Photo: AGUSTIN MENDEZ, Tubod Founding Hero · CC BY-SA 4.0
Natural infinity pools carved into a reef shelf in Pilar, revealed only when the tide drains away to leave glassy, jade-green basins deep enough for cliff jumps. A giant balancing boulder (the 'pungko') looms over the flats, and the surrounding beach is a beauty in its own right. At high tide the whole thing disappears under the Pacific.
An emerald river sliding between walls of coconut palms, made famous by a bent palm trunk with a rope swing beside the highway bridge. The original leaning palm fell in Typhoon Odette, and a man-made jumping platform of varying heights now stands in its place. Paddle a dugout canoe upriver and the crowds vanish into a silent, jungle-lined waterway leading to a small lagoon.
A guided wade-and-swim through a dark limestone cave system in Pilar, where headlamp beams catch stalactites and roosting bats before the passage opens into a sunlit gorge with a cool, spring-fed natural pool. The finale is a rope swing and jump into startlingly clear green water. It's short, muddy, slightly spooky and enormous fun.
A turquoise lagoon ringed by jungle-covered limestone hills, reached by a gorgeous 30–45 minute bangka ride through the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the Philippines. A two-storey pavilion floats in the middle with a jumping platform, kayaks and paddleboards for hire. The water shifts between blue and green depending on the light and is calm enough for even hesitant swimmers.
A labyrinth of jungle-clad limestone domes, hidden lagoons and sea caves on Bucas Grande Island, entered by small boat through a tunnel that only opens at lower tides. Day trips weave between glowing caverns like Hagukan and Magkukuob (with its cliff-jump exit), and in season you can swim among thousands of harmless stingless jellyfish in a landlocked lagoon. It's the most otherworldly day trip you can make from Siargao.