Feb 5 - 10: Palawan

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Feb 5^thCebu - Puerto Princesa

I woke up and it was raining a bit, and I had a flight at 11am so I decided to not try to see Cebu instead take an easy morning.

I grabbed a taxi to the airport, and this time negotiated a flat rate that was the exact same as I paid for the metered to the hotel. If you know the flat rate, it’s the way to go. Unlike the old wisdom of meters being safe, it’s just not true anymore.

I got to the airport, which was relatively small for the second largest transport hub in the country. Cebu Pacific Air (which I exclusively flew with) is based out of here. Virtually every airport in Philippines has only 2 destinations: Manila (or the nearby Clark) and Cebu.

I got onto my flight to the city of Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan for the second major segment of a three part Philippines trip.

Puerto Princesa was quite hot and thankfully dry. (The past 3 weeks were predominantly rainy or cloudy). The local fauna looks like it is drought resistant.

I got a lodge of sorts for relatively cheap near the airport and organized a few trips through them. Then I walked out towards the beach, which was more of a mangrove beach. The slope was incredibly gentle as you could see children knee high in water a few hundred meters into the water. I walked along the beach for a while until I reached an army base and was strictly forbidden to continue. I headed up to the main road. I walked along it for some time. Along the way I would have groups of children requesting photos, so I would oblige and then show them afterwards to their delight.

I walked for quite some ways and eventually caught a tricycle into the main town. I wandered around a bit. It was fairly upscale stores. Not Western style, but somewhere in between (aka they had glass windows and doors). Surprisingly there were no hotels or tour agents around. I managed to find one tucked away. It seems like the prices for all trips have been strictly regulated and standardized, as everything I found was the exact same (I have never seen everything including price to be the same).

I wandered around and bought a bunch of souvenirs (best prices I have seen in Philippines). I caught a tricycle back to the hotel for the night.

Feb 6^th El Nido


I woke up early to catch the minibus to El Nido. Puerto Princesa (PP) is roughly the middle of Palawan on the eastern side. El Nido is basically right on the northern tip.

The bus ride was 6 hours including breaks. I was with 6 other tourists on the minibus. Four of which I happened to go kayaking with the next day. We did the typical lunch stop, except the food was horrible and yet still overpriced. Our driver disappeared for an hour meaning we were stuck there bored for some time.

As we arrived in El Nido, I saw some of the beautiful karst formations on the drive down the hill to the town. I grabbed my bag and walked down to the main stretch and found a cheap hotel for the night. I had originally desired to try a multiday kayak tour through the islands. While it was certainly possible, no one ran this kind of tour. I could’ve done it myself but the kayaks were sit-aboards (no storage space), I had no large water-proof bags and I opted to not bring my camping stuff this trip. So sadly I had to throw out that idea.

I tried to find any overnight trip to no avail. They are offered but no one had signed up for any meaning it was going to be expensive for me to charter a boat.

There weren’t any real kayak trips either (and they were the basic sit-aboards anyways). I settled for a boat-kayak combo trip that would boat us out to the regular boat tour destinations except we would hop off and kayak around instead.

El Nido itself is situated in a little bay with a nice stretch of beach. The beachfront and the adjacent roadway, is the main part of town. The locals live off to the side or up the hill a bit. The road is lined with travel agents, resto and bars, massage and spas, and hotels. Everyone there is either a tourist or works with tourists.

I wandered around the small town and off to the edges finding a cemetery on one side. The beach was rocky so I headed back to the main stretch and dipped in for a quick swim. After showering I ate dinner at “The Alternative” which probably has the best cheap rooms (but seem to be booked in advance), and a restaurant on the top floor overhanging the beach and ocean. They even have these little enclaves stretching out even further with little cushions to sit. I grabbed the available one and set-up shop for a couple of hours, enjoying a few beer and delicious albeit pricey food watching the sun set and the full moon.

Feb 7^th

I woke up to the sounds of dogs going at it. I headed over to start my trip. As I alluded to earlier 4 of the people I mini-van’ed with were on the trip (in fact they were the only others). We got set up and headed out on the boat typical of Philippines. The same as I had seen in Donsol. The catamaran style boats with bamboo stabilizers. The kayaks were stored on either side of the narrow boat on the stabilizers.

