Lakawon: Away from the madding crowd

Source: Internet

Lakawon is an island resort in Negros Occidental province in the central Philippines. It's about 48 kilometers from Bacolod City, the provincial capital. On a leisurely pace of 40kph on a hired jeepney, it took us about two hours travel to Cadiz City where it was located. Lakawon is a short trip (about 10 minutes) on a motor boat from the nearest village in Cadiz Viejo where the jeepney took us. Rent for a jeepney from Bacolod City would be at the range of P500 up (We got ours at P500) with the driver waiting for you until you come back in the afternoon. Fare on the rigger boat was P50 per person.

The island resort, a favorite hideaway of the city 

folks during summer, has a white beach looped around it. There are small non-airconditioned cottages (picture on left) with electricity from 6 pm to 9 pm. Traveler can buy food, consisting mainly of grilled seafood and pork. Unlike Boracay off the neighboring Panay island which has become too crowded, mostly by foreign tourists, Lakawon has ample spaces when we went there. There were foreigners with women escorts but you can count them with your fingers.

Like most beaches in the central Philippines, Lakawon has clear turquoise-blue waters near the shore. I did not take a dip, but my family and my in-laws (in picture) swear that the sea was cool even in such a hot summer day as when we went there. Lakawon, a 13-hectare, banana-shaped island owned by a family, got its name from the Cebuano word lakaw which means "walk" probably because it is said that one can literally walk a great distance to and from the island during low tide. Lakawon is the verb of the noun "lakaw" as in let's walk from here to there. 
The island has plenty of trees (picture below) where one can take shelter from the hot sun if one decides not to swim and be content with watching the family as I did when we went there. 

Photography by: Al Mayor

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