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Published: March 27th 2008
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Palawan is a sparsely inhabited island in the SW Philippines.
It's waters and much of the island are protected so it's home to some unique wildlife.
This is why we came.
We flew into the capital, Peurto Princesa, and after getting some local advice we boarded a bus north to a town called Roxas (pronounced Rohas).
The road was paved and the journey was surprisingly pleasant except for the fish soup pouring down on top of us from the roof cargo when the bus took a sharp bend.
Upon arrival at Roxas we got on a boat for an island called Reef island (aka Coco Loco Island) to rest and refresh for a few days.
Coco-Loco was a small resort on this 17 acre island, 45mins from the mainland, that took 10mins to circumnavigate on foot.
The atmosphere was much more relaxed than Manila and the people seemed alot friendlier, which I guess can be said for many country towns when compared to the capital.
There are some good reefs here, which are hard to find nowadays in the philippines due to dynamite fishing in the past, so we finally get into the water to see some of the rich marine
life including: Lion, Scorpion & Stone fish, Octopous, Turtles, and of course loadsa tropical non-venomous fish.
After a couple of days we met up with some other travelers (not traavelers, boss):
Derek from Donegal - a former air traffic controller at Heathrow
Sandra from Bangor - a former open heart surgery Nurse
Robert - an undercover German cop
Bobby - an international man of mystery, who retired from his unknown business at 43, and has lived between his house on this island, the other island further north which he owns and his place in the Swiss Alps.
And of course the 2 fit German lesbians, who swim a few laps of the island every morning.
We wonder if Robert is investigating Bobby's assets, but he assures us he's off duty, so instead we focus our efforts on how to place video surveillance in the Germans ladies cabin.
The different backgrounds gave rise to some great stories, which kept us entertained in the evenings, such as escaping pythons, frozen Lions and Fantasy documents.
The lifestyle at Coco Loco was very relaxed, carefree and thoroughly enjoyable. All meals, which were decent, were included in accommodation cost, meaning all we had to carry
was a snorkel & mask.
Felix, our host, brought 5 of us on a boat trip to another remote inhabited island to buy some local rum. He assured us our safety "should" be ok on the new island. In the back of my mind was the tourist kidnapping that happened a few years ago at an island resort 2hrs away. The locals kids here seemed amused by the western visitors and after a while a crowd was following us around. We decide to buy them some lollipops (of the sweet variety), as we thought rum might have been a little inappropriate despite it been cheaper. Afterwards we went to the mainland and got well tanked before heading back to Coco Loco at dusk, when we got to observe the hundreds of fruit bats making their nightly pilgrimage between islands to feed. Back at Coco Loco we were enjoying it so much we decided to stay on longer, and when it came to leaving, we got wind of celebrations planned for St Patricks including sacrificing a pig for dinner, so we decided to hang around even longer.
When it came to killing the pig I decided to go snorkeling so I
wouldn't hear the sound.
After 9 days we eventually moved on, having had an excellent time.
We didn't know where to go next so we headed to the bus station at Roxas, with the intention of boarding the first bus outta there.
It was to El Nido, but after taking our seat and realising we were been showered by Ants this time (better than fish soup) we decided to wait for the next bus which was to Port Barton.
It didn't turn up, apparently because the road from Port Barton was blocked by mud, and it was coming from there.
So we decided to try El Nido again and luckily caught a bus that had been delayed.
The rice bags on the bus floor ensured ones feet were at the same level as ones ass for the trip, but at least it was only to last 5-7 hrs, not accounting for the 2hr wait for engine repair.
Been so remote we expected El Nido to be very untouristy but it was quite the opposite and suffered from the associated problems:
• Our tricycle (motorbike w sidecar) driver tries to charge us 5 times the normal price for the fare from the bus station to town.
• The standard of accomodation here is poor
• The staff don't seem to be friendly
• The quality of food is poor
• Everything seems to be the bear minimum, unlike Coco Loco where there were always nice extras.
• Again we had the lightswitch in the shower issue, but since electricity was only on for 7hrs we avoided any risk.
• The return tricycle driver tried the old "No Change" trick.
We were missing Coco Loco already.
Next day we got a boat out to explore the many islands close to El Nido.
By reading any guide you could be forgiven for thinking you'd be on your own when exploring these islands. But unfortunately there were many others. At one lagoon we came across 6 other boatloads of tourists. The catfish seemed to take advantage of the new wildlife in their habitat, having realised that human skin can be a good source of food. Stay stationary in the water for 5 seconds and you feel something nipping your legs. Sometimes these nips can be painful and drew blood on a couple of occasions.
After one day exploring what the Lonely Planet has dubbed "Palawans greatest asset" we decide to move on.
There's a nice island north of here called Coron with great diving, but moving on from there is not clear.
We'd like to get a boat from there to the major island of Mindoro (to the east), but I can't find any information on boats.
I ask around. Most people say no boat. Some say don't know. One local boatman tells me there is one every morning at 9am.
The local tourist info lady tells me she's been asked that question thousands of times and still doesn't know the answer.
Well maybe you should find out. After talking to some seasoned travellers, local ex-pats and seeing the state of the boat that would attempt to take us to Coron, we decide not to head there. Instead we go back to Peurto and head east.
Much of the things we read about Palawan described it as "The last Frontier". This, it certainly was not.
Some more photos
here and a
video of fish feeding.
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