We headed out to Small Lagoon. It was already crowded with snorkelers. I kayaked with the guide (first time in a long time I’ve been the one in the front). We kayaked towards the lagoon and through the little entrance to make it inside. It was a multichannel lagoon inside a limestone karst mountain. So around us were sharp steep precipices as we paddled around. Some of the snorkelers couldn’t swim so were literally being towed around by their guides.

We headed out before anyone else and kayaked around the island to another side to see Big Lagoon, which more closely resembled a typical rounded lake. We kayaked around the side over some coral. We could see some fish swimming away, and there were tons of tiny fish jumping out of the water in schools. I even saw a little baby black-tipped shark before it got scared and bolted away. We were fortunate to be the first ones there so it was still pristine and easy to take pictures. As we headed back to the boat, about another 4-5 boats were unloading their 10-20 passengers.

The boat drove us to the next destination which was the lunch stop at a miniscule stretch of beach, right next to a long stretch of private ‘forbidden’ beach. I went snorkeling out around and out of sight. Wasn’t spectacular but I saw a few small schools of fish gathering to feed, and the odd drab coloured corals.

Out by the edge where there were crashing waves on limestone rock there was a huge school of small fish. To the point that the 30m visibility was reduced to about 5 m as I was surrounded in all directions but up, by the small fish. I swam back and we had lunch. Lunch was fish and pork skewers with rice. The pork was well spiced – very similar to what is done in China: soy, garlic and a malt-vinegar. By this time another 5 boats arrived offloading several dozen onto the tiny beach. It was getting crowded fast.

I was glad to leave and we drove to another beach and snorkel location. I opted to snorkel of course, and went out between two islands to the other side. The coral and fish were definitely better here. Saw many angelfish, clownfish, pufferfish, some small wrasses and a few others. There was a distinct thermocline as I could put my hand and on one part feel warm and 1 cm away feel cold. Even as I swam I would hit warm and cold spots, which were surprisingly unrelated to the depth of the area.

I swam back to the boat, we hopped in our kayaks and kayaked to the next destination. It was a nearby island to the so-called secret lagoon. As we approached I couldn’t see any lagoon or any entrance. And then my guide pointed out something. A relatively small hole in a limestone wall revealed a small lagoon on the other side. The hole was big enough to climb through so we did. Wasn’t much to really see so we headed back to the boat.

We drove to the last destination, a long stretch of beach on the other side of the peninsula that is beside the town (only accessible by boat). I decided to relax and read for the hour we were there. There was a little bar set-up selling drinks and snacks. I grabbed a beer and noticed the giant 2m high pile of empty coconuts obviously taken and drunk over the years.

We hopped back onto the boat and drove around the peninsula back to town.

I showered and walked around to figure out the next day’s activity. After hitting every dive shop, I opted to go diving, choosing the one with the dive sites that were the most different from what I had seen recently. I opted to not do another boat tour (they have 4 different ‘routes’), because I felt that the dive tour did some of what they were doing anyways (driving through the beautiful islands and lunch on a remote beach), and the diving is of course leagues better than the snorkeling.

I found a restaurant along the beach, ordered a beer and a Caesar salad as the waves lapped up 1m from my feet, and whiled the night away.

Feb 8^th

I woke up to go diving. Turns out there was two boats going, me with the more experienced divers, although none of us were really experienced. On my boat was a Czech couple and a pair of Swiss guys, plus one divemaster, a captain and a deckhand.

After fitting we headed out at 9am to go to the first dive site. It was called West Entoluc. It was a reef wall. Wasn't terribly exciting but alot more fish than the Donsol dive sites. I saw the typical angelfish, lionfish, boxfish, damselfish, and even some large and bright pipefish (distinct in their very elongated narrow bodies).

One of the measures of a better diver is the ability to conserve air and 'last longer'. It involves minimizing any exertion and keep slow regular deep breaths. Depth also playsa factor. This time, I kept on pace with everyone else. (In Donsol, especially in the first dive, I was done well before the others). The reef was somewhat damaged, likely from the hordes of mooring boats.

