As promised, here is part II of our travel in the Philippines. The past ten days at the island Palawan were really amazing, we really felt like we were in paradise. We camped on beautiful deserted beaches, made several snorkel trips and enjoyed the beautiful limestone cliffs in the northern part of the island.
At the 10th of February, we flew from Manila to Puerto Princesa. The map below shows the route that we traveled.
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| The route we traveled in Palawan |
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| Taking the plane from Manila to Puerto Princesa |
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| Arrived safely at Puerto Princesa |
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| Our guesthouse in Puerto Princesa |
The next day in Puerto Princesa we decided to hire a bangkas (boat) for a day to visit several islands in Honda Bay. We first visited so-called starfish island (and yes, there were lots of starfish in the water!), where we relaxed on the beach for a while and had an amazing lunch: fresh fish from the barbecue. After our lunch we snorkeled at the Pambato reef, which was very beautiful. The next island we visited was Cowrie Island, which was a very relaxed place as well, where we enjoyed a fresh mango/pineapple juice, before we headed back to the pier.
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| Arranging the bangkas and paying the terminal fees at Santa Lourdes Pier |
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| Our bangkas! |
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| Islands in Honda Bay |
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| It was such a relaxed day! |
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| Arriving at starfish island |
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| Our bangkas for a day! |
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| Erik going for a swim |
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| Walk to the other side of the island for a nice lunch |
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| What to order? |
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| We go for a fish from the barbecue! |
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| So yammie! |
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| Good food, nice view, what else do you want? |
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| Cowrie island |
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| Palm trees! |
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| Enjoying a fresh juice |
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| Such a cool place |
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| On our way back to the pier |
The next day in Puerto Princesa I worked for a couple of hours and Erik went to the local gym. In the afternoon I received the news that all the formalities in relation to my PhD defense were settled (we were still waiting for a form that had to be submitted) which made me so happy! When I received green light of the Doctorate Board of the university, I ordered my books and the invitations. :-) I was very excited!! In the night we decided to celebrate and we went to an Israeli restaurant for dinner and had a beer in a nice cafe afterwards.
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| Me working at our guest house |
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| Yeaaahh!! Submitted the order to print my books!!! |
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| Just love falafel |
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| Enjoying Israeli food |
The next day we took a minibus to Port Barton. It proved to be quite difficult to find a place to stay, since it was Chinese New Year and therefore many Asians are on vacation. Many hostels, hotels, guesthouses and pensions were fully booked. However, we were very lucky to find a homestay in Port Barton for one night in the fishermen's village at the far end of the beach. We really liked Port Barton, since the atmosphere was great: many backpackers, lovely restaurants and cafes and no big hotels. In the night we went out for dinner with the other backpackers who stayed in the same dorm room, we had a beer and played card games before we headed back to our homestay.
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| Taking the minivan to Port Barton |
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| Arriving in Port Barton |
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| Walk to the end of the beach to our homestay |
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| Children playing on the beach |
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| Beautiful sunset |
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| So nice and tranquil |
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| Having dinner with other backpackers of our homestay |
The next morning we checked-out and went to a nice cafe (Jambalaya) at the beach to have our breakfast. We texted Toby and Thelma, the owners of the camp site where we were going to stay, that they could come and pick us up when they were ready. An hour or so later, two men arrived with a boat on the beach asking: "Ma'am, are you Annemarie?" Yes sir! :-) We waited for a couple of other guests to arrive and then we headed on to the camp site, which was a 25 minute boat ride further up north.
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| Having breakfast right on the beach |
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| The chairs are so much fun! |
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| Nice, isn't it? |
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| The boat that brought us to the camp site |
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| The water is so clear! |
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| Arriving at our camp site, uhm paradise! |
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| Bye bye sweet boat men! |
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| Our tent, it even had a bed inside! :-) |
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| The water was so blue! |
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| View from our tent |
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| Enjoying the view: too good to be true |
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| Pic can be used for a coca cola commercial, right? ;-) |
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| Thelma was an amazing cook! |
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| Reading my book |
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| Beautiful sunset at Valentine's day |
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| Nice colors! |
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| Breakfast the next morning |
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| It was really a small paradise |
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| The water was very clear |
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| Children of a nearby fishing village |
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| Taking the kayak to visit a waterfall |
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| We're so happy together |
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| Fishermen's village close to the waterfall |
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| Donating some money for the village |
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| Small hike up to the waterfall |
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| It was a nice waterfall! |
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| Check! |
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| Refreshing dive in the water |
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| Nice! |
The next day we also took the kayak to visit the small island just in front of the camp site and a beach further north.
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| Leaving the camp site |
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| Small island that we visited |
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| My view :-) |
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| Children playing on the beach |
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| Erik playing with the waves |
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| Time for a refreshing coca cola! |
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| Pooooose! |
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| Back at the camp site again |
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| Reading a book: so relaxing |
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| Beautiful sunset again |
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| The sunset table |
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| Quite a special sunset with the stripes |
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| Camp fire!! |
The next day we took the boat back to Port Barton. We arranged a minibus at 1pm from Port Barton to El Nido and in the spare hours Erik rented a Stand Up Paddle (SUP) board, while I continued reading my book.
