Dolphin Island @ Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park (MOAP)

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A Holy Week get-away.

I was very much excited last Holy Week because of the very long holiday…... (I took the opportunity to file a leave for 2 days so I could be free for the entire week). My destination was the much talked about Dolphin Island | Misamis Occ. Aquamarine Park (MOAP).

I have prepared so much for this trip, because the place is very much far from where I reside – Davao City. Okay relax, let me first give you a li’l good reason why I exhausted my very self to travel this far just to see the place…

MOAP, as it is popularly called, lies in a 60-hectare coastal area abundant in mangrove trees. They also have several clusters of hatchery for different aquamarine life. It has a string of cottages, a floating restaurant and function halls uniquely built to compliment its serene environment – all these are connected by wooden bridges!

How to get there?
If you’re from outside the Philippines:
Take a plane going to Manila. From Manila, take another plane to Dipolog City, which is about 3 hours away from Sinacaban going south by bus. An alternate route is by barge from Manila to Ozamiz City. Ozamiz City is the capital of Misamis Occidental and is about 30 minutes away from Sinacaban by bus. Get off the bus when you get to Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park (MOAP). You can always ask the driver to get you to MOAP as it’s a famous place around the area and plus most bus drivers are nice and accommodating so don’t hesitate to ask for directions!

If you’re from Davao (like me!), you can either take a plane or exhaust yourself a li’l bit by taking the bus to Cagayan de Oro (CDO) City. Bus ride would take about 6 hours, which you will surely enjoy because of the awesome views. Then ride a bus to Ozamis City, which would take about 4 hours.

The Trip.

We arrived at MOAP around 11am, just in time for lunch! Upon entrance I already knew it was going to be a very interesting day. MOAP boastfully welcomes you with her vast area of fishing hatcheries, mangroves and mini zoo. Overwhelmed as we are, we kept our cool and decided to explore the place later before going home. So we rushed to the floating restaurant, which to my surprise is still about 300 meters far from mainland and can only be accessed thru the wooden/bamboo bridge...(cool huh!? Yeah, I admit my knees were shaking…hehe!)

So we had our lunch! The delicious Chicken Adobo, Fish Sinigang & Grilled Pork. Food was delicious and very affordable!

Shortly after, we were at the jetty waiting for the pump boat that would take us to The Dolphin Island. We paid 1,500.00 (boat fare & entrance fee) for an exclusive trip. It only cost 220/head (back & forth). It took us about 15mins. to reach Dolphin Island.

You can do a lot of activities here: dine (they have a resto!) snorkeling, kayaking, or just simply bask in the blue waters and white sand bar. As the name suggests, the island, nestles a number of dolphins enclosed in a network of pens totally surrounding the entire area. The dolphins here were said to have been rescued by fishermen, and the entire belt itself, according to caretakers, has become a dolphin/fish sanctuary. If you don’t believe the story, well you can try asking the dolphins themselves! You are free to go swimming with them or have the pleasure of feeding them.

We left the island around 5pm and headed back to MOAP where we explored their 60-hectare coastal mangrove. Within the mangrove is a mini zoo with lots of monkeys…. crocodiles, sawa (snake), several species of birds and 1 tarsier (which was deeply asleep that time..)