Boards, bags, pets and bulky items — what you can bring on a Siargao transfer
Surfboards, a stack of luggage, a balikbayan box, a bike, a dog in a crate — what to tell us so the vehicle that meets you actually fits it, and the one item that needs a government permit before it can fly or sail.
The vehicle is chosen before it leaves
Almost every awkward transfer starts the same way: the booking said how many people were travelling, and nothing about what they were carrying. A vehicle that seats your group comfortably is not automatically a vehicle that also swallows four board bags, a month of luggage and a dog crate — and the driver finds that out in the car park, with you standing next to it. This is the one part of the trip where over-explaining costs you nothing. Tell us the cargo as precisely as you tell us the headcount and the right vehicle is sent the first time, at the price you were quoted.
Surfboards
Boards are Siargao’s defining piece of freight, and they are the single most common reason a standard car is the wrong answer. What matters to us is the count and the length — three shortboards and one nine-foot longboard are very different loads, and a board bag with several boards inside is longer and heavier than people expect. Say how many, how long, and whether they are bagged. The separate question is getting them to the island in the first place: on a flight into Sayak, boards travel as declared sports equipment that has to be added to your booking in advance rather than presented at the counter, so check your airline’s own sports-equipment page when you book the seat, not the week you fly. Arriving by ferry into Dapa gives you more latitude, but the road leg across the island still has to be sized for the boards.
Travelling with a pet — the one that needs paperwork
Moving a dog, a cat or any other live animal between Philippine islands is not simply luggage: it is a regulated shipment. The Bureau of Animal Industry requires a local shipping permit for live animals moved domestically, and its National Veterinary Quarantine Services Division publishes the one-time application for exactly this — dogs and cats are the first category of eligible shipment listed on it, alongside other domesticated pets, pet birds and exotics. Applications are made online through the BAI portal at nvqsd.bai.gov.ph, and your airline or ferry operator will have its own carriage rules on top of the permit. Start that early; it is the part of the journey with a lead time. Our end is only the road leg once you have landed, and for that we need the crate’s footprint and whether the animal travels inside it — a large crate takes up the space of a passenger and cannot be stacked under bags.
Balikbayan boxes, bikes and dive gear
Balikbayan boxes are the load most likely to be left out of a booking and the most likely to break it, because a full one is bulky and heavy rather than merely bulky. The same goes for a boxed bicycle, a full set of dive gear, camera cases, or the shopping run that turns a two-bag return into a five-bag one. None of these are a problem when we know about them. All of them are a problem discovered on the kerb. Give us a rough count and the size of the largest item — a description is fine, we do not need measurements to the centimetre.
Mobility equipment, child seats and a hand with the loading
If someone in your group uses a wheelchair, a walking frame or any other mobility equipment, tell us what it is and whether it folds, and we will say plainly in the quote what we can and cannot do for that trip rather than leaving you to find out on the day. Child seats work the same way: ask for them in the request and they are quoted in, not added as a surprise. And if you would like help loading and unloading — a heavy crate, boxes, an arrival at the end of a long flight or a late-night ferry — say so when you ask. We will confirm in writing what is included before you commit to anything.
What to send with your quote request
The quote form below has a field for the number of bags and a second one headed “Anything bulky?” — that second field is the one that matters here, and there is no such thing as too much detail in it. A useful request names the number of boards and their lengths, any crate and what is in it, the number and rough size of boxes, bikes, dive or camera gear, mobility equipment and child seats, and anything you would like a hand carrying. Add your flight number and date or your ferry sailing and scheduled arrival, plus your accommodation name, and we will send one fixed, all-in price by email for a vehicle that fits all of it — with no deposit to ask.
No published price — and that is deliberate
A fair price depends on your date, your group, your bags and how long we wait. So we quote per trip instead of publishing a number we would have to hedge. Fill in the form below and we will send a fixed, all-in price by email.
Tell us your trip. Get a fixed price.
It takes under a minute. No account, no payment now, no obligation — just a clear, all-in quote from someone who actually drives these roads.
- Free & no-obligation — quote first, decide later
- Reply by email from a real person on the island
- Fixed, all-in pricing for the right-sized vehicle
- Your details are used only to prepare your quote