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| First time on a SUP |
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| Like a pro! |
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| Waiting for the minivan to arrive |
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| Michael Schumacher arrived! |
After a four hour drive, we arrived in El Nido. We had booked a nice pension in Corong Corong, close to El Nido, where we checked in just before the sun was setting. We quickly looked at tripadvisor which cafe we best could go to to watch the sunset, and ended up in a really cool Spanish tapas bar, where we had an amazing view over the towering limestone cliffs of the Bacuit Archipelago. It was really spectacular!
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| Spanish tapas bar |
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| Beautiful sunset |
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| We enjoyed it so much! |
The next day we booked a tour to go island hopping and it was just another amazing day in paradise. The scenery was really spectacular, the water so blue (and sometimes even greenish) and we were lucky with the weather: very sunny and only a few clouds! The group (around 20 people) was really nice as well (not unimportant if you spend a whole day on one boat).
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| Leaving El Nido |
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| On our way to our first stop |
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| Limestone cliffs |
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| First stop: Seven Commandos Beach |
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| Having a fruit juice at the beach |
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| It's just so beautiful up here |
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| Departing Seven Commandos Beach |
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| I enjoyed it so much! |
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| Arriving at Secret Lagoon |
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| Bay of Secret Lagoon |
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| The cliffs were so impressive! |
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| Third stop: lunch at a beautiful beach |
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| So beautiful! |
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| Small lagoon |
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| So much fun! |
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| Entering the Small Lagoon |
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| Erik going for a swim at the Small Lagoon |
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| On our way out of the Small Lagoon |
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| Kayaking in the Big Lagoon |
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| Selfie time! |
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| Erik chillin' at our bangkas |
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| What a beautiful day |
The next day we woke up early morning to catch the 8am boat from El Nido to Coron. We were picked up by a tricycle that brought us to the port.
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| Tricycle driver taking us to the port |
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| Tricyle from the inside :-) |
It was quite a long, but also amazingly beautiful boat ride from El Nido to Coron. The weather conditions were perfect: not much wind (and thus little waves) and we arrived one hour before schedule in Coron. However, it still took us seven hours. Most of the time we spent on the deck of the boat, enjoying the beautiful islands and cliffs that we passed, having nice conversations with fellow travelers.
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| The boat from El Nido to Coron |
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| What we saw on the way |
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| So beautiful |
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| Our spot where we spent many hours |
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| Nice boat |
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| Nice hair :-p |
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| Sunset from our guesthouse |
Since we spent a bit longer than expected at Port Barton (because we liked the camp site so much), we had only one day left in Coron, before we had to catch our flight back to Manila. Therefore, we decided to book a tour again to go island hopping.
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| Snorkeling |
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| Nice coral and colorful fish |
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| Coral |
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| More coral |
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| So many fish |
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| On our way to Kayangang Lake |
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| Entrance to the lake |
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| Kayangan Lake |
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| Beautiful view in the bay |
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| Like a post card :-) |
After a bit of swimming, snorkeling and island hopping, we had lunch at Beach 91. A very nice buffet was waiting for us, with fish, pork and even lobster!
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| Buffet lunch at Beach 91 |
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| Standing in line for the lunch |
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| Beautiful beach and clear water |
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| Snorkeling ship wracks |
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| Beautiful fish |
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| Ship wreck |
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| Ship wreck |
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| Free diving to the ship wreck |
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| Erik snorkeling |
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| Us on the boat |
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| Next stop: CYC beach |
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| A place to relax... |
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| So relaxing! |
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| On our way to Twin Lagoon |
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| Local people living in this area |
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| Swimming to Twin Lagoon (access below the ladder on the left) |
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| We are in! |
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| Enjoying the ride back to Coron harbour |
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| Okay then, one more dive! |
Two days ago, we flew from Coron back to Manila. This time not with AirAsia, but with Cebu Pacific. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed by three hours (which is apparently a normal thing in the Philippines). :-)
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| Waiting for our delayed flight |
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| Finally we're boarding! |
In Manila, we stayed in a nice hostel (Our
Melting Pot) in the neighborhood Makati, which was very different to the neighborhood Paco
(where we stayed before). Makati is very modern, all the Embassy's are located
here as well as many exclusive shopping malls. The difference between the rich
and poor Filipino's is really visible here.
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| Enjoying our meal in another Israeli restaurant |
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| Food market in front of our hostel |
Time is flying, before we know we are back in the Netherlands. Tonight we take the overnight bus to Banaue. We planned to spend the last 10 days of our travel in the Phillipines north Luzon. The rice terraces are high on our list, as well as some surfing in San Juan.
We'll keep you updated!
Big hugs,
Erik & Annemarie
