I was super sceptical before my last kitespot. You usually only find so many good reports on the web if someone pays a lot for promotion. But kitesuf-mindoro.com on Bislig Beach near Bulalacao really is an absolute kitesurfing paradise. I immediately decide to stay here for my last week.
The accommodation in five-metre-diameter safari tents or bungalows on the beach is a dream under palm trees rustling in the wind. The turquoise 300 metre wide bay at Bislig Beach points exactly towards Amihan and is just big enough for 20 kiters. As the small resort is already geared towards soft tourism and sustainability, as well as the involvement of the local Magayan tribe, it is still not crowded here.
The welcome is warm and the 15 guests are once again all soul surfers who have come together in exactly the right place. Situated behind the steep hills to the village of Bulalacao, 15 kilometres away, you are probably at the most beautiful end of the world. Sparrows and swallows steal food. The pig “Cabrinha” disposes of leftover food and can probably live a long life thanks to the Facebook petition against Christmas roasts. The domestic goats run bleating across the meadow.
On the reef 200 metres from the beach, flying fish race you through the waves. After six weeks in the Phlippines, the best thing for me is that there are no squadrons of roosters crowing from three o’clock in the morning. The three domestic dogs are probably the quietest of all 7,000 Philippine islands. At low tide, they hunt fish in the shallows. Crickets chirp. Birds chirping. The sound of waves. Wind. Falling asleep after 33 hours on the road.
On the very first day, the Amihan returns after an almost windless February with the exception of five days. The 13er Edge is well blown and the kite spot at Bislig Beach, flanked by green jungle hills on both sides, is an absolute dream. Because of the steep hills directly behind the resort, you would expect a murderous windward jam. But that’s not the case. I heat up the kite in a fairly laminar wind directly over the small mangrove grove on the beach.
When the tide is low, you can’t get out for about four hours around low tide, then a few rocks peek out of the bay. Neoprene shoes are advisable. There are a few small stones near the beach and sea urchins on the reef. You can do without a boat at high tide. You should generally only go over the reef for about six hours at high tide.
As is so often the case in the Philippines, the tides here are also quite peculiar. The high and low tides fluctuate considerably in height and time. During my stay, the bay was mostly kiteable for a whole week thanks to enough water.
At every tide level, small, usable kickers build up in the bay, always in different places to the left. The waves breaking on the reef with an undefined direction are not very usable – but they have a pleasant distance. Directly behind the reef, beautiful swells of up to one and a half metres await you.
Seven years ago, on what was probably my first kitesurfing adventure in the bay of Bulalacao with my kiter friend Max, I noticed that the wind seems to blow a bit stronger here than in the oh-so-overrated and overcrowded Boracay. It also seems to blow a bit stronger at Bislig Beach than on Boracay and can be a bit stubborn – but no comparison to the hammer gusts directly behind the jetty in Bulalacao Bay.
The sandy beach is quite narrow for launching at high tide. Directly in front of the resort are 20 metre high palm trees, a mangrove grove to the right and bushes with plenty of thorns to the left. Some kitesurfers have successfully coupled their equipment with the local vegetation. As Bislig Beach is orientated almost exactly towards the wind, there are certainly better places to learn. However, thanks to the mostly good ground and plenty of standing room, the training works quite well. The staff collect a huge amount of wind-blown plastic waste almost every day, sometimes more than once. Here we can see what we are messing up at home.
On the first downwinder to the island of Maasin, seven kilometres to the south, I lose my board twice in one and a half metres of swell. We land on a beach that I had already considered to be a pretty tough kitesurfing spot with my kiter friend Max in 2013. Heavy waves break over large round stones. The landing goes well – apart from the fact that the outer strut of my Edge bursts for the second time on this trip without any contact. Fortunately, two days later the local sailmaker from PKA is travelling through and repairs it very well on site. That saves me a day and a half travelling to Boracay. I have travelled enough.
On the second afternoon, I take the Banka over to the paradisiacal fishing island of Suguicay, two and a half kilometres to windward. The second downwinder with four other kiters back to Bislig Beach goes smoothly through a metre of swell, after I’d already been served up plenty of yodel jumps the whole day before with the 10er in a nice 20 to 25 knots. Everyone falls happily and very early into bed.
The next few days were also spent either downwind on remote beaches or a whole day banka on distant islands, all at affordable prices. On just two of my seven days at Bislig Beach, the wind was too weak to kite. It never got boring at the most beautiful end of the world.
On the very last half day of the odyssey, I first kite on the 13er Edge in 17 knots. This time, through no fault of my own, the right outer strut bursts in the air. Fifth damage of this trip – and from now on clearly a design fault on the part of Ozone.
I give up the Edge as a total loss and set up the 10 XR. This gives me the last happy jumps in beautiful 22 knots until my departure in the early afternoon. Bislig Beach brings my Philippine kite quota to 21 out of 48 days, ten of which I was travelling full-time. It was a golden time.
The room rates at Kitesurf Mindoro include very good and extensive full board. All guests eat together at a large table. Dinner is a three-course gourmet menu of colourful locally sourced dishes with an international twist every day. Prices for drinks and everything else are perfectly acceptable. No-one will lose weight here, despite the rather sporadic unhealthy nights.
Here you are far away from everything and in the middle of the best wind in the Philippines. I forget about Boracay, which is still impossible even after the renovation, and move spots that are too difficult to reach to the bottom of my top list. Bislig Beach is my number one among the 30 kitespots I’ve visited in the Philippines within two trips and five months. You’ll have pee in your eyes when you leave.
Thanks for everything!
Bislig Beach Pro
- Lots of wind! While the Kite Championship on Boracay, just 60 kilometres away as the crow flies, had only minimal wind, we jumped on downwinders through a nice 22 knots
- secluded, quiet and still a great atmosphere
- great varied spot with flat water, kickers and reef
- 8 different kiteable islands / downwind spots in the neighbourhood
- great food
- great accommodation
- very helpful staff and a good boss
Bislig Beach Contra
- Launch area a bit narrow, lots of plastic flotsam
- Wind mostly fully onshore (max. 25° sideon)
- Internet via Smart has been running since this year, but on some days there is virtually nothing at all
- 15 km to the next village Bulalacao. Motorbikes can be hired at the camp for 300 pesos
- a 10-hour bus journey from Manila is nothing by Philippine standards – but still far too much for many people. Flights to San Jose, 1.5 hours away, are not available every day.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.