Cagayan Archipelago
| Cagayan Archipelago | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Waters | Sulu Lake | |
| Geographical location | 9 ° 35 ' N , 121 ° 12' E | |
|
||
| Main island | Cagayan Island | |
| Residents | 6607 (2003) | |
The Cagayan Archipelago is a group of islands in the middle of the Sulu Sea , a tributary of the Pacific Ocean . The islands are located 150 miles from Puerto Princesa ( Palawan , Philippines ), about 6–8 hours by boat north of the Tubbataha atoll.
According to the 2003 census, 6607 people live on the islands of the archipelago, about two thirds of them on the 16 km long main island of Cagayan Island , which is only 2 km at its widest point. Cagayancillo , the capital of the archipelago on Cagayan Island , has 2500 inhabitants.
geography
In the north, the island of Cagayan ends in a mile-long spit with a diameter of only a few hundred meters. It joins Tanusa Island with 575 inhabitants in the north and the uninhabited island of Dondonay in the northeast. The archipelago finally runs out to the north in a shallow water zone that extends over a good 20 km and is interspersed with corals . To the northeast, north of the small island of Boombog , joins the almost 100 km long chain of the Catimogan and Sultana shallows , sunken islands just below the surface of the water. To the west, Calusa Island forms the end. In the very south of the archipelago is Cawili Island , with 785 inhabitants, the only larger of some other small islets , the height of which is only given as "50 feet treetop" in difficult to access, sometimes outdated nautical maps. There are a few small villages distributed over the main island of Cagayan , which are connected to one another by a natural road, i.e. a non-artificially developed roadway.
The archipelago is difficult to reach and there is no regular ferry service to the islands. About once every 10 days, larger local outrigger boats ( bankas ) take over the transport from Puerto Princesa (Palawan) and need 15-20 hours for the route. However, there is a small airfield, a bumpy grass runway interspersed with stones. From Manila , Cagayan can be reached by plane in around 80 minutes, from Puerto Princessa in 50–60 minutes.
At the port entrance of Cagaya there is a fort from the Spanish colonial era on a 40 m high hill , which, in a smaller form, resembles that of Taytay (North Palawan). Only the fortress walls are largely preserved, inside there are overgrown remains of some foundation walls and foundations.
geology
The 500 km long and 30 km wide Cagayan de Sulu ridge divides the Sulu Sea into the northwest and southeast basin and connects the reef islands of Cagayan, Arena, Cawili, Tubbataha and Cagayan de Sulu northeast of Borneo .
The north-western side of the coast consists mainly of raised, mostly vertically sloping limestone, which rises up to 62 m and runs through all the islands as a ridge. Above sea level, an old surf throat can be seen over long stretches at a height of about 10 m. Due to the massive stalactites , the leaching can be estimated at tens of thousands of years. In a few places at least two more, heavily eroded ones can be guessed at. It is unclear what caused the uplift, but the Sulugraben runs south of the archipelago and meets the Negrosgraben to the east - the Manila Trench continues to the north - and the archipelago is almost exactly in this area. At this fault in particular, jerky uplifts could occur again and again, which makes plate tectonics in this area seem plausible, at least a long time ago.
Another mighty fire throat is located about 12 meters below the surface of the water. Since no stalactite formation can be seen, it must have formed when the water level was lower, probably during the last major ice age and, since the following warm period, it must have been inundated very quickly and continuously. Changes in the water level could therefore also serve as an explanation for the other surf gullets.
language
Mostly Cagayanin is spoken, which is related to the dialect in the Cuyo Archipelago and Busuanga , and Tagalog , English is moderately spoken as a foreign language.
economy
The islands are interspersed in many places with coral rocks and chunks, in large areas there is barren reddish soil, which does not allow an orderly agriculture in the dry season. The storage capacity for water is small with this karst limestone and the size of the island, fresh water supplies are not provided by lakes, and springs are only available in the rainy season. In the rainy season, water is collected and managed in communal cisterns.
Nevertheless, the island is littered with fields where rice is mainly grown in the rainy season . There are also coconut ( copra ), banana , mango and cashew plantations. The main income is earned through fishing and foreign work in Palawan and the Visayas . Some seafood, such as dried sea cucumber popular in some Asian cuisines, has been largely exploited. Algae cultivation for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and culinary products ceased for unknown reasons since 2003.
tourism
Tourism does not exist, apart from the rare diving tourists from Boracay , Sipalay City on Negros and Palawan . The island has so far been completely ignored by tourism, but the income in this area is to be increased through future investments.
The only currently not permanently open and very rustic accommodation is the Queen Ann House on the main island. A diving base under Swiss management should go into construction at the end of 2005.
Scuba divers find mostly coral walls. They usually drop in a first step to 10–15 m, then to 40–55 m. The coral world is still in excellent condition in many sections.
Flora and fauna
Biodiversity studies or other inventories are still missing. There are no large mammals, apart from a few fruit bats. The vegetation has largely been cut down and there are no longer any contiguous forest areas. Only a barren shrub and bush vegetation has survived in remote parts of the island.
Due to the remote location and the first small protective measures by the administration since 2002 (partly in cooperation with the WWF ), many reef sections beyond the island's capital are intact, to a large extent even in very good condition, which sometimes surpass that of the Tubbataha- great However, cyanide and dynamite fishing was and is still being carried out here . Large fish are only found further away from the larger islands in the northern area of the expansive coral area as well as near the shoals (small, sunken islands) and in the area of the Calusa Island in the less current, dry period from April to June .