Our last stop on our six month journey and the fifteenth country. The Philippines!
Palawan is lacking in convenient public transportation so we rented a motorbike for the whole two weeks of our visit. It was a great deal at $7 US per day for 15 days. We repacked our bags so that we could leave one at the bike rental office and just had one bag left to strap to the front of the bike. Now we’re really traveling light!
We flew from Hanoi, Vietnam to Manila, then a short hour and a half trip to Palawan Island, landing in Puerto Princessa. Our research told us Puerto was not much of a destination (one of the tourist sites is their prison) so we drove 100 miles (sleep deprived) to Port Barton. Yay Port Barton! So peaceful with a laid back vibe, lazy beach and some good restaurants to chose from.
For $14 US (700 pesos) per person we had an all day snorkel cruise with just a few other tourists that took us to several different places and fed us a picnic lunch that included barbecued fresh fish.
We relaxed and enjoyed the warm water for a few days and then hopped on the bike for the 4 1/2 hour ride to Corong-Corong.
Travel Tips: expect limited electricity, cold showers, almost no WiFi and there are only a few working ATM machines on the whole island. Ladies, just imagine shaving your legs in the dark with cold water.
El Nido is a 10 minute drive from Corong-Corong so we enjoyed several dinners in El Nido after dodging all the tri-cycles (the Philippines version of a tuk tuk). El Nido is nestled at the base of a sheer limestone cliff. There is a crowded beach with lots of bar and restaurant choices and plenty of party-party options as well that we avoided.
Island hopping tours are offered on practically every corner and through the guesthouses as well. We choose Tour A, that went to five stops including Big Lagoon and Small Lagoon. The tour also included a lunch on the beach with fresh fish. This tour was much larger than in Port Barton with 22 tourists, cost $24 US per person and we saw lots of other boats the whole time. But it was worth it!
Deciding to escape the crowds, noise and chaos in El Nido we drove North to a gem of a beach at Nacpan. Rated as one of the best beaches in Asia, Nacpan offers beautiful uncrowded stretches of sand. We did a couple day trips to get our feet wet at Lio Beach and Duli Beach, then it was time to head south again.
Sabang has a beautiful long stretch of beach with towering coconut palms and limestone karsts breaking up the deep blue sky. It also is the site of the world’s longest subterranean river. You need a permit to take a boat tour into this protected natural wonder. Inside the cave are fluttering squeaking adorable bats, dramatic cathedral sized rooms full of enormous stalagtites and the sound of rain water dripping through tons of limestone after filtering through an entire mountain.
We enjoyed a mangrove tour, swam in a waterfall that falls into the sea and some relaxing beach time as the grand finale of our six month trip. One night in Manila and then a trip of 24 hours and four flights to get us home. How did six months go by so quickly? We are sad to end this chapter of our journey but excited to get back to working on house building so that we can plan our next adventure and continue 2 travelight!
