Blogs from Palawan, Philippines, Asia

3 glorious days already on Cacnipa and a 4th one approaching. It all sounded perfect so where did it all go wrong? Tbh, this potential 4th day was always a high risk proposition as we needed to be at Puerto Princesa airport by 1.30pm on day 5 which meant crossing the sea back to Port Barton in the morning of the flight (what if the sea conditions proved too rough?). Then once back at PB we needed to get a shared minivan & they only leave when full and only at set times. We would be extremely lucky to get to PB in time for the 8am minivan so that meant we'd take the 10am and the minivan timetable says to allow 3-4 hours even though the outbound journey only took just over 2 hours. Anyway, ... read more

Tour Day 141, Cruise Day 39 – There were no appealing shore excursions in Boracay, Philippines; however, I was planning to tender to shore and mosey around the dock area for a spell. Those plans were scuttled by a) a cautionary flier distributed to each cabin that warned of the precarious condition of the steps at the tender dock, and b) by the captain’s warning issued over the ship intercom about the rough seas and the increased challenges of transferring both to and from the tender to the tender docks. Four opportunities to incur additional injury to either wing! Not a prudent move, so I opted to stay on the ship. Tour Day 142, Cruise Day 40 – “Puerto Princesa Highlights" Shore Excursion – Puerto Princesa, Philippines – Welcome to Puerto Princesa. Legend says that Puerto ... read more

. As per our previous 2 'blog' entries, we are currently in the Philippines on the island of Palawan (which is SSW of the island of Luzon on which Manila is located). In the 2 previous 'blogs', we wrote of our current journey in Japan (skiing), and the first week in the Philippines; (Manila, Basuanga , diving on coral reefs, and our travel from Coron to El Nido with Tao Expeditions ). This 'blog' describes our journey in El Nido, the bus ride from El Nido to (island capital) Puerto Princesa, and our stay in the capital. From Puerto Princesa we depart via Manila and Singapore to home. . DAY 1 . . The previous afternoon we had departed the Tao 'base camp' near Dipnay (local name - San Fernando the government name) at the very ... read more

We ended a full year of travelling with a fun holiday with friends in the Philippines. We were already in Puerto Princesa where Riemke and Mariska were able to fly to despite another typhoon landing in the country disrupting some flights. It was great to see the girls and continue where we left the year before catching up and drinking cold beers then in South India now in the Philippines. Together we travel with a shared van to Port Barton, an amazing, relaxed, beautiful, still not too busy nor touristy, beach town on Palawan island. Here we meet with Joyce, Maarten and their 1,5 year old son Duuk and with the whole bunch we spend a few days and nights touring islands, snorkelling, lazying on the beach, and partying the year away into 2020 at NYE ... read more

Day 6 Another early morning..ah.. a buffet breakfast before heading off on our tour for the day. We had originally booked the Reef and Wreck tour as we were keen to snorkel over the top of WW2 shipwrecks but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the weather. It looked like blue skies with dotted clouds but apparently the direction of the tour was in was forecasted torrential rain. I was really dissapointed, this tour was the only reason why we went to Coron, but you cant control the weather. We went on the Coron Island Tour instead. Our tour guide, Dalton, provided a lot of information including history, tips and was great in getting tour guests to get to know each other. He told us by the end of the tour we would be like family. ... read more