Travel 101: Dapitan City (Dakak Resort)

We were so excited for this trip as it is the first for the whole family to be vacationing together.
A wish come true for me. A simple wish that meant a lot. And a memorable one.

Ahh, when you say Dapitan what comes first to our minds is the famous Dakak Resort. It is safe to say that this place is the center of Dapitan's tourism. While that is true, I think that Dapitan has more to offer. And it is not as expensive as people perceived it to be.

So for all of you who are thinking of family reunion, honeymooning, or just a simple getaway - consider Dapitan City!

1) Accomodation

I personally recommend Travel Bee Inn. The service is good. The place is clean. Rates are cheap. Centrally located. With breakfast too! What a bonus!

Rates per night: Php 600 (standard room)

www.travelbee.ph

2) Transportation

From Manila you can fly via Cebu Pacific to Dipolog and your hotel will transfer you from Dipolog to Dapitan by mini van. It is free with Travel Bee! If your hotel doesn't offer that service, you can always hire a van going to Dapitan. It will take around 20-30 mins from Dipolog to reach to Dapitan.

My family is from Aurora so they took on a bus going to Dipolog (it was 5 hours travel for them) and by a van going to Dapitan. Fares are around Php 20 per person for Dipolog to Dapitan ride.

Dakak Resort is reachable by tricycle, van or multicab. We hired the multicab from Travel Bee. This time we had to pay for Php 1,500 back and forth for 10 people. It was 30mins drive from the inn to Dakak resort.

3) Activities to try

a) Biking around town

Travel Bee offers complimentary use of bike so you can freely stroll around town. 

travelbee.ph

b) Dakak Park and Beach Resort activities

Dakak offers variety of activities with only Php 1,000/pax consumable entrance fee. Meaning your Php1,000 can be used in zipline, horseback riding, jetski, atv ride and a lot more. It can also be used to pay for your dining at any restaurants in Dakak! 

We were 9 nine adults and 1 kid so we paid Php 9,500 only. Small children are not charged while kids below 12 years are charged half. The amount we paid were so worth as we used it for zipline, jetski and for lunch and dinner meals. Swimming is unlimited! They have really nice pools with salt water and white sand beach to enjoy.

The siblings at Dakak resort

Jetski-ing at Dakak

c) Visit Jose Rizal Shrine

We had the chance to visit Rizal Shrine before leaving Dapitan. It was a good historical tour with our guide Ramil. We got to see our national hero's place of exile and a glimpse of his life as a doctor. 

It was a trip to remember for the family as it was one of the many firsts we had together. A wish come true indeed!

Delicious Homemade Banana Muffins

And incredibly easy too!

This banana muffin recipe is tested and tasted several times in our family. I have been making them whenever we have over ripe bananas sitting in one corner.

They are delicious, soft, moist and very easy to make. You don’t need to buy banana muffins again!

Ingredients: (makes 12 muffins)

1 and ½ cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

1 large egg
1/3 cup of melted butter
½ cup sugar ( I like brown sugar)
5-6 very ripe bananas, mashed (lakatan)

Steps:

1)      Preheat oven in 155°C. Depending on your oven, mine is quite new so it’s very hot even in that temperature. The original recipe called for 170°C and when I first baked it, the bottoms were burnt. So the key is actually knowing your oven.  
2)      Mix the dry ingredients (flour,baking soda, baking powder and salt). Set aside.
3)      Mix the remaining wet ingredients in separate bowl. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together just until blended, please don’t over mix the batter or you will have dense muffins. The batter should still be lumpy.  
4)      Pour into you greased muffin pan or muffin cups if you have. I normally don’t use muffin cups since we just consume them at home.  
5)      Bake for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy them warm or cool. I prefer them cooled down.

Tips:
·         Freeze over ripe bananas and thaw them before mashing to take all the sweet juices
·         You can also throw in some choco chips, walnuts or both!
·         I have tried putting grated carrots and they were very good, extra nutritious muffins!
·         If butter is unavailable, you can use cooking oil. I tried it once and muffins were still delicious
·         Over ripe bananas can be very cheap at wet markets and sometimes vendors just give it away so go grab them ;)