Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines

Bantayan Island is an island in the Philippines located at the western portion of the northern tip of Cebu Island. It is politically a part of the Province of Cebu.

HOW TO GET THERE?

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 Hagnaya Cebu, or from Sagay City and Cadiz City 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 Airport Cebu, to the Santa Fe Airport on Bantayan Island.

Bantayan is a 2nd class municipality on Bantayan Island in the province of Cebu, Philippines.

It is the island's most populous town, with a population of 71,655 people according to the 2007 census. It is bordered to the north by Madridejos and to the southeast by Santa Fe.

Bantayan Islands is geographically in the center of the Philippines. It is located at the northwestern side of Cebu and northeastern of Negros Occidental. It is a town of Cebu and is about 80 miles from Cebu City. The main Bantayan Island is about 7 miles wide by 10 miles long. About 20 of its islets stretch for another 5 miles long with some being accessible by foot from the main island at low tide. Mostly all the ships or ferryboats coming from Mindanao or south of Cebu have to pass by Bantayan Islands on its way to Manila. The Bantayan dialect is a mixture of native Cebuano, Ilongo (Negros), Waray (Samar), Masbateño, and Boholano, but it has words it can call its own such as “kakyop, sara, kag buwas“ (yesterday, today, and tomorrow).

Bantayan Islands is considered as Cebu’s fishing ground where shiploads and 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.