua Pebble Beach

25 Aug 2011- Gloomy skies and and intermittent drizzles greeted me during my first few hours in Surigao City – the city of island adventures. Nat, a friend I met during the bloggers’ meet-up in Davao, texted me soon after touchdown and asked if my flight was delayed because of the weather. Fortunately it took off on time as planned, I told her. I was fetched at the airport by a friend, A, who was “commissioned” to be my acting tour guide. (I’m sorry for the task A but it was also a great experience for you because you realized you were a tourist in your own city. )

From the fundamentals of geology (which I took at uni way back when), I learned that beaches are formed through sediment transport influenced by wind, waves, and currents. The Mabua Pebble (or cobble, only that I wasn’t able to verify if the particle sizes are within the range 64–256 mm) beach, having composed of sediments with large grain size, may have been formed by wave action of very strong forward swash (forcing pebble material to be driven onshore) and a weaker return swash or backswash (causing material to be deposited). Choz! Chika lang. (I work with geologists and they will have me stoned to death if I get this wrong, quite literally.)

The beach could have looked better in the photographs if the sun wasn’t acting up. But the winds and and the raging waves of the sea all together provided the atmosphere I deemed appropriate for the soliloquy I was staging at the top of the stone hill. The view was magnificent and with every crashing wave came the refreshing splash of water onto my face, enlivening me with a newfound appreciation for the aggressive sea.

Travel Notes: Mabua Pebble Beach can be reached via a 30-minute drive from the city center. Get off at the Mt. Bagarabon Mountain Resort and make your way past their Hajahay Suites towards the pebble shore.