Daan Bantayan -- The "town proper" boasts a century old church and still maintains a small fishing fleet.  There are numerous caves and beaches in the area.  There is a new sports complex that serves the community's needs.  The new public market area is of interest, as well as the School of Fisheries.  There is a ferry going from Maya to Leyte daily and connects to buses going to Cebu City.  It is about 20 minutes to Daanbantayan over a newly paved road.

Gato Island is a big rock in the middle of the Visayan Sea. It’s a short, sharp, rocky island rising from what seems like the middle of nowhere in the Visayan Sea. It’s a 50-minute boat ride from Malapascua. Nesting seabirds scoot around the island and a colony of flying foxes camps in rainforest trees high on its cliffy shore. Kingfishers flit in and out of its sea caves. Gato Island is constantly bathed in current, giving life to its soft coral canyons and myraid of rare and unusual nudibranchs. Nowhere one could see so many bizarre nudibranchs.

Nudibranch egg clusters were prolific, and there were pygmy seahores at 25 meters. White-tip reef sharks live in the caves, and one cave leads right through the centre of the island. As you leave the light at one end, it becomes dark, and as you swim onward, the blue light of the other side comes into view. The cave has several passageways and secret hidey holes, adorned in thousands of lovely daisy corals, thorny oysters, and sponges.

There is a guard’s house on the sheltered side of Gato Island, with a sign that reads “Sea Snake and Marine Life Sanctuary.” There are many sea snakes, especially at the 3- to 5-meter depth, where the juvenile sea snakes hang out. Some of my best sightings were a large banded sea snake at 20 meters’ depth, a big coral moray, and a flighty silver eel on the move. Gato Island is full of surprises and every dive had something new to offer, such as porcelain crabs and squadons of squid.

Kawit -- a barangay of Daanbantayan is located on the west side of the island and has a facility for barges and ferries going to Bantayan Island and the other small islands in between.  There are buses going to Cebu City from the pier.

Leyte can be seen from Bounty Beach and the deep channel in between is the main North/South shipping route between Manila, Cebu and Mindanao.  You can see large ferries and also some cargoships pass several times a day and with binoculars, you can see the people on the ship.  The power company got an undersea cable between Leyte and Cebu  Geothermal electricity will be produced in Leyte and Samar and supplied to Cebu.

Manoc Manoc , Two big rocks with a shoal between them. Those islets look from the far like a roster. Thats why the call it Manoc Manoc (Roster). Good for Snorkeling. 4 miles west of Carnassa.

Maria´s Point , a small rocky Islet south of Carnassa with no vegetation. Good for Snorkeling.

Maya, a Barangay on the north east tip of Daanbantayan. Jump off point to Malapascua.

Medellin is noted for its Sugar Central.. BoMedCo is a cooperative of sugar planters in the Medellin Bogo area and processes sugar cane December - June from the lush fields of sugar cane grown in the northern region.. There is a large network of small trains and tracks that transport the sugar cane to the mill.  The main "smoke stack" is visible on the way to Virgin Beach.  Tours can be arranged of the sugar mill.  There is a small landing strip in this town that will be improved soon so that private small planes will be able to land.  Also in this town, by the National Highway, is a "world-class" golf course being developed that will open in 1996.  They also plan a large Beach Resort.

San  Remigio, on the west side of the island, boasts a fine white sand beach and the barangay Hagnaya has a barge and ferry facility for Bantayan Island and the small islands in between.  Buses leave from Hagnaya to Cebu City.

Tapilon, 5 km. from the town proper of Daanbantayan, was once noted for its sea snake gatherers.  Poisonous snakes, locally called "balingkasaw", are gathered for their skins, which are used to make bags and shoes in Danao City, and their meat, which the Chinese value as an aphrodisiac.  In 1933, two Japanese fishermen discovered a breeding ground of sea snakes around the tiny Isle de Gato ("Cat Island"), reached by banca from Tapilon.  They encouraged locals to set up an industry, teaching them  how to catch the snakes, process the skins, and even how to deal with snake bites.  The snakes are found in the caves and crevices of Gato's rocky surrounding seabed year-round, but their breeding season is March - September.  The young are born after three months' incubation and then migrate to coral reefs in the open sea, where they prey on reef fish and eels.  The "catch man" uses his bare hands to grab each snake by the neck and tail, ties two or three snakes together with a motorcycle inner tube, and places them  in sack.  Over exploitation has greatly reduced their numbers.  A diver today will probably take only about a dozen snakes a night, compared to hundreds in the past.  Landing on Gato islet is almost impossible, due to the undercutting of the sides by wave action.

Barangays  Around Northern Cebu and Malapascua

Bantayan Island is an old raised coral island (116 square km) some 15 km offshore from Cebu Island.  Fringed with reefs and shoals, fish, crabs and prawns abound in the offshore waters.  It's divided into Bantayan, Santa Fe, and Madridejos municipalities.  The first two are important fishing centers that supply Cebu City.  The island is reached from Hagnaya, San Remigio.  There are some fine beaches and beach resorts are found in Santa Fe and Kota.  Local handicrafts include abaca- weaving and shell craft.  Bantayan has an old church and is noted for its Holy Week celebration and procession, featuring an antique hand carved religious image.  The farmers on the island raise poultry and ship millions of eggs to other metropolitan areas.

Bogo is the main market town of the northern part of Cebu Island and is considered a "boom town" because of the new commercial interests there.  Bogo has a new public market that will entertain "people watchers" for hours.  There is a new coliseum in the town proper that is used for concerts, boxing matches, basketball games, community events and is the home of the Ms Gay  Philippines.

The town boasts two colleges, a fine park (plaza) with roller skating, a pier with boats going to Leyte and Masbate, several discos, a score of banks, an orchid farm, a hospital and several beach resorts.  The bus terminal at the new public market provides buses to Cebu City every 20 minutes or so.  There are hand craft factories and lots of shops.  There is an old church, a tire recapping plant, a coconut oil processing plant and plans for a future department store.