Rock Island
Direction: right
Level: Upper intermediate to Advanced
Best wind: South
Best swell size: 4 - 12ft
Best swell direction: North East
Best tide: Mid tide. Low tide is fine but a little shallow. At high tide its quite fat & hard to catch but also working during bigger swells.
Best for: Experienced surfers looking for a fast drop, thick wall, and hollow barreling end section.
Crowd factor: Medium. When Rock Island is working well you can expect to see quite a few boats when you arrive at the spot. However, if the swell is really big there won't be to many people crazy enough to surf there. Also if the conditions aren't quite right a lot of people stay away so that may be a good time to surf uncrowded but tricky waves. I often surf Rock Island when it’s windy and usually there’s no people and I still have a great time.
Kind of wave: Rock Island can a tricky (difficult) wave to surf. The wave moves pretty fast and the drops are steep. If you make a wrong move (falling on the drop, gettting caught inside) you'll end up down in the wash out and it's a frustrating & long paddle back out to the channel. The current is moving against you and the white waver keeps coming and coming and coming.. it can be exhausting just getting back to the line up.. try not to sit too deep (closest to the rock) and don't drop in on waves that you know are gonna close out or that you don't think you'll make.
But having said that, Rock Island can be a perfect, long, right-handed wave with both hollow (or barreling) sections and stretches of wide-open face to carve around on. With good conditions you can ride through three totally different sections. Rock Island is at its best from head-high to double-overhead. It gets even bigger at times but you really gotta know how to surf to go there if it's that big. If the swell is small then there's not much going on at Rock Island, but as long as there's over a meter or so of swell there's decent sized waves to be had. Truly an awe-inspiring and world-class wave in a breath-taking setting.
Surf season: All-year except summer months.
Rock Island works well through most seasons. In the peak-season of October to December it's often off-shore and pumping with waves from head-high to double-overhead (sometimes triple!!). However, Rock Island is surfed a lot during the winter months because there can be good swell, but the winds are onshore at this time. Rock Island is a bit protected from East winds so is one of the few spots that can be surfed in the winter. In the summer months from late May to late August it's usually flat but swells do pop up once in awhile. Rock Island is one of my favorite spots to surf especially during the Fall & Winter months!
How to get there: You can find boats to hire at the boat launch at the end of Tourism road past Cloud 9. It takes about 15 minutes each way and the driver will wait for you (or surf with you) and take you back for 250 pesos per person (min 2 pax). Rock Island and neighboring Stimpy's are just a couple minutes by boat from each other so you can check both out before deciding which one to surf.
