Description of the attraction
Daanbantayan is a highly urbanized city in the province of Cebu. According to the 2008 census, 73 thousand people lived there. The city also includes the island of Malapascua. Every year, the colorful Haladai festival is held here in honor of the legendary founder of the city, Datu Dai. The name of the city itself comes from the words "daan", which means "old" in the local dialect, and "bantayan" was the name of the guard post from which the locals monitored the approach of the Moro pirates.
Today this small town is considered a real tourist paradise of northern Cebu. It is known for its fine white sand beaches, especially the good ones on the Malapascua island. Diving sites teeming with marine life attract hundreds of diving enthusiasts. Only here you can see a huge manta ray and fox sharks.
The city itself is also home to several attractions, for example, the city hall, called the Tribunal, and was built by the Spaniards. The first city hall was made of wood with bamboo interspersed, and in 1916 a reinforced concrete building was built. Immediately after the Second World War, two wooden wings were added to it - one on the south side, the other on the north. Later they were replaced by stone two-storey outbuildings.
Another attraction of the city is the Church of Santa Rosa de Lima, built in the middle of the 19th century with the help of local residents. The church was built of brick blocks and is still in good condition, although restoration work has already been carried out inside and the original design has been changed. However, the facade of the church remained intact and retains its original appearance.
The historical site is Cape Tapilon, on which the same watchtower of Datu Daya was located, which gave the name to the city. From here, they watched the approach of the warlike Moro pirates, who often drove into slavery the subjects of Datu Dai. Unfortunately, no remains of that tower have survived to this day. Today this place is a private property.
The island of Malapascua, discovered by a Spaniard, whose ship ran aground here on Christmas Day 1520, cannot be avoided either. Due to the fact that he had to spend such an important holiday away from family and friends on a desert island, the captain of the ship named it "Mala Pasqua", which means "Bad Christmas". Since then, this name has stuck to the island, although the locals still insist that the real name of the island is Logon. Here in 1890 a miracle happened - the image of the Virgin Mary was found on a piece of wood. They say that the image is still growing in size. Believers from different parts of the Philippines and even from abroad come here to worship the Virgin Mary, whose image is now kept in a specially built chapel.
In the coastal waters of Malapascua Island is the popular Monad Shoal dive site - a seemingly unremarkable shallow bank with few corals. However, thousands of tourists are ready to fly half the world to dive with scuba diving here, because only here every day you can see amazing fox sharks at a depth of only 20 meters. Usually, fox sharks live at a depth of 350 meters, and it is not yet clear why they rise so close to the surface near the island of Malapascua. In addition to sharks, manta rays, sea eagles and hammerhead sharks can be found in the waters of the Shoal Monads.
A 50-minute boat ride from Malapascua is the small islet of Gato - a rock that grows out of nowhere right in the middle of the Visayan Sea. Many species of birds nest on Gato, and flying foxes live in the forest that covers the steep cliffs. Myriads of rare nudibranchs can be seen in the coastal waters of the island, and reef sharks live in the underwater caves.
