Bantayan Island
Bantayan Island is in the Visayan Sea, Philippines, located just west off the northern tip of Cebu Island. The island, politically a part of the Province of Cebu, is about 7 miles (11 km) wide by 10 miles (16 km) long, with a total population of 120,101, as of the 2000 census. It is also the main and largest island of the Bantayan Island Group that is roughly the geographical center of the Philippines. The island group includes numerous smaller islands, of which the more notable are:
- Biagayag Island
- Banitugan (or Panitugan) Island
- Botong Island
- Jilantagaan (or Jicantangan) Island
- Lutungan Island
- Maamboc Island
- Mambacayao Island
- Moalboal Island
- Panitogan Island
- Sagasa Island
- Silagon Island
- Sillon Island
- Yao Island
- Botigues Island
About 20 of Bantayan's islets stretch for another 5 miles south with some being accessible by foot from the main island at low tide. The islands are beside the busy shipping lanes for ships and ferrys coming from Mindanao or Cebu City on its way to Manila.
Bantayan Islands are considered as Cebu’s fishing ground from where boatloads of fish are transported daily to Cebu City and Negros. Tons of guinamos (salted fish) and buwad (dried fish) are delivered to Cebu City and Cadiz, Negros for further distribution to as far as Mindanao and Manila. Equally important is the thriving poultry industry with hundreds of thousands of chicken eggs produced daily.
The island can be reached via bus from Cebu City (via the North Bus Terminal near SM City Shopping Mall) then via ferry from Hagnaya Wharf in San Remigio, Cebu, or from Sagay in Negros Occidental. No commercial flights or overnight ferries are currently operating from Cebu City. It is possible to charter small private aircraft from Mactan-Cebu International Airport, to Bantayan Airport on Bantayan Island.
Bantayan Island is administratively divided into three municipalities:
- Bantayan, Cebu (the largest municipality, covering the central part)
- Madridejos, Cebu (covering the northern portion)
- Santa Fe, Cebu (covering the eastern portion)
