Women dancing and singing a lively welcome song set a happy beat for a visit to the Suyac Island Mangrove Eco Park in Sagay City.
Visitors to the island, which is about a 10 to 15-minute boat ride from the mainland, are taken on a tour of the home of one of the oldest and biggest Sonneratia alba mangroves in Negros, which includes a 300-year-old tree.
The local guides are passionate about the importance of their mangroves that have saved their lives and homes from the onslaught of typhoons, including the deadly 2013 Super Typhoon Yolanda
The 1.8 hectare island surrounded by a 15-hectare mangrove forest is also vital to the increase in the fish population and as a carbon sink.
The island is also home to 12,899 bats known as flying foxes.
A visit to the island also allows one to swim in crystal clear waters along with the fish, and experience a gastronomic delight consisting of fresh catch from the sea.
Suyac is one of the numerous tourist attractions of Sagay City that has been named one of the top 100 Green Destinations of the world.
Sagay’s “Mangrove Forest Protection through Community-based EcoTourism Project” placed second in the Nature and Scenery Category and also received the People’s Choice Award during the Green Destinations Story Awards at the Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) in Berlin, Germany, in March this year.
Also among the attractions of Sagay is Carbin Reef, a tongue-shaped sandbar, which is also part of the Sagay Marine Reserve, a 32,000-hectare protected seascape.
Also worth visiting is the Museo Sang Bata Sa Negros, a hands-on and interactive children’s museum in Barangay Old Sagay, where children explain to visitors the attractions of the sea and the importance of protecting marine life.
The museum aims to promote the love for the sea, and its exhibit focuses on the marine environment with emphasis on the importance of corals and other ecosystems.
One can then visit Purok Bougainvillea, a community of colors, in Barangay Old Sagay, where trisikad drivers serve as guides
Some houses in the area have been painted in bright colors by local artists inspired by their mentor, renowned Sagay artist Nunelucio Alvarado.
Alvarado lives in a house in Margaha Beach where he continues to paint and where artists converge.
Ending one’s one-day tour of Sagay’s attractions at Margaha’s Beach enables one to have a taste of delicious iced coffee at Alvarado’s Minoro Sang Tali-ambong as the sun begins to set.*