Visiting Baltazar Island, Marinduque

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Baltazar Island is one of the so-called Tres Reyes Islands in Marinduque named after the 3 Magi. The sea between Mindoro and Marinduque where the isalnds are located is often choppy. The worst peacetime maritime disaster in the world occured near these islands (Dec. 20, 1987), when the ferry "Dona Paz" carrying more than 4,000 passengers disembarked from Tacloban City to Manila and collided with MT Vector, an oil tanker en route from Bataan to Masbate.

"Dona Paz" was situated at Dumali point, east of Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro along Tablas Strait near these small islands. The Vector's cargo ignited upon collision as it carried 8,800 barrels of gasoline, the fire spreading rapidly into the Dona Paz and the sea itself, a nightmarish sight visible from Marinduque's western coasts. Time Magazine called it the "worst peace-time maritime disaster of the 20th century". The 2008 World Almanac recorded the death toll at 4,341.

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Photos

Baltazar Lighthouse
The old lighthouse built by the Americans in Marinduque in the early 1900s has long been destroyed by the typhoons and the elements. A new lighthouse was built through a grant from JICA.

Baltazar Lighthouse Building
This is probably the oldest wooden structure built during the American regime in Marinduque that has survived.

Baltazar Lighthouse Building
View of the wooden structure.

Baltazar Logbook
A page from the old logbook.

View of Mt. Malindig
View of the steep Malindig Volcano from Baltazar Island.

Sunset from Baltazar.
View of the sunset at Tablas Strait as it goes down on the island of Mindoro.