Bantayan Island

Bantayan lies off the northwestern tip of Cebu and is almost entirely flat - a coral island of sugarcane-white sand, shallow turquoise water and low scrub, with three towns and a lot of chickens. Santa Fe on the east side has the best beaches and most of the accommodation: Paradise, Sugar and Kota beaches run along a shore where the water is warm and so shallow that at low tide you can walk out a long way. Bantayan town, the old capital, has the Saints Peter and Paul church, whose parish was established in 1580, one of the oldest in the Visayas, and a working port. Because the island is flat, bicycles and motorbikes are the natural way around, and the interior is farm roads and villages rather than resorts. Recovery from Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, which struck the island directly, reshaped much of what stands today. Holy Week is the one time to avoid it - the island fills completely.

History

The parish was established in 1580 as an encomienda of the heir of Don Pedro de Gamboa. In 1588 Domingo de Salazar described Bantayan as "small and densely populated", with more than eight hundred tributarios, and in 1591 its 683 tributes stood for 6732 people (Wikipedia, Bantayan Island).

The landscape

• Santa Fe's beaches - Paradise, Sugar and Kota on the east shore.
• The shallow flats - water you can wade far out into.
• Bantayan town church - the old stone church and plaza.
• The flat interior - farm roads good for cycling.

When to go

December to May for dry weather and calm crossings. Avoid Holy Week, when accommodation books out and prices multiply.

Practical notes

Very low tide leaves some beaches too shallow to swim. Ferries stop in rough weather. Nightlife and dining are limited outside Santa Fe.

Nearby

Malapascua's thresher-shark diving is on the other side of northern Cebu; the mainland ferry runs from Hagnaya.

Key facts