Dinagat Island Series: Secluded Pagkawasan Beach Resort

The beauty of Dinagat Island will always surprise its visitors. When you think you’ve seen the best resort in one location, there’s another one that will take your breath away.

Pagkawasan Beach is a secluded beach in the town of Basilisa in Dinagat Island. As it is not easily accessible, travel agencies include this spot as part of the two-day Dinagat Tour that I joined in.

Aside from the pristine water, Pagkawasan is the best place to chill with trees and a breathtaking sunset to cap the day. The stars of this resort, however, are the rock formations that are easy to climb during low tide. Of course, I didn’t waste the opportunity to explore these rocks and had my photos taken while waiting for the sun to set.

The best thing about Dinagat Islands is that its beautiful destinations are mostly untouched and are not yet commercialized so it’s easy to enjoy them in their more natural state. When joining the Dinagat Islands tour, make sure that Pagkawasan is part of the destinations to go to.

I availed a 2 days 1 night Dinagat tour arranged by a local agency. If you’re going to the province on a private capacity, here’s how:

Unlike Siargao, there are no direct flights from the capital, Manila, to Dinagat Islands.. Your starting point is in Surigao City where ferries are bound to San Jose, the capital of Dinagat Islands. There are daily flights from Manila to Surigao City via Philippine Airline, Cebu Pacific or Air Asia and I suggest you check Skyscanner because you can find the cheapest prices of flights there. I usually book my flights on Skyscanner because they’re reliable and they offer the best deals.

There are no direct ferries going to Dinagat Islands from anywhere in the Philippines so Surigao City is your only starting point. Travel time from Surigao City going to San Jose, Dinagat is approximately one hour and a half.

Regular P200.00

Student P170.00

Senior Citizen/PWD 160.00

Motorcycle P500.00 with Driver

Always check the schedule as they tend to change more often or sometimes, they get cancelled due to bad weather or wind velocity. Here’s an updated schedule of ferries for the Surigao City – Dinagat Islands and Dinagat Islands – Surigao City route:

Take note that the port going to San Jose, Dinagat is located in Boulevard and not in Lipata.

San Jose, Dinagat Islands – Surigao City

6:00 am M/V VIEL’S LINER 1/2

6:30 am M/V NEWS MPC ISLAND NAVIGATORS 3

7:30 am M/V REISESCHATZ 1

8:30 am M/V VINCE GABRIEL 2

10:15 am M/V VIEL’S LINER 1/2

11:30 am M/V NEWS MPC ISLAND NAVIGATORS 3

1:00 pm M/V NEWS MPC ISLAND NAVIGATORS 4

1:30 pm M/V VIEL’S LINER 1/2

2:15 pm M/V REISESCHATZ 1

3:30 pm M/V VIEL’S LINER 1/2

4:30 pm M/V VINCE GABRIEL 2

Surigao City – San Jose, Dinagat Islands

5:30 am M/V VINCE GABRIEL 2

8:30 am M/V VIEL’S LINER 1/2

9:30 am M/V NEWS MPC ISLAND NAVIGATORS 3

10:30 am M/V VIEL’S LINER 1/2

11:45 am M/V VIEL’S LINER 1/2

12:30 pm M/V REISESCHATZ 1

1:30 pm M/V VINCE GABRIEL 2

3:00 pm M/V NEWS MPC ISLAND NAVIGATORS 3

4:00 pm M/V REISESCHATZ 1

5:00 pm M/V VIEL’S LINER 1/2

5:30 pm M/V NEWS MPC ISLAND NAVIGATORS

You can book a tour at the Dinagat Tourism Office but I booked mine at Jmalls Travel and Tours via Facebook (Contact number: +63917-163-4907). For a 2 days-1 night tour, I paid 2,998 (the price must’ve changed by now) inclusive of lunch and dinner for Day 1, breakfast and lunch for Day 2, 1 night accommodation, all entrance fees, tour guide fee, docking fee, cottage fee, boat service for island hopping and environmental fees.

By the way, if you are looking for places to stay in Surigao City, there are a lot of options on Agoda:

As I go along, I will write detailed blogs about the other places that we went to in Dinagat Islands. During our 2 day-tour, we explored Hagakhak Rock Formation, Pangabangan Resort (Blue Lagoon) Bitaog Beach Resort, and PBMA Shrine.