Hands-on Filipino cooking classes run from garden kitchens along Malinao Road, where you cook — and then feast on — island staples like chicken adobo, pinakbet in coconut sauce, lumpia and a local dessert. Variants include a vegetarian menu, an evening class in a traditional local kitchen, and a beachside class cooking everything inside bamboo over charcoal.
A dedicated freediving school and hostel in General Luna that has quietly become one of the island's best-reviewed activity operators. Coaches Jen and Dale specialise in talking nervous first-timers through breathwork on land before guiding them down the line in Siargao's warm, clear water, with courses running from intro sessions to AIDA certifications.
Siargao's longest-running international dive operation, teaching the full PADI ladder and AIDA freediving courses in four languages from its General Luna base with a training pool and its own boat. Twice-daily fun dives visit sites from the shallow coral gardens of Secret Garden to the drop-offs of Blue Cathedral on the Pacific side.
The go-to board rental and surf shop on Tourism Road, stocking a deep quiver of well-maintained Surftech shortboards, fish, quads and eggs alongside wax, fins and its own apparel line. Staff give honest board recommendations for the day's conditions and let you swap boards mid-rental if something isn't working.
One of the island's original surf institutions, run out of the Italian-founded Kermit resort where lessons, wood-fired pizza and 'sleep-eat-surf' culture blend into one compound. Head instructors Eloy and Jong are ISA Level 1 certified with over 20 years in Siargao's waves, and every lesson runs on a strict 1:1 student-to-instructor ratio with transport to breaks like Cloud 9 and Jacking Horse included.