This was my first trip to The Philippines. After making our way to Siargao Island, I found that it wasn’t quite what I was expecting or looking forward to. I was looking for relaxing, white sandy beaches with great swimming. We actually found just what we were looking for an hour and a half boat ride away from Siargao on Anajawan Island. Searching for beach areas, we found this place just by looking at Google Maps. The only place to stay on the island is fairly new so it didn’t have a lot of reviews yet, but the ones it did have were terrific.
Anajawan is a very small island that can only be reached by boat and the boat ride over was wonderful. The captain gave us noise canceling ear muffs to wear as the boat motor was pretty loud. I was amazed by the clearness of the water the entire way to the island. I have never been anywhere with such varying shades of turquoise water like this. The water is so clear that sometimes you can’t even tell it’s there. We spotted quite a few flying fish as we went along. It was a beautiful trip over and I found myself growing excited for this island adventure.
The island itself is pretty rustic, but amazingly beautiful, covered in coconut palms and ancient coral beds. There is a small village of about 500 people. All the men make their living by fishing, with the exception of two small kiosks that sell staples and the teachers in the small school. There are no cars or motorbikes, and no electricity. Everything is run on generators, for the people that can afford it, or with solar. Luckily, they have spring fed wells for fresh water. There was no Wi-Fi on the island, just a weak cellular signal on the far side of the island but we didn’t mind at all. Completely disengaging from our devices once in a while has become a priority for us!
The place we stayed was a small, family run, and family friendly resort, the Anajawan Island Beachfront Resort. Owned and built by a man from Australia, David Perry, and his Filipino wife, Joannie. It had three rooms and a really good restaurant. They were both great in the kitchen. They baked fresh bread, made tortillas, burgers with homemade buns, and great pizza. We had some amazing fresh, whole, grilled fish plus many other wonderful dishes. They really know their way around a kitchen out here.
The rooms were new, large, and with high ceilings they stayed cool during the day. No A/C, just an overhead fan to use at night, and it was actually all we needed. The cool breeze coming off the ocean kept our room pretty pleasant day and night. Our beachfront patio overlooked a green lawn with tall palm trees. Nice to look at and they helped keep the place cool. Our room came complete with a cute puppy. He was about 5 months old and would come to our room every day to lay on the cool tile floor. As soon as Dave and Joannies’ kids came in from school, he was out the door to play.
There was a great swimming beach right out front that we took advantage of every morning. Our first full day on the island, we set off walking down the beach and it was like we were on a deserted island. A beautiful deserted island all our own. The island was formed from an ancient dead coral reef and there are fossils literally everywhere. Talk about interesting, we were literally hiking on fossils of ancient plants and giant brain corals. I found it truly amazing. Being an avid beachcomber, this place was right up my alley. The sea shells were spectacular, but most of them were inhabited by hermit crabs, which are also fun to watch. I find combing the beach and just inspecting everything I find to be so fun and satisfying. The water was so spectacular, like a jewel with multiple shades of turquoise inside. That first day, we found a nice shady spot under some palm trees, spread our towels and just swam and napped in the shade for several hours.
The next day we decided to get an early start and hike all the way around the island. It took us about three and a half hours and that was with stopping to swim four times. It wasn’t sandy beach all the way around either. We had to do some rock hopping, and clamber over some boulders. We were about to walk through a very shallow, rocky area when Aaron felt something on his ankle. There was a very small grey octopus attached to his ankle, which was quite a surprise. After removing it, we started looking around and found that there were literally hundreds of these tiny Octopus in the water. From looking online, I believe these are actually called Wunderpus and these were juveniles, apparently found around The Philippines and other areas of SE Asia. Their heads usually hidden under a rock and their tentacles waving in the water. They were all either light grey or black. If you put your finger near one it would immediately latch on. I was completely enchanted. We had found “The Octopus’ Garden by the Sea” as The Beatles song goes. I love the Octopus. They are so intelligent and so interesting. I was lucky enough to swim right next to a five foot long, red one while snorkeling at Two Mile Reef off the coast of Mozambique a few years ago. We had to climb over a large shelf of boulders to get around this area because there was no way we could walk across here without squishing many of these tiny creatures.
We had four relaxing days of hanging out on the beach, eating good food, having sundowners in the evenings, and many interesting conversations with Dave and Joannie, along with a British – Filipino couple that were also staying there. We read, played cards, and just relaxed. Our time on the island was over way to soon, we wish we would have booked 7 or 8 nights there and fewer nights on Siargao Island.
If you’re in this part of The Philippines and interested in an affordable island getaway, you can find the Anajawan Island Beachfront Resort on Facebook. It is rustic while having everything that you need. We found it comfortable, affordable, and beautiful. We would both love to go there again!