"Back to basics......SURIGAO" Province of Surigao del Sur by maple_air

Mawmawan Islet....only one of the few uninhabited island dotting the mighty sea of Surigao. This one is a few minutes away from the tiny fishing village of Hinatuan.

One full-moon lit night in September, a group of us decided to spend the night here. With no electricity to rely on for light or for cooking, we were like little girl/boy scouts, we used dried wood,leaves and coconut husk to cook our food ( grilled fish and squid!!) We slept under the star-filled skies, bathed by the only light we had that night, moonlight.

It was a strange but good feeling to be there...in this small islet. No TV, no radio, no internet, no phone (landline, i mean) ,as surprisingly, there was full signal on our mobile/cellphones, despite being in the middle of the sea.

Early hours of the morning, when it was low tide, it was weird waking up and seeing different rock formations of all sizes extending from this islet to about a few hundred meters out to the sea. And in the quite and stillness of the night, we could actually hear music coming from the next island which is actually maybe another 15 or 20 minutes boat ride from where we were.

A movie in my mind

I could still feel the small pumpboat, rising up and down on the choppy waters of Surigao, on our way to this island. It was exactly how i imagined it, but nothin prepared me to the feeling of how it is to be there itself....one with the sky...one with sea...one with nature...one with God.

I love lookin at sunsets. This was probably one of the most beautiful sunsets i've ever seen. We all stood there in awe, at the same time trying to get the perfect picture through our cameras. While most certainly all of us were trying to capture that moment in our hearts and minds, hoping to preserve it there.

The sunset..the midnight moon bathing ( and skinny-dipping!)...the sight of a dolphin jumping...the sound of shrieks and laughter....the stillness of the night....the cold wind blowing at 2 am...the music from the other island....the company of friends.....Tattoed on my mind!

• Pros:uninhabited, uncorrupted, away from the mad world!
• In a nutshell:A treasure waiting to be discovered.....but might as well be left undiscovered!