Surigao Strait

Surigao Strait, known in Filipino as Kipot ng Surigaw, sits in the southern Philippines and links the Bohol Sea with Leyte Gulf, part of the larger Philippine Sea. Geographically, it separates the Visayas and Mindanao regions, running between northern Mindanao Island and Panaon Island, as well as between the Dinagat Islands and Leyte Island. Though deep, the strait features a powerful current that can reach 8 knots (15 km/h or 9.2 mph). A navigation light on Suluan Island marks its northern entrance, while Hibuson Island lies at the strait’s north end.

Regular ferry traffic crosses the strait, moving both people and cargo between Visayas and Mindanao. These ferries make stops at Liloan in Southern Leyte and Surigao City in Surigao del Norte.

The strait’s name has two possible origins. One legend says it comes from Solibao, a Negrito chieftain who lived near the mouth of the Surigao River. Visayan fishermen later settled there, and Spanish explorers may have misheard “Solibao” as “Surigao.” Another theory traces the name to the Spanish word *surgir*, meaning “swift water” or “current.”

Historically, Ferdinand Magellan and his crew became the first Europeans to sail through the strait in March 1521, during the first circumnavigation of the Earth. Centuries later, on October 25, 1944, the Battle of Surigao Strait occurred here. Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf’s U.S. 7th Fleet Support Force, using American battleships, executed a “crossing the T” maneuver against Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura’s Southern Force. This resulted in the sinking of nearly all Japanese ships, including the battleships *Yamashiro* and *Fusō*. Remarkably, all but one of the American battleships involved had been at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack, where they were either damaged or sunk, then later refloated and repaired.