Itbayat Island

Itbayat is the last inhabited island before Taiwan, and it is built unlike anywhere else in the country: a raised coral platform tilted out of the sea, ringed almost entirely by cliffs, with no natural beach and no harbour. Boats arrive at rock-cut ports like Chinapoliran, where passengers jump onto the stone as the swell lifts the hull and the boat itself is winched up out of the water. Above the cliffs the island is farmland and pasture, with the town of Mayan, stone houses, cattle, and viewpoints - Torongan Hill, Rapang Cliff with its wind-sculpted cypress and grazing goats, Mount Riposed - looking out over an unbroken horizon. Torongan Cave, on the coast, is associated with the earliest Austronesian arrivals in these islands. The crossing is the barrier: the falowa boats run only when the channel allows, flights are small and few, and visitors are routinely stuck for extra days. Those who make it find the emptiest, strangest island in Batanes.

History

Between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago Austronesian settlers reached Itbayat, living in Torongan Cave below Torongan Cliff and building the Axurud, the oldest stone tomb in Batanes. The mission was founded in 1855, the island became a municipal district in 1909 and a municipality in 1935 (Wikipedia, Itbayat).

The landscape

• The cliff ports - boats winched onto rock at Chinapoliran.
• Rapang Cliff - wind-shaped cypress and goats above the sea.
• Torongan Cave - the coastal cave of early Austronesian arrival.
• The plateau farms - stone houses, pasture and open horizon.

When to go

March to May, when the channel is at its calmest; even then crossings cancel. Never plan a tight return connection out of Itbayat.

Good to know

The boat crossing is rough and famously sickening; the light plane is faster but tiny and weather-bound. Accommodation is homestays, power and signal are limited, and there is no beach - this is a cliff island.

Nearby

Basco and Batan's circuits lie across the channel; Sabtang's stone villages are the other island trip from Basco.