We hopped out onto the boat, had snacks and kopi/tea while waiting for our designated surface time (the calculated time it takes for nitrogen bubbles from diving to leave the cells). Our second dive site was a definite first for me. The reef was rather boring and there wasn't much life to speak of. But this one was through a tunnel under a limestone mountain. The tunnel was about 25-30m long and large enough to fit a few divers side-by-side. It was an interesting experience as for the first time, I could not escape quickly to the surface. Without an air source I could not survive back to the surface. Of course that said, it's still pretty safe because you can just use another diver's air if an emergency arises.

We went in through the tunnel, swam around the drab reefs on the other side and headed back through. Part of the roof had holes in it and you could see daylight, where fish were converging. You could also see many reflective pools at the roof of the cave, from the accumulation of bubbles from divers over the years.

We headed back to the boat and drove to a beach for lunch. It was an isolated (although often visited) beach. Just as we finished our lunch another boat rolled in with the exact same plan. After relaxing for a bit in the sun (and the Czech guy had a certifiable sunburn) we drove off for the final dive. We dove along a reef wall for the first half. We saw two turtles, one lazily swimming by, and the other occupied in a little crack between reef corals. There were a few schools of fish including yellow snappers. This was a shallow dive so I was able to get alot more pictures.
I saw the largest sea cucumber I've ever seen. I took a picture but it doesn't do justice to the size. It was about 2.5m long, about 10cm thick, which a gaping hole which serves as a mouth about 3 cm wide. I saw a couple others but not as big.

We reached the boat long before we were out of air (or at least I was), but we headed out anyways. We got off all the gear and headed back into town. I headed in to relax for the last night in El Nido. I had a fajita but nowhere near as good as the ones I make.

Feb 9th

This is my last day in El Nido and I only had half a day so I decided to rent a motorcycle and tour around the area.

I successfully negotiated the price down, but when I went to pay, I was told that the manager was not allowed to change the price and that I had to pay the higher price (which was probably about 3-5 times what a local would pay). Annoyed I left and chose a different bike rental shop. I ended up having to pay the original price (I swear all the prices on virtually everything are standardized).

I got a quick refresher on how to operate the machine and then I was off, navigating through the busy and tight streets of town, before hitting the highway. I started off slow and as I got comfortable I picked up the pace. I went north of town towards (but not quite reaching) the northern-most point of the region. For the first few minutes past town the road was paved, but it quickly degraded in gravel. And it was loose grave which made it difficult. More than a few times I had to fight to keep from skidding as the loose gravel gave way.

I came up to the first stop of the day: a little trek to a waterfall. For a overpriced fee, I had an eleven year old girl guide me along a path for 45 minutes to the waterfall. We crossed over 10 different streams, and I was wearing shoes so I was using alot of balance to cross on the sometimes unbalanced and slippery rocks. Thankfully my shoes were waterproof (so long as I didn't step into water higher than the shoes) and I quickly made a walking stick to help out.

My sandals have great traction and a snug fit but they are brutal for chaffing my feet. If I wear them for any length of time, I have massive sores on both feet on at least one toe. The strange thing is that it always seems to change exactly where it chafes. Currently however I had sores on nearly every toe, and it was excruciating to walk in the sandals.
(I really need to find new sports sandals)

After some time, we made it to the waterfall. It was relatively high - maybe 10 - 12m, but very little water. All in all it wasn't much. As we headed back we passed some Europeans, also with shoes, except they were having to go barefoot through the water (would be a pain to do that 10 times).

I got back to the road and motorcycyled off until I reached a branch in the road. I was trying to find the Hot Springs but there wasn't any sign and when I saw the branching road, I knew I had passed it. Regardless I pressed on down one of the branches to the ocean, along a dirt path until I hit a little village.

I was stopped by a suspended walking bridge so I parked the bike and set off on foot. I crossed the bridge and then headed towards ocean until I reached a very large and unoccupied beach. There was property lining most of the beach (simple local shacks), but virtually no one on the beach (a few were walking along). It was quite a nice beach situated in a sheltered bay.

I walked along for some length and then set up my little hammock to relax for a while. My reading was interupted a few times because of growing crowds of children around me, often just staring at me for 10 minutes. Eventually time was running out so I headed back at a quick pace back to the bike. I took the bike back to town at a much faster more confident rate. I gave back the bike, checked out of the hotel and headed to the bus.

The bus to Puerto Princesa at 2:30pm was the last of the day and it was a company that was not strictly for tourists as we found out as we stopped at every township along the way.

When I arrived in the evening I grabbed a trike to my hotel for the night.

Feb 10^th Underground River

Yesterday I was Kyle. Tomorrow I will be Kyle. But today I am Joebelle Santiago, resident of Mexico.

I woke up to get ready to head off to see the famous "New Natural Wonder of the World" the Sabang Underground River. Before departing for El Nido, I booked (or tried) a tour (and the important and limited permit) to the Underground River 5 days prior. The permits book up about 2 days in advance so I was safe. Or so I thought.

The hotel dropped the ball and forgot to get a permit for me until it was too late. But fortunately for me, there was one Joebelle Santiago who canceled and had a permit ready for him. I'm not sure if my tour guide ever knew, but I decided not to risk it.

We drove for 2 hours, with the customary tourist trap stop. Along the way we stopped for a few pictures. My group was mostly Philippinos, with the exception of one Canadian with his Philippino girlfriend on vacation.

We arrived at Sabang and headed along abumpy dirt road along the beach until we stopped and got out. We walked to the beach and then up a hill to do a 800m zipline (apparently the longest in Asia). We got our gear set up. I went first (of course), taking a video of the journey down. It was fun, albeit a tad tame by my standards. It started up about 80m high on a cliff and zipped down to a rocky outcropping on the beach, passing over the ocean. I will try to upload the video later, so check for that.

Once everyone was done (and I had explored the area) we headed back to the main section of beach to have lunch at a resort. It was buffet style with all of the Underground River tourist groups going there. It was actually quite good for mass produced food. The braised chicken was excellent (aside from the fact it was mostly bone).

We headed over to a stone pier to grab a boat to the entrance of the river. There is also a 5.3 km trek there. But most people take the 25 min boat trip. The boats were a steady stream of tourists. We got onto the boat just as it started to rain. The boat ride was uneventful, aside from the fairly large waves and the screaming Philippino girls everytime the boat rocked. Sabang faces the open ocean.

We docked at a beach and hopped off. We headed to register. I signed as Joe and we walked off to the river itself. There was another waiting period of maybe 1 hour as we waited our turn. Thankfully however the wait meant that while on the river there was ample space between the boats to take photos and not overly disturb each other.

The 8 of us hopped into the boat and our boat guide paddled us towards and into the mouth of the cave.

As quoted from the Natural Wonders of the World website:

The cave system was quite large and was both high and wide (highest point was 65m and the width seem to maintain about 15m. That said there were plenty of stalactites hanging low.

As we were paddled up the gentle river our guide (and all other guides) would say good evening to every passing boat. It was an ongoing joke for them. Must be tiring to say the same joke 100+times every day and still pretend as if you think its funny.

The pictures I took for the most part didn't turn out. It was of course dark so I had to use flash, and the flash only worked on cave structures a certain distance away. Too far and you could barely see anything, and too close and it was overexposed. The few that did turn out (about 15% of the ones taken) I've posted so you can see, but it really does not do justice to it. (Fairly typical of caves).

We passed all sorts of cave structures; various stalactites of differing shapes, colours and compositions and a few stalagmites. Our guide would point out each structure and tell us what it looked like. We had Jesus's half face, a horse, nativity scene, various vegetables, a pile of dung (cartoon-style upside down), mushroom, and a whole assortment that I can't recall. He was just firing out the descriptions.

On the ceiling there were a number of sections with bats roosting above the water, and what was the only real walkable land mass, was called Tarantula island for all the spiders on it, including apparently many poisonous ones.

The trip only goes about 1.5 km (of 8.2 km) into the cave itself. You can see what looks to be a very long straight tunnel when the boat turns around to go back. Like most things on Palawan - the site is extremely regulated (more so than anything else). It takes a very special permit to go any further.

Our guide paddled us back to the entrance and we got off and took the boat and bus back to Puerto Princesa for the night.

Our van arrived at night. I needed to do some things in town so I caught a trike, took out some money for the last segment of the trip, had dinner and watched a live cover band in a restobar. They were actually quite good and were taking various requests and playing songs on demand. The three singers would take turns but all had beautiful voices. Once they were done, I took off and walked back to the hotel for the night.

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