Calicoan Island

Calicoan is a long, narrow island joined to Guiuan at the southern tip of Eastern Samar by a causeway, with the Pacific on one side and the calmer Leyte Gulf water on the other. The Pacific shore is why people come: a series of reef breaks, ABCD being the best known, that pick up swell from open ocean and work through the second half of the year, with a small surf scene, a handful of camps and none of the crowd that Siargao now carries. Away from the surf there are boulder beaches, rock pools filled at high tide, sinkholes in the limestone, mangrove areas and long stretches of empty sand. Guiuan itself has one of the oldest churches in the region and a wartime history as a huge American naval base. The whole area took the first landfall of Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, and reconstruction shaped much of what stands now.

What you actually see

• The reef breaks - ABCD and the Pacific-side surf.
• The boulder shore - rock pools filling with the tide.
• The empty beaches - long unbuilt stretches of sand.
• The mangrove side - calmer water on the gulf shore.

When to go

September to November for the main swell; March to June for calm swimming and clear water. Typhoon season overlaps the surf season on this exposed coast.

Honest expectations

Waves break over shallow reef and are not beginner terrain when working. Accommodation is limited and simple, ATMs are in Guiuan only, and the road from Tacloban is long.

Nearby

Guiuan's old church and the Homonhon and Suluan islands lie at the tip of Samar; Marabut is back up the coast.