Sitangkai, Sibutu Islands, Philippines
19 April 2007

Note: The area of coverage in this IKONOS image is approximately 2 km x 2 km.
The reduced resolution image on display has undergone compression and so does not represent the true resolution of the original satellite image.

Sitangkai is a settlement almost entirely built on water, over a coral reef in the extreme southwestern corner of the Philippines, very close to the east coast of Sabah, Eastern Malaysia. Several islands with low but dense vegetation and small but spectacular beaches rise out of an extensive coral reef. Sitangkai is attached to one of the smaller islands, although almost all of it is offshore. A central boat channel runs through the middle of the settlement. The image displays boats moored in the channel and dense housing next to it. Boat channels and walkways on stilts have allowed Sitangkai to spread laterally away from the central passage. Its watery site has earned Sitangkai the sobriquet, ‘Venice of the Philippines’, and has made it a tourist attraction in spite of its locational disadvantage.