Remembering Dapitan

In September last year, I stepped on the island of Mindanao for the first time. I was there with five friends to spend a weekend at Dakak Park Beach Resort in the city of Dapitan. Since I was on a blogging hiatus at that time, I was not able to blog about the experience. And what a shame, to not be able to write an entry about it! But since it is never too late to do anything, here is a recap of our weekend in Dapitan--in pictures!

The port of Dapitan

Kids waiting for us to drop coins from aboard the ship

BigJoes! in Dipolog City
Dipolog is the capital city of the province of Zamboanga del Norte and is approximately 15km from Dapitan

The specialty at BigJoes!, Baby Back Ribs

Dakak Park and Beach Resort

The white sand beach in Dakak

One of the swimming pools in Dakak

The bed of Jose Rizal at the Rizal Shrine in Dapitan
Jose Rizal is the national hero of the Philippines. A shrine in Dapitan City is dedicated to him, where he was exiled by the Spanish Government of the Philippines from 1892-1896

Fantasyland
Fantasyland is a theme park at Gloria de Dapitan, a commercial complex in Dapitan

The horror house at Fantasyland

In a nutshell, the Dapitan/Dipolog area in Mindanao is an interesting place to visit. Not only is it historical with the presence of the Rizal Shrine, it also has a lot of beaches that you can enjoy, the most popular of which is the Dakak Park and Beach Resort. I am amazed by the presence of Fantasyland, which is not something you would expect from a fairly small city in the Philippines. One thing I also noticed about the area is the abundance of restaurants that serve good, affordable food. Seafoods are especially cheap in this area. A place worth visiting is Kamayan ni Manay at Sunset Boulevard in Dapitan, and the DAMPA (Dapitan Aqua Marine Park) that boasts of native restaurants by a river.