Qualla: Gigantes Islands

Gigantes Islands: Introduction

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PaintedCarpet, CC BY-SA 3.0. The name promises something colossal, and the Gigantes Islands deliver -- just not in the way a Spanish cartographer might have intended. Islas de Gigantes, the Giants' Islands, is a chain of roughly ten islands rising from the Visayan Sea about 18 kilometers off the coast of Panay. No giants live here. What does live here are 14,332 people, by the 2020 census, spread across Gigantes Norte and Gigantes Sur and the scatter of smaller islets between them. They share these islands with 73 caves, a saltwater lagoon enclosed by sheer cliffs, a Spanish-era lighthouse, and a local belief in engkantos -- spirits that inhabit the landscape. The giants, it turns out, are metaphorical.

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Image: PaintedCarpet | CC BY-SA 3.0

Gigantes Islands: Two Islands, One Channel

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mmlibranda, CC BY-SA 4.0. Gigantes Norte and Gigantes Sur are separated by a narrow channel barely half a mile wide. Norte peaks at 213 meters; Sur edges higher at 232 meters. Around them orbit a constellation of smaller islets -- Bulubadiang, Gigantillo, and Gigantuna off the southeastern flank of Norte,...

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Image: Mmlibranda | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gigantes Islands: The Lagoon They Call a Tank

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lzdlizardo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Tangke -- the word means "tank" in the local language -- is a saltwater lagoon on Gigantes Sur, completely enclosed by towering limestone cliffs. To reach it, visitors scale the rock walls or swim through a narrow gap at the base. The water inside is clear and still, a pocket of ...

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Image: Lzdlizardo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gigantes Islands: Lighthouses Old and New

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Franz Miko G. Verzon, CC BY-SA 4.0. A lighthouse was established on Gigantes Norte in 1895 as part of Spain's ambitious program to illuminate the Philippine coastline. The original station featured a white 38-foot tower with a keeper's house, its focal point 77 feet above sea level, flashing once every ten seconds....

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Image: Franz Miko G. Verzon | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gigantes Islands: After Yolanda

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lzdlizardo, CC BY-SA 4.0. On November 8, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan -- called Yolanda in the Philippines -- tore across the Gigantes group along with the rest of Panay. Unofficial reports estimated that more than 90 percent of the houses on the islands were destroyed. The typhoon ripped the roof from Lantangan ...

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Image: Lzdlizardo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gigantes Islands: Scallops and Sand Bars

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PaintedCarpet, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Gigantes group has become an emerging destination in Western Visayas, known for its white-sand beaches, the Bantigue Sand Bar, and the dramatic Cabugao Gamay Island. Antonia Beach on the southeastern tip of Gigantes Sur gained a reputation for selling scallops at one peso api...

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Image: PaintedCarpet | CC BY-SA 3.0