Cloud 9: a name, a tower and a boardwalk
Compiled by Surf Haunts · Updated 2026-10-20
Cloud 9 is a reef off General Luna on Siargao Island, in the Philippine province of Surigao del Norte. What most people picture is not the wave but the walkway: a wooden boardwalk running out over the shallows to a viewing tower.
Named after a chocolate bar
The reef had been surfed quietly before it had a name. The name itself dates from 1992, when the photographer John Callahan travelled to Siargao with Taylor Knox and Evan Slater and named the wave after a popular Filipino candy bar. Callahan put it more plainly himself: the crew ate the local "no melt" chocolate every day as a sugar snack, and they simply named the wave after it. The photographs ran in Surfer magazine, and the island was on the map.
A contest followed. The Philippine government has held the Siargao International Surfing Cup at the reef since the mid-1990s; the 25th edition was held in October 2019. The Department of Tourism lists Cloud 9 as the home of the cup and a surfing site with a boardwalk known for its sunset view.
The tower and the typhoon
The structure in our print has a short, hard history. The original viewing tower was built in 2003. In December 2021 Typhoon Odette – Rai, internationally – crossed Siargao, and the boardwalk, the view deck and other facilities at Cloud 9 were destroyed; the municipality cancelled the 2022 international cup and ran only local contests that year.
The boardwalk came back first. Funded by the Philippine Sports Commission, the rebuilt walkway reopened on 14 July 2022, about eight months after the typhoon. The tower is a longer project: in 2026 the provincial government announced a restoration with a three-storey tower and a two-level viewing deck connected to the boardwalk. That is the status as we write; it will change, and the tower in our print is an interpretation of the motif, not a drawing of the current or finished structure.
Do you know the reef?
If you surfed or photographed Cloud 9 before the name stuck, or worked on the boardwalk, email us. We'd like to add dated detail, and we'll agree how to credit you before publishing anything.
Our Cloud 9 print
Our Cloud 9 print follows the pale walkway out over turquoise shallows to a small shelter, with cream wave lines beyond and an open sky above.
Compiled from public historical sources and fact-checked against them at the time of writing – not a first-hand or local account. Corrections and memories are welcome; we verify before publishing anything sent in.