Sagay

Sagay is a municipality east of Cadiz City and part of Northern Negros Occ. It boasts several reefs, mangroves, and marine sanctuaries. Island hopping on the area is still raw and you could even free dive to see a mayhem of giant clams! Tourism at Sagay, as of this writing, isn’t much developed yet, though the place has a lot of potential knowing that it’s already blessed wonderfully by nature.
A popular side trip after a day tour on Sagay would be at Lakawon Island, a private resort located north of Cadiz, Negros Occidental. It is a perfect example of mixing the comfort of the city and the natural beauty of nature. In a way, it’s very similar to Boracay; it has a lot of festivities by the beach, partying by the shore, cabanas facing the outstretched sea, and a lot of excitement in the middle of the sea!

So if you’ve got nothing to do and got a little spare time to rediscover new things in the Philippines, lets get out to Negros Occidental and see what these new destinations offer!

****Open note to Lakawon staff: We know it’s a private island but you should keep it well maintained and strictly impose on cleanliness. It’s still part of the Philippines and deeply impacts the surrounding ecosystems as well. Yes, the amenities are great, but without nature’s beauty, it’s nothing but a dirty island. That accounts to all tourists visiting as well, it all starts with us doing something no matter how little in order to bring change.

HOW TO GET THERE

1. Take a flight to New Silay airport, Talisay City.
2. Options below
○Take a passenger van going out of the airport and drop off on the Silay-Bacolod junction (Zulueta St. and Rizal St. junction)
○ Take a bus going back to Bacolod City and ride a Ceres bus there (do this only if you have sidetrips at Bacolod City).
○Take a taxi to Vadiz Viejo port ( skip to step 6)
3. At the junction, wait for Ceres buses going north to Cadiz or Sagay.
4. Drop off on Martesan Bus terminal.
5. Take a trike ride from the terminal to Cadiz Viejo Port.
6. Take a public boat to Lakawon Island at the port.
7. After a day or night at Lakawon, you could take buses at Martesan Bus terminal bound for Escalante and drop off at Sagay terminal.
Ride a trike to Sagay port.
8. Take a tour via boats after registration.
***Note that you could visit Sagay first since it will only a day tour, then head back to Lakawon to spend the night. (Of course you don’t have to drop at Cadiz if you’ll do Sagay first)

THE BUDGET

Silay Airport to Junction: 50php ea via van
Junction to Martesan Bus terminal: 100php ea via Ceres bus
Martesan Bus terminal to Cadiz Viejo port: 120php via trike (up to 3 pax)
Cadiz Viejo port to Lakawon Island: 280php ea via boat (2-way trip and includes entrance/environment/port fees)
Park Fee @ Cadiz Viejo port: 75php day tour, 100php night tour ( in case you brought a car via Roro or you are from Bacolod/Negros)
Airport to Cadiz: 1750php via taxi (up to 4 pax)
Lakawon floating island: 250php ea
Lakawon accommodation: 2500 per night (bamboo house up to 4 pax), aircon room is 3500php. For specific updated rates click here.
Martesan to Sagay terminal: 40php ea via bus
Sagay terminal to Sagay port: 70php via trike
Sagay tour (Panal reef, Carbin reef, Suyac Mangrove Island): 2300php via big boat (up to 5 pax)
Sagay Entrance fee: 100php ea
Suyac Environment fee: 30php ea

WHERE TO STAY

If you’re planning to spend the night at Lakawon, they offer you options from aircon rooms, bamboo cottages, and/or cabanas. But if you opt out of these, you could try camping out near the beach and just pay the camping fee.
At Sagay, its usually only taken as a day trip since no accommodations are in place of the islands. Normally people go back to Bacolod after Sagay, but you could actually do you Sagay tour first then head to Lakawon. Whichever your preference it’s always important to enjoy!

IMPORTANT NOTES

In my opinion Lakawon is a great hangout for everyone especially if you would spend the night here, plus it has a lot of water activities as well; though when it comes to its waters, its a little bit murky (though swimmable) and a lot of trash lately. I guess I really have a high standard with regards to beaches on the PH and I think Lakawon has a job to do on that regard.
No freshwater available on the island, so its best to buy at least 1 gallon of water before departing for Lakawon.
At Sagay, you could actually spend more time on Suyac if you want to hang out on mangrove cottages. You could also ask your boatman to take you to the giant clams/dive area near Carbin reef. It’s an added fee but well worth it. You should be a decent swimmer or free diver to get close though since currents are strong even if its only 4-5m in depth (some boatmen will never tell you about this unless they see you could swim).

The sequence in visiting these islands would depend where you come from (Quezon/San Pascual) and of course your itinerary (overnight/day trip). Though in my opinion, you should almost always try to spend the night on the islands and feel the island life to a new level.

TOURING SAGAY & A SIDETRIP TO LAKAWON

And once you get here, there’s a lot to rediscover since tourism is raw in the area. Be patient with everything and you’ll see another kind of beauty at Sagay.