Paseo del Mar is the waterfront promenade running south from Fort Pilar along the Basilan Strait. By day it is quiet — a strip of palms, an open-air stage, and the city's tourist information office. In the late afternoon it transforms: food stalls open along the breakwater, families crowd the benches, vendors sell halo-halo and grilled fish, and live music starts up at the stage. It is the heart of the city's evening social life.
The strait is busy: vinta sails, fishing bancas, the occasional Navy patrol boat, and ferries from the Philippine inter-island lines. Sunset over the wooded silhouette of Basilan island, with the strait lights coming on, is one of the most striking evenings you can have in Mindanao.