Heaven on Earth

Experience paradise living in Siargao

By Teodoro Y. Montelibano
Photos by Harvey Tapan

Two lines from French symbolist poet Charles Pierre Baudelaire’s 19th century poem Les Fleurs du Mal come to mind when one thinks of the paradise island of Siargao in Northern Surigao, site of Frenchman Nicolas Rambeau’s exquisite resort, Pansukian.

The first goes: La’ toute n’est qu’orde et beaute’, luxe, calme et volupte - “Then, there is nothing else but grace and measure, richness, quietness, and pleasure.” Then, this: Les soleil couchants… - “The sun at close of day… .”

As he waxed poetic, Baudelaire might as well have been celebrating the passionate beauty of Siargao, where Rambeau has chosen to build his veritable heaven on earth. For that, in approximate measure, this place has grace, serenity, and pleasure, amidst the island paradise’s richness in nature. And whether you are at the end of day atop the observation tower put up along the shore in Cloud 9 in Catangnan, General Luna town watching the huge, majestic waves coming in from the Pacific Ocean to break onshore or in Pansukian, sipping fine wine in the resort’s lounge pagoda gazing at infinity beyond the soft waves caressing the beach in the resort, the sensation that grips you is the same: you are speechless as there are simply no words to capture the moment when the sun sets in this particularspot on earth, bathing the island in a fiery golden hue.

Rambeau was inspired enough by the lure of Siargao to leave a successful law practice and a
thriving law firm in Paris and come to a remote island in the Philippines to build not only a resort but a home.

The Discovery

He first saw Siargao in 1989 when he was 27 while on a trip through Asia. When he did, Rambeau was only the third of three foreigners to set foot on the island. Siargao, located on the country’s eastern shoreline, faces both the Pacific Ocean and the Philippine Deep.

With his Gallic eye for beauty, Rambeau saw more than just lush
foliage and the bluest of blue seawater in this part of the world. He saw an abode that would shelter his restive heart. Smitten, he went back to Paris where he eventually wrapped up his affairs, selling his shares to his partners in the law firm, and coming back to Siargao in 1994 to begin building Pansukian. What one finds particularly exceptional is that someone so highly educated, a precocious achiever from a sophisticated foreign culture, and without any training whatsoever in architecture, would come to this remote island to organize a work crew comprised of locals whose language he did not speak or understand. Disparities in speech and culture aside, the Frenchman worked side by side with local craftsmen to build one of the most alluring resorts in this part of the world today.

In recent years, Pansukian has been acknowledged by no less than Architectural Digest and the upscale travel magazine, Conde Nast’s Traveller, featuring in its pages Rambeau’s creation, and dubbing the resort one of the best in Asia.

Of Comforts and Luxuries

Each of Pansukian’s ten guest cottages is put together in concrete, darkwood, treated bamboo, and other natural materials in something which can only be described as an amalgam of the best in Asian design. The cottages are equipped with everything anyone used to the best of creature comforts would want - all the meticulous attention that only a well-born Frenchman like Rambeau could render details in terms of maintenance, service, and the pampering of patrons. One can find almost everything in fact – that is –except for television and telephones.
Indeed, the kind of people who find their way to Pansukian are mostly world-weary, well-traveled individuals who come to the resort wanting nothing more than to kick off shoes and walk barefoot through the soft, silky white sands of Siargao, loll on soft cushions to ease tired bodies, or ride off in one of Rambeau’s two custom-built speedboats to any of a number of postcard pretty islands nearby, and bathe in the clearest of clear aquamarine waters.

Certain visitors have reported sightings of whale sharks in these waters.
My particular favorites include the twin islands - Mamon and La Janoza facing each other and nearby, Anticon and Anjauan where I have swam in waters colored blue like you’ve never seen blue before.

Also fascinating is Bucas Grande, an immense labyrinth of a lagoon about an hour by speedboat from the resort, and which can only be accessed by kayak through Sohoton Cave. Here, one may find limestone rocks covered with foliage that spring from shimmering clear bluegreen waters, as well as stingless jellyfish similar to those that can be found in Palau Islands in Micronesia.

Still another favorite is Dacu Island, half an hour across Pansukian where one encounters more of the same fine white sand and aquamarine seawater, corals, and Ed Calma’s stunning architectural landmark of a beachhouse built for a couple who come to Siargao for some much-needed rest as well as deepsea fishing.

This is what another group of enthusiasts fly all the way from various parts of the world to Siargao for: first-class deepsea fishing. In these waters can be found wahoo (tangigue), jacks and barracuda all year round; and then from March to June, one may also find sailfish, black and blue marlin, yellow-fin tuna, and if you’re lucky, swordfish.

Rambeau’s resort offers provisions for this kind of activity as well as seacraft for scuba diving and/or surfing. Scuba-diving lessons, both open water and advanced courses, are offered in Pansukian, and the resort’s dive shop has brand new, top-of-the-line equipment for the sport.

Arrangements can also be made for an overnight expedition to DinagatIsland, three hours away from Pansukian by Rambeau’s 28-knot 42-footer boat. Dinagat – with its limestone rock formations and coves with beaches that are either blindingly white sand or with sand that is fine but almost iron-like firm in texture – is a place the Frenchman rhapsodizes about as “almost not-of-this-world.”

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