Philippine Places: Lakawon Island

July 25, 2007 at 3:02 pm | Posted in All, Environment, Lakawon, Philippines, So You May Know, Travel | 14 Comments

Another hidden treasure of the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines is the Lakawon Island. This one is very special to me.

Lakawon is a 15-hectare banana shaped island about 3 kms off Cadiz City. The island is not very popular among Pinoys outside the province. Even I only came to know about it when I asked my sister-in-law of places to go when Shane would come to the Philippines for the first time. That was in 2003.

Lakawon has a gorgeous white beach (that can rival that of Boracay) consisting of coarse corals. It is also covered with palm trees and in some parts dense bushes.

The island has a resort managed by the family-owner. Unlike Boracay, Lakawon Island Resort is UNcommercialised and the owner wants it just that. If you want peace and quiet in your holidays, this is where you go. If you want glamour and parties at night, you go to Boracay.

In 2003, there were only a few cottages, air con and non-aircon. There was not much activities to do in the island except swimming and some related water activities (like banana boating and wind-surfing). There’s not much recreational facilities. The resort is purely for unwinding and relaxation. The rooms have no TV sets and radios. No electricity during the day. A generator provides power in the nights which starts at dusk and turns off at daybreak. Incidentally, we have perfect mobile phone reception so we still have communications outside the island. The island is not too far away from the mainland that cellsite coverage still reaches it. Note that it has been almost five years since our trip there so this may have changed now.

Getting there : The access to the island is via Barangay Cadiz Viejo. A motor boat owned by the resort usually takes visitors to the island. The ride is about 30 minutes.

From Bacolod City, travel by private car will take just over an hour. There are also buses plying the Northern Negros which stops at Cadiz Viejo.

So why is this place very special to me? Because this is where Shane kneeled (while I was yelling at him for immersing his fresh shorts in the water) and popped the question, “Will you kill marry me?” 🙂

For more photos of the island, check out this blog here and here. I will post more pics once I get a chance to scan some photos. I’m a slacker at the moment